[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 94 (Monday, May 16, 2016)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 30217-30218]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-11468]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 94 / Monday, May 16, 2016 / Proposed
Rules
[[Page 30217]]
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
10 CFR Part 429
[Docket No. EERE-2015-BT-CE-0019]
RIN 1990-AA44
Energy Conservation Program: Certification and Enforcement--
Import Data Collection; Notice of Reopening of Comment Period
AGENCY: Office of the General Counsel, Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of reopening of comment period.
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SUMMARY: On December 29, 2015, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) in the Federal
Register proposing that a person importing into the United States any
covered product or equipment subject to an applicable energy
conservation standard provide, prior to importation, a certification of
admissibility to the DOE. DOE is reopening the comment period until
June 15, 2016, to provide interested parties with additional time to
submit comments.
DATES: The comment period for the notice of proposed rulemaking
published on December 29, 2015 (80 FR 81199), has been extended. DOE
will accept comments, data, and information in response to the NOPR
received no later than June 15, 2016.
ADDRESSES: See the section ``Public Participation'' for details on
submitting comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Ashley Armstrong, U.S. Department
of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building
Technologies Program, EE-5B, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Washington,
DC 20585-0121. Telephone: 202-586-6590. Email:
[email protected]; or Mr. Steven Goering, U.S. Department of
Energy, Office of the General Counsel, Forrestal Building, GC-32, 1000
Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585-0121. Telephone: 202-286-
5691. Email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On December 29, 2015, the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) published a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal
Register proposing that a person importing into the United States any
covered product or equipment subject to an applicable energy
conservation standard provide, prior to importation, a certification of
admissibility to the DOE. (80 FR 81199) The comment period ended
February 12, 2016. On February 17, 2016, after receiving several
requests for additional time to prepare and submit comments, DOE
reopened the comment period until February 29, 2016. (81 FR 8022) At a
public meeting held on February 19, 2016, DOE again received requests
for additional time to prepare and submit comments, and reopened the
period for submitting comments until March 16, 2016. 81 FR 11686 (Mar.
7, 2016).
DOE wishes to provide interested parties with additional time to
submit comments, and is reopening the comment period until June 15,
2016. DOE is particularly interested in receiving comments and views of
interested parties concerning how to minimize the burden of data
collection to importers of covered products or equipment subject to an
applicable energy conservation standard, while at the same time
providing DOE with traceability information sufficient to determine
whether a covered import is one that the DOE has previously identified
as noncompliant with the relevant standard and, if so, to provide U.S.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) ``a description of the noncompliant
covered import that is sufficient to enable CBP to identify the subject
merchandise and refuse admission thereof into the customs territory of
the United States.'' (19 CFR 12.50(c))
In the NOPR, DOE proposed that an importer provide information
regarding the importer's most recent submission in DOE's Compliance and
Certification Management System (CCMS), specifically the CCMS ticket
number, the CCMS attachment identification number assigned to the
certification submission, and the line number in the submission
corresponding to the basic model certified. Because DOE makes
determinations of noncompliance on a basic model basis, identification
of the certified basic model number of the covered import would allow
DOE to accurately determine whether the covered import belongs to a
basic model that has previously been found to be noncompliant with
applicable energy conservation standards.
DOE received comments in response to the NOPR suggesting the
submission of alternative data elements to achieve its traceability
requirements, such as brand and basic model number of the product, or
brand and individual model number. One commenter stated that importers
may already provide to CBP the model number of the covered products or
equipment that they import, such that DOE may be able to rely on this
information in lieu of additional information that it may require.
Commenters also recommended that DOE allow multiple paths for importers
of covered products to provide traceability information for their
products.
At the public meeting for the NOPR, DOE stated that it had
considered alternatives to its proposal, such as requiring submission
of brand and individual model number, or stock keeping unit (SKU). As
noted, DOE is seeking a solution that will allow it to confirm that the
covered import does not belong to a basic model that DOE has previously
found to be noncompliant and is open to offering options for the
importer to provide the necessary information in the least burdensome
manner.
To this end, DOE seeks comments on potential options to achieving
DOE's goal of traceability while minimizing the burden on importers.
Among the possibilities DOE is considering, some of which have been
suggested by commenters to date, are for importers to provide: The
brand name and basic model number of the product or equipment as
reported in the most recent CCMS certification submission; the brand
name and individual model number of the product or equipment as
reported in the most recent CCMS certification submission; or a SKU
code, Universal Product Code, International Article Number, or Global
Trade Item Number. Generally, DOE seeks comment on the advantage of
allowing importers to use any unique identifier of the covered import
that is readily available
[[Page 30218]]
to employees of the importer across the enterprise, whether they
interface with CBP or customs brokers or whether they are the employees
who file certifications for the importer in CCMS. For DOE to adopt this
approach, the importer would have to provide the same identifier in the
corresponding CCMS report. DOE also welcomes comments as to other
alternatives that would minimize importer burden while still allowing
DOE to confirm that a covered import does not belong to a basic model
that DOE has previously found to be noncompliant.
