[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 227 (Friday, November 27, 2009)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 62275-62277]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-28428]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

49 CFR Part 599

[Docket No. NHTSA-2009-0120; Notice 1]
RIN 2127-AK67


Requirements and Procedures for Consumer Assistance To Recycle 
and Save Program

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 
Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: This proposed rule would amend the regulations implementing 
the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) program, published 
on July 29, 2009, in the Federal Register, under the CARS Act. The rule 
change would allow disposal facilities an additional 90 days, for a 
total of 270 days, to crush or shred a vehicle traded in under the CARS 
program. This additional time would allow the public to benefit from 
the availability of lower cost used vehicle parts from vehicles traded 
in under the CARS program and would provide disposal facilities with an 
opportunity to derive more revenue from those vehicles prior to 
crushing or shredding.

DATES: Submit comments on or before December 17, 2009.

ADDRESSES:  You may submit comments electronically [identified by DOT 
Docket Number NHTSA-2009-0120] by visiting the following Web site:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
    Alternatively, you can file comments using the following methods:
     Mail: Docket Management Facility: U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building Ground 
Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room 
W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Fax: (202) 493-2251.
    Instructions: For detailed instructions on submitting comments and 
additional information on the rulemaking process, see the Public 
Participation heading of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this 
document. Note that all comments received will be posted without change 
to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading below.
    Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 
comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on 
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78).
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 
instructions for accessing the dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions, you may call David 
Jasinski, NHTSA Office of Chief Counsel, at (202) 366-5552.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Current Rule and Proposed Change

    This proposed rule would amend the regulations implementing the 
Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) program, published on 
July 29, 2009, in the Federal Register (74 FR 37878), under the CARS 
Act (Pub. L. 111-32), and amended by final rules published on August 5, 
2009 (74 FR 38974), and September 28, 2009 (74 FR 49338). The rule 
change would allow disposal facilities an additional 90 days, for a 
total of 270 days, to crush or shred a vehicle traded in under the CARS 
program. This additional time would allow the public to benefit from 
the availability of lower cost, used vehicle parts from CARS trade-in 
vehicles and would provide disposal facilities with an opportunity to 
derive more revenue from those vehicles prior to crushing or shredding 
thereby providing additional economic benefit from the CARS program.
    Section 1302(c)(2) of the CARS Act grants the agency discretion to 
determine the appropriate time period in which a disposal facility must 
crush a vehicle. The rule currently requires a disposal facility that 
receives a vehicle traded in under the CARS program to crush or shred 
the vehicle within 180 days of receipt of the vehicle. 49 CFR 
599.401(a)(3). After consulting with representatives of disposal 
facilities, the agency determined that 180 days was an appropriate 
amount of time to allow a disposal facility to possess a car prior to 
crushing or shredding. The allowed time period was determined based 
upon an estimate that 250,000 vehicles would be traded in under the 
CARS program and that the program's duration would be four months.
    Due to the enormous popularity of the CARS program, the initial $1 
billion in available funds were quickly depleted and, on August 7, 
2009, Congress provided the CARS program with an additional $2 billion 
(Pub. L. 111-47). On August 25, 2009, approximately one month after the 
CARS program began, the agency stopped accepting new submissions 
because the additional funds were also depleted. By that time, nearly 
700,000 new vehicles had been sold under the CARS program.
    Shortly after new CARS program transactions ceased and the majority 
of the dealers' transactions were reimbursed by NHTSA, a representative 
of disposal facilities requested a meeting with NHTSA officials to 
discuss the possibility of extending the 180-day time period for 
crushing or shredding a trade-in vehicle. Although disposal facilities 
initially expected to receive 250,000 CARS trade-in vehicles spread out 
over four months, disposal facilities actually received nearly 700,000 
CARS trade-in vehicles. Further, the majority of the CARS trade-in 
vehicles were received within less than one month.
    At a September 29, 2009, meeting \1\ with disposal facility 
representatives, agency officials learned that some disposal facilities 
were experiencing

[[Page 62276]]

