[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 246 (Wednesday, December 26, 2018)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 66158-66160]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-27795]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
49 CFR Part 555
[Docket No. NHTSA-2018-0103]
RIN 2127-AL97
Temporary Exemption From Motor Vehicle Safety and Bumper
Standards
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: This document amends NHTSA's regulation on temporary exemption
from the Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) and bumper
standards to expedite the publishing of notices soliciting public
comment on exemption petitions. It does so by eliminating the provision
calling for the Agency to determine that a petition is complete before
the Agency publishes a notice summarizing the petition and soliciting
public comments on it. As amended, the regulation continues to provide
that the Agency will, as it does now, determine whether a petition
contains adequate justification in deciding whether to grant or deny
the petition. The intended effect of these changes is to enable the
Agency to solicit public comments more quickly.
DATES: This final rule is effective on January 25, 2019.
Petitions for reconsideration of this final rule must be received
not later than February 11, 2019.
ADDRESSES: Petitions for reconsideration of this final rule must refer
to the docket and notice number set forth above and be submitted to the
Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions concerning this final
rule, contact Stephen Wood, NCC-200, Assistant Chief Counsel for
Vehicle Rulemaking and Harmonization, National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590;
telephone (202) 366-5240; email [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, as amended,
authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to exempt, on a temporary
basis, under specified circumstances, and on terms the Secretary deems
appropriate, motor vehicles from a FMVSS or bumper standard. This
authority is set forth at 49 U.S.C. 30113. The Secretary has delegated
the authority for implementing this section to NHTSA.\1\
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\1\ 49 CFR 1.94.
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The exercise of NHTSA's authority to grant, in whole or in part, a
temporary exemption to a vehicle manufacturer is conditioned upon the
Agency's making specified findings. The Agency must comprehensively
evaluate the request for exemption and find that the exemption is
consistent with the public interest and with the objectives of the
Vehicle Safety Act.\2\ In addition, the Agency must make one of the
following more focused findings:
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\2\ 49 U.S.C. 30113(b)(3)(A).
(i) compliance with the standard[s] [from which exemption is
sought] would cause substantial economic hardship to a manufacturer
that has tried to comply with the standard[s] in good faith;
(ii) the exemption would make easier the development or field
evaluation of a new motor vehicle safety feature providing a safety
level at least equal to the safety level of the standard;
(iii) the exemption would make the development or field
evaluation of a low-emission motor vehicle easier and would not
unreasonably lower the safety level of that vehicle; or
(iv) compliance with the standard would prevent the manufacturer
from selling a motor vehicle with an overall safety level at least
equal to the overall safety level of nonexempt vehicles.\3\
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\3\ 49 U.S.C. 30113(b)(3)(B).
To provide procedures for implementing these statutory provisions
concerning temporary exemptions, NHTSA established 49 CFR part 555,
Temporary Exemption from Motor Vehicle Safety and Bumper Standards. The
requirements in 49 CFR 555.5 state that a petitioner must set forth the
basis of its petition by providing the information required under 49
CFR 555.6, and explaining why the exemption would be in the public
interest and consistent with the objectives of the Safety Act. In
addition, the petitioner must submit data and analysis supporting the
making of one of the four findings specified above.
Section 555.7 describes the steps that NHTSA is to take after it
receives an exemption petition. If the Agency determines that a
petition is complete, it publishes a notice in the Federal Register
summarizing the petition and inviting public comment on whether it
should be granted or denied.\4\ However, if NHTSA finds that a petition
does not
[[Page 66159]]
contain some of types of the information required by part 555, it so
informs the applicant, pointing out the areas of insufficiency and
stating that the petition will not receive further consideration until
the required information is submitted.\5\ If the petitioner submits
sufficient additional information and analysis to eliminate the ``areas
of insufficiency,'' the Agency publishes the notice requesting public
comment.
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\4\ 49 CFR 555.7(a).
\5\ Ibid.
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If, after considering the petition and the public comments, NHTSA
determines that the petition does not contain ``adequate
justification,'' the Administrator denies it and notifies the
petitioner in writing.\6\ The Administrator also publishes in the
Federal Register a notice of the denial and the reasons for it.
Alternatively, if the Administrator determines that the petition
contains adequate justification, the Administrator grants it, and
notifies the petitioner in writing.\7\ The Administrator also publishes
in the Federal Register a notice of the grant and the reasons for
it.\8\
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\6\ 49 CFR 555.7(d).