Commenters have expressed concern with respect to DOE's proposal to
require certain information related to covered products or equipment
that are a component of another finished product, due to the fact that
an importer may use more than one basic model of component part in its
finished product, and may not know which basic model is contained in a
given shipment. DOE notes that the purpose of this proposal is to allow
quick identification by CBP of a noncompliant product. DOE welcomes
comments on alternatives, including alternatives that would reduce
importer burden, such as allowing the importer to identify the range of
possible component part basic models, but importers should be aware
that this approach could potentially result in a greater impact by
having CBP stop shipments that may not contain noncompliant products
due to the importer's choice to group multiple basic models into a
single identifier.
In addition, DOE understands that characterizing its proposed
requirement as a ``certificate of admissibility'' may have created the
mistaken impression that it was proposing a conformity assessment
procedure as described in the Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement
administered by the World Trade Organization. DOE wishes to emphasize,
however, that it is not proposing to mandate any additional testing \1\
or to require submission of information unnecessarily redundant of that
already provided in accordance with those regulations. Instead, DOE
only seeks in its proposal to collect the minimum information necessary
to trace the covered import to the certified basic model to which it
belongs.
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\1\ Existing DOE regulations require testing to ensure
compliance with energy conservation standards.
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Moreover, it is not DOE's intent to delay in any way the
importation of any covered product or equipment, aside from that for
which DOE has already, separately, made a final determination that the
basic model to which the covered import belongs is not compliant with
applicable energy conservation standards. The importation of such a
product is already prohibited. In addition, DOE notes that, although
the information it proposes to collect would allow it to determine
whether a covered import has been properly certified to DOE in CCMS,
DOE is not proposing to delay the importation of a covered product
subject to energy conservation standards solely due to a failure to
certify the covered import. With this in mind, DOE welcomes comments on
possible alternatives to the term ``certification of admissibility'' in
reference to what is, in essence, a limited collection of information
for purposes of traceability.
Finally, DOE seeks comments on alternatives to the proposed
compliance date for the rule of 2 years after the date of publication
of the final rule in the Federal Register, such as a delayed or phased-
in compliance date.
DOE will accept comments, data, and information in response to the
NOPR received no later than June 15, 2016. DOE will consider any
comments in response to the NOPR received by midnight of June 15, 2016,
and deems any comments received by that time to be timely submitted.
Based on the comments received, DOE will determine whether it will need
to issue a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking or proceed to a
final rule.
Public Participation
A. Submission of Comments
Any comments submitted must identify the NOPR for Import Data
Collection, and provide docket number EERE-2015-BT-CE-0019 and/or
regulatory information number (RIN) number 1990-AA44. Comments may be
submitted using any of the following methods:
1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
2. Email: [email protected]. Include the docket
number and/or RIN in the subject line of the message.
3. Mail: Ms. Brenda Edwards, U.S. Department of Energy, Building
Technologies Program, Mailstop EE-5B, 1000 Independence Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC 20585-0121. If possible, please submit all items on a
CD. It is not necessary to include printed copies.
4. Hand Delivery/Courier: Ms. Brenda Edwards, U.S. Department of
Energy, Building Technologies Program, 950 L'Enfant Plaza SW., Suite
600, Washington, DC 20024. Telephone: (202) 586-2945. If possible,
please submit all items on a CD. It is not necessary to include printed
copies.
Docket: The docket, which includes Federal Register notices, public
meeting attendee lists and transcripts, comments, and other supporting
documents/materials, is available for review at regulations.gov. All
documents in the docket are listed in the regulations.gov index.
However, some documents listed in the index, such as those containing
information that is exempt from public disclosure, may not be publicly
available.
A link to the docket Web page can be found at: http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=EERE-2015-BT-CE-0019. This Web
page will contain a link to the docket for this notice on the
regulations.gov site. The regulations.gov Web page will contain simple
instructions on how to access all documents, including public comments,
in the docket.
For further information on how to submit a comment, review other
public comments and the docket, or to request a public meeting, contact
Ms. Brenda Edwards at (202) 586-2945 or by email:
[email protected].
Issued in Washington, DC, on May 6, 2016.
Kathleen B. Hogan,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency, Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy.
[FR Doc. 2016-11468 Filed 5-13-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P