substantial difficulty processing all of the CARS trade-in vehicles 
that were purchased from dealers or salvage auctions and that many 
disposal facilities anticipated significant difficulty in meeting the 
180-day deadline to crush and shred these vehicles. The representatives 
also noted that the processing problems made it difficult for 
facilities to effectively inventory and sell parts from these vehicles, 
as authorized by the CARS Act. The disposal facilities suggested that, 
if they were able to hold a vehicle for more than 180 days prior to 
crushing or shredding, then consumers would have the benefit of cheaper 
used vehicle parts. The disposal facility representatives suggested 
that one year would be a suitable time to ensure that the public 
received the maximum benefit from used vehicle parts while 
simultaneously ensuring that the vehicles are crushed or shredded 
within a reasonable time frame.
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    \1\ A memorandum summarizing the meeting has been placed in the 
docket. (Docket No. NHTSA-2009-0120).
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    The agency must balance the concerns of the disposal facilities and 
the public's interest in having access to cheaper used vehicle parts 
with two considerations that weigh against allowing more time to crush 
or shred trade-in vehicles. First, and most importantly, the agency is 
concerned about possible fraud. The CARS Act contains an explicit 
Congressional instruction to take measures to prevent fraud and the 
statute's clear environmental objective is to ensure that the fuel 
inefficient trade-in vehicles are never again used on the highway. The 
risk of fraud related to extending the deadline for crushing or 
shredding vehicles is mitigated substantially by the fact that dealers 
are required to disable the vehicles' engines within seven days after 
receipt of payment for the transaction and that vehicles must be 
flagged by disposal facilities in the National Motor Vehicle Title 
Information System as scrap vehicles within seven days of receipt. 
Nevertheless, the risk of a vehicle returning to the highway is not 
fully eliminated until the vehicle is crushed or shredded.
    The agency is also concerned about the additional administrative 
burden caused by extending the deadline for crushing or shredding 
vehicles. The agency is committed to enforcing the requirements of the 
CARS program, including the requirements that vehicles are not 
transferred prior to crushing or shredding, vehicles' engine blocks are 
not sold, and vehicles are crushed or shredded on site. The longer that 
disposal facilities are allowed to keep vehicles on their lots prior to 
crushing, the longer the agency must devote resources to ensuring that 
disposal facilities comply with the requirements of the CARS program.
    After considering the relevant interests, the agency proposes to 
amend section 599.401(a)(3) to allow disposal facilities an additional 
90 days, for a total of 270 days, to crush or shred a vehicle. The 90 
additional days strikes an appropriate balance between the public 
benefit of having cheaper used vehicle parts from the vehicles traded 
in under the CARS program and the potential for fraud and the 
administrative burdens on the agency.
    As part of the certification forms that disposal facilities are 
required to sign under section 599.400 and Appendix E, a disposal 
facility must certify that a CARS program trade-in vehicle will be 
crushed or shredded within 180 days after receipt of the vehicle. 
Because NHTSA has already received the majority of the 700,000 Disposal 
Facility Certification Forms, it would be unnecessarily burdensome on 
both NHTSA and disposal facilities to require disposal facilities to 
submit new forms to NHTSA. Instead, if the proposed rule is adopted, 
NHTSA intends to treat the certifications on the forms already 
submitted as if they required disposal facilities to crush or shred a 
vehicle within 270 days of receipt. We also propose adding paragraph 
(d) to section 599.401 to formalize the de facto change to the existing 
certification.

Statutory Basis for This Action

    This proposed rule would make amendments to regulations 
implementing the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act (CARS Act) 
(Pub. L. 111-32), which directs the Secretary to issue regulations 
implementing the Act.

APA Requirements and Public Comment

    Section 1302(d) of the CARS Act provides that ``notwithstanding'' 
the requirements of section 553 of title 5, United States Code, the 
Secretary shall promulgate final regulations to implement the Program 
not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. The 
agency considered public notice and comment impracticable and used the 
statutory authority in the CARS Act to issue the CARS program 
regulations and the two subsequent amendments.
    In the interest of openness and public participation, the agency 
has determined that a 20-day public notice and comment period is 
warranted for this proposed rule. Because the transaction submission 
portal was opened on July 27, 2009, the first vehicles would have been 
received by disposal facilities shortly thereafter. Therefore, the 
deadline for crushing or shredding some vehicles traded in under the 
CARS program would be as soon as approximately February 1, 2010 under 
the current regulations.
    Although the agency recognizes that some vehicles traded in under 
the CARS program have already been crushed or shredded voluntarily well 
in advance of the 180 day deadline, basic fairness requires all 
vehicles traded in under the CARS program and not yet crushed or 
shredded be subject to the same deadline for crushing or shredding. 
Therefore, to ensure consistency, a final rule extending the deadline 
for crushing or shredding a trade in vehicle would need to be issued by 
approximately February 1, 2010. A 20-day comment period allows the 
agency time to solicit and consider public comment before issuing a 
final rule that would come into effect before February 1, 2010, 
ensuring that all vehicles traded in under the program would be subject 
to the same time period for crushing or shredding.

Effective Date

    The amendments would be effective immediately upon publication of 
the final rule in the Federal Register. The 90-day increase from 180 
days to 270 days would apply to all vehicles not yet crushed or 
shredded pursuant to the CARS program.

Request for Comments

How Do I Prepare and Submit Comments?

    Your comments must be written and in English. To ensure that your 
comments are correctly filed in the Docket, please include the docket 
number of this document in your comments.
    Your comments must not be more than 15 pages long (49 CFR 553.21). 
We established this limit to encourage you to write your primary 
comments in a concise fashion. However, you may attach necessary 
additional documents to your comments. There is no limit on the length 
of the attachments.
    Please submit two copies of your comments, including the 
attachments, to Docket Management at the beginning of this document, 
under ADDRESSES. You may also submit your comments electronically to 
the docket following the steps outlined under ADDRESSES.

