[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 160 (Friday, August 17, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41095-41096]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-17799]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
[Docket No. USCG-2018-0565]
Lifejacket Approval Harmonization
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces that it is harmonizing personal
flotation device (PFD) standards between the United States and Canada
by accepting a new standard for approval of PFDs. Specific elements of
the new standard are contained in a policy letter and deregulatory
savings analysis, on which we are requesting public comment, and are
intended to promote the Coast Guard's maritime safety and stewardship
missions.
DATES: Comments must be submitted to the online docket via http://www.regulations.gov, or reach the Docket Management Facility, on or
before October 16, 2018.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by docket number USCG-
2018-0565 using the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. See the ``Public Participation and Comments''
portion of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for further
instructions on submitting comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about this document
call or email Jacqueline Yurkovich, Coast Guard; telephone 202-372-
1389, email [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Public Participation and Comments
We encourage you to submit comments on the lifejacket approval
harmonization policy letter entitled, ADOPTION OF ANSI/CAN/UL 12402-5
AND -9, and the deregulatory savings analysis entitled, ``Approval for
Personal Floatation Devices/Adoption of ANSI/CAN/UL 12402-5 and 9,''
which are available in the docket. The policy letter is also available
on the USCG website, https://www.dco.uscg.mil/CG-ENG, listed as CG-ENG
Policy 02-18. We will consider all submissions and may adjust our final
action based on your comments. If you submit a comment, please include
the docket number for this notice, indicate the specific section of the
document to which each comment applies, and provide a reason for each
suggestion or recommendation.
We encourage you to submit comments through the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. If your material cannot be
submitted using http://www.regulations.gov, contact the person in the
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document for alternate
instructions. Documents mentioned in this notice, and all public
comments, are in our online docket at http://www.regulations.gov and
can be viewed by following that website's instructions. Additionally,
if you go to the online docket and sign up for email alerts, you will
be notified when comments or other documents are posted.
We accept anonymous comments. All comments received will be posted
without change to http://www.regulations.gov and will include any
personal information you have provided. For more about privacy and the
docket, you may review a Privacy Act notice regarding the Federal
Docket Management System in the March 24, 2005, issue of the Federal
Register (70 FR 15086).
Discussion
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) has statutory authority under
Title 46, U.S. Code, Sections 3306(a) and (b), 4102(a) and (b),
4302(a), and 4502(a) and (c)(2)(B) to prescribe regulations for the
design, construction, performance, testing, carriage, use, and
inspection of lifesaving equipment on commercial and recreational
vessels. Since 2008, the USCG has been working closely with Transport
Canada (TC) and a diverse group of U.S. and Canadian stakeholders to
harmonize PFD standards with the current international standard (ISO
12402) to create a single North American standard for PFD approval. A
single North American standard will allow manufacturers the opportunity
to produce more innovative equipment that meets the approval
requirements of both the United States and Canada.
In 2015, Underwriters Laboratories Inc. published bi-national
standards \1\ to set forth performance requirements and manufacturing
standards for PFDs that are being used when vessels are close to shore,
or where a rescue may be imminent. UL 12402-5 sets forth the
performance requirements for PFDs and, within UL 12402-5, there are two
levels of performance: Level 50 and Level 70. A Level 70 PFD provides
an equivalent level of safety to a Type III PFD currently approved
under 46 CFR 160.064, 160.076, or 160.077-15, and certified to UL 1123
(Marine Buoyant Devices). A Level 50 PFD provides a reduced level of
performance, and is not included in this policy. UL 12402-9 sets forth
the test methods for determining compliance with UL 12402-5.
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\1\ ANSI/CAN/UL 12402-5, Standard for Personal Flotation
Devices--Part 5: Buoyancy Aids (Level 50)--Safety Requirements (UL
12402-5), and ANSI/CAN/UL 12402-9, Standard for Personal Flotation
Devices--Part 9: Test Methods (UL12402-9).
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In April 2017, the USCG and TC signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) outlining intended cooperation for approval of personal
lifesaving appliances that comply with mutually acceptable standards,
are tested by mutually accepted conformity assessment bodies or
independent test laboratories, and are covered by a mutually acceptable
follow-up program. In January 2018, TC published a policy stating it
will accept UL 12402-5 as a substitute for its PFD standards in support
of the MOU. The policy letter on which we are requesting comment builds
on the efforts described above by establishing that the USCG will
accept Level 70 PFDs complying
[[Page 41096]]
with UL 12402-5 as equivalent to PFDs meeting the requirements in 46
CFR 160.064 and 160.076, with certain exceptions.
The adoption of this policy marks the culmination of over a decade
of dedicated work across the lifejacket and recreational boating safety
community and supports National Boating Safety Advisory Council
Resolution 2009-83-01, which is available in the docket.\2\ This policy
also responds to a comment submitted by the Lifejacket Association in
response to the Coast Guard's request for public input on ``Evaluation
of Existing Coast Guard Regulations, Guidance Documents, Interpretive
Documents, and Collections of Information,'' \3\ recommending the Coast
Guard consider full adoption of UL 12402-5 and UL 12402-9. In order to
provide the maximum benefit to the public with minimum delay, the Coast
Guard evaluated which elements of the new standards could be
implemented without a change to the regulations. Those elements are
being adopted by this policy. The remaining elements of the standards
that cannot be adopted without a change to the regulations are being
considered for possible future regulatory action.
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\2\ The Resolution requested the U.S. Coast Guard work
cooperatively with stakeholders to devise and implement within 3
years an improved regulatory approach to the testing and approval of
personal flotation devices, including life jackets.
\3\ 82 FR 26632 (June 8, 2017).
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This policy letter allows manufacturers to have their products
certified to the new bi-national standard, in lieu of the legacy
standards codified in title 46 CFR. This allowance is intended to
reduce the burden of maintaining approvals in U.S. and Canadian markets
and to make additional types of PFDs available to U.S. and Canadian
boaters.
This policy does not impact existing PFD approvals, and does not
require any action on the part of boaters or mariners who have approved
PFDs onboard. An existing approved PFD will continue to meet the same
carriage requirements, as long as it remains in good and serviceable
condition.
The Coast Guard has prepared a Deregulatory Savings Analysis for
the policy letter that identifies and examines the potential costs and
savings associated with implementing the new standards plan and is
available in the docket. We request your comments on any concerns that
you may have related to the policy changes.
This notice is issued under authority of 5 U.S.C. 552(a).
Dated: August 9, 2018.
J.G. Lantz,
Director of Commercial Regulations and Standards, U.S. Coast Guard.
[FR Doc. 2018-17799 Filed 8-16-18; 8:45 am]
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