How Can I Be Sure That My Comments Were Received?

    If you wish Docket Management to notify you upon its receipt of 
your comments, enclose a self-addressed,

[[Page 62277]]

stamped postcard in the envelope containing your comments. Upon 
receiving your comments, Docket Management will return the postcard by 
mail.

How Do I Submit Confidential Business Information?

    If you wish to submit any information under a claim of 
confidentiality, you should submit the following to the NHTSA Office of 
Chief Counsel (NCC-110), 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 
20590: (1) A complete copy of the submission; (2) a redacted copy of 
the submission with the confidential information removed; and (3) 
either a second complete copy or those portions of the submission 
containing the material for which confidential treatment is claimed and 
any additional information that you deem important to the Chief 
Counsel's consideration of your confidentiality claim. A request for 
confidential treatment that complies with 49 CFR part 512 must 
accompany the complete submission provided to the Chief Counsel. For 
further information, submitters who plan to request confidential 
treatment for any portion of their submissions are advised to review 49 
CFR part 512, particularly those sections relating to document 
submission requirements. Failure to adhere to the requirements of Part 
512 may result in the release of confidential information to the public 
docket. In addition, you should submit two copies from which you have 
deleted the claimed confidential business information, to Docket 
Management at the address given at the beginning of this document under 
ADDRESSES.

Will the Agency Consider Late Comments?

    We will consider all comments that Docket Management receives 
before the close of business on the comment closing date indicated at 
the beginning of this notice under DATES. In accordance with our 
policies, to the extent possible, we will also consider comments that 
Docket Management receives after the specified comment closing date. If 
Docket Management receives a comment too late for us to consider in 
developing the proposed rule, we will consider that comment as an 
informal suggestion for future rulemaking action.

How Can I Read the Comments Submitted by Other People?

    You may read the comments received by Docket Management at the 
address and times given near the beginning of this document under 
ADDRESSES.
    You may also see the comments on the Internet. To read the comments 
on the Internet, go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow the on-
line instructions provided.
    You may download the comments. The comments are imaged documents, 
in either TIFF or PDF format. Please note that even after the comment 
closing date, we will continue to file relevant information in the 
Docket as it becomes available. Further, some people may submit late 
comments. Accordingly, we recommend that you periodically search the 
Docket for new material.

Regulatory Analyses and Notices

    We have considered the impact of this rulemaking action under 
Executive Order 12866 and the Department of Transportation's regulatory 
policies and procedures. This rulemaking document was not reviewed by 
the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Order 12866, 
``Regulatory Planning and Review.'' This action is limited to the 
proposed extension contained herein, and has been determined to be not 
``significant'' under the Department of Transportation's regulatory 
policies and procedures.
    The agency has discussed the relevant requirements of the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act, Executive Order 13132 (Federalism), 
Executive Order 12988 (Civil Justice Reform), the National 
Environmental Policy Act, the Paperwork Reduction Act, and the Unfunded 
Mandates Reform Act in the July 29, 2009 final rule cited above. This 
rule does not change the finding in those analyses.

Regulatory Identifier Number (RIN)

    The Department of Transportation assigns a regulation identifier 
number (RIN) to each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of 
Federal Regulations. The Regulatory Information Service Center 
publishes the Unified Agenda in April and October of each year. You may 
use the RIN contained in the heading at the beginning of this document 
to find this action in the Unified Agenda.

Privacy Act

    Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all comments 
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on 
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78).

List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 599

    Fuel Economy, Motor vehicle safety.

    In consideration of the foregoing, NHTSA proposes to amend 49 CFR 
part 599 as set forth below.

PART 599--REQUIREMENTS AND PROCEDURES FOR CONSUMER ASSISTANCE TO 
RECYCLE AND SAVE ACT PROGRAM

    1. The authority citation for Part 599 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority:  49 U.S.C. 32901, Notes; delegation of authority at 
49 CFR 1.50.

    2. Section 599.401 is amended by revising paragraph (a)(3) and 
adding paragraph (d) to read as follows:


Sec.  599.401   Requirements and limitations for disposal facilities 
that receive trade-in vehicles under the CARS program.

    (a) * * *
    (3) Crush or shred the trade-in vehicle onsite, including the 
engine block and the drive train (unless with respect to the drive 
train, the transmission, drive shaft, and rear end are sold 
separately), using its own machinery or a mobile crusher, within 270 
days after receipt of the vehicle from the dealer or salvage auction;
* * * * *
    (d) A completed Disposal Facility Certification Form (Appendix E to 
this part) for an individual transaction, which includes a 
certification by the disposal facility that the trade-in vehicle will 
be crushed or shredded within 180 days of receipt by the disposal 
facility is deemed to be amended to include an extension of time such 
that the trade-in vehicle will be crushed or shredded within 270 days 
of receipt by the disposal facility.

    Issued on: November 23, 2009.
Ronald L. Medford,
Acting Deputy Administrator.
[FR Doc. E9-28428 Filed 11-25-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P