\7\ 49 CFR 555.7(e).
\8\ Ibid.
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II. Discussion of the Final Rule
This document amends NHTSA's regulation on temporary exemption from
Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) and bumper standards to
expedite the publishing of notices soliciting public comment on
exemption petitions. It does so by eliminating the provision calling
for the Agency to determine that a petition is complete before
publishing a notice soliciting public comments on the petition.
Especially in the context of complex petitions, the difficulty in
neatly separating ``areas of insufficiency'' from failures to provide
``adequate justification'' leads to delays in processing petitions.
Further, while areas of insufficiency would be considered in deciding
whether to grant or deny petitions, the Vehicle Safety Act does not
require that determinations of insufficiency be made by the Agency
before publishing notices of receipt. As amended, the regulation
continues to provide that the Agency will, as it does now, determine
whether a petition contains adequate justification in deciding whether
to grant or deny the petition.
III. Rulemaking Requirements
A. Executive Order 12866 (Regulatory Planning and Review)
This rulemaking has been determined to be not significant for
purposes of Executive Order 12866.
B. Executive Order 13771 (Reducing Regulation and Controlling
Regulatory Costs)
Executive Order 13771 titled ``Reducing Regulation and Controlling
Regulatory Costs,'' directs that, unless prohibited by law, whenever an
executive department or agency publicly proposes for notice and comment
or otherwise promulgates a new regulation, it shall identify at least
two existing regulations to be repealed. In addition, any new
incremental costs associated with new regulations shall, to the extent
permitted by law, be offset by the elimination of existing costs. Only
those rules deemed significant under section 3(f) of Executive Order
12866, ``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' are subject to these
requirements.
This rule is not an Executive Order 13771 regulatory action because
this rule is not significant under Executive Order 12866.
C. Regulatory Flexibility Act
Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.),
whenever an agency is required by 5 U.S.C. 553 (or any other law) to
publish a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), the agency must prepare
and make available for public comment an Initial Regulatory Flexibility
Analysis, unless the agency certifies under 5 U.S.C. 605(b) that the
proposed rule, if implemented, will not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities. 5 U.S.C. 603, 605.
As noted above, NHTSA is not required to publish an NPRM in this
rulemaking. Further, the change made by this final rule will not have
not result in a significant economic impact on a substantial number of
small entities.
D. Executive Order 13132 (Federalism)
NHTSA has analyzed this immediately adopted final rule under the
principles and criteria of Executive Order 13132, ``Federalism.'' The
Agency determined that this action will not have a substantial direct
effect on the States, or the relationship between the Federal
Government and the States, or on the distribution of power and
responsibilities among the various levels of government, and,
therefore, does not have Federalism implications.
E. Congressional Review Act
This rule is not a ``rule'' as defined in 5 U.S.C. 804(3), because
it falls within the exclusion of ``any rule of agency organization,
procedure, or practice that does not substantially affect the rights or
obligations of non-agency parties.''
F. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
Title II of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-
4) requires each Federal agency to prepare a written statement
assessing the effects of any Federal mandate in a proposed or final
agency rule that may result in an expenditure of $100 million or more
(in 1995 dollars) in any one year by State, local, and tribal
governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector; such a mandate
is deemed to be a ``significant regulatory action.'' The FAA currently
uses an inflation-adjusted value of $155 million in lieu of $100
million.
This final rule does not contain such a mandate; therefore, the
requirements of Title II of the Act do not apply.
G. National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act
The requirements of section 12(d) of the National Technology
Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) are not
applicable because this rulemaking does not contain provisions
involving the use of technical standards.
Good Cause for Immediate Adoption
Section 553(b)(3)(A) of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) (5
U.S.C.) authorizes agencies to dispense with notice and comment
procedures for rules of agency organization, procedure, or practice,
except when notice or hearing is required by statute. Under this
section, an agency may issue a final rule without seeking comment prior
to the rulemaking.
Additionally, section 553(b)(3)(B) of the APA authorizes agencies
to dispense with notice and comment procedures for rules when the
agency for ``good cause'' finds that those procedures are
``impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest.''
Under this section, an agency, upon finding good cause, may issue a
final rule without seeking comment prior to the rulemaking.
NHTSA finds that notice and public comment to this immediately
adopted final rule are unnecessary because this rule meets the
exception of section 553(b)(3)(A). The sole purpose of this rule is to
eliminate the provision calling for the Agency to determine that a
petition is complete before the Agency publishes a notice summarizing
the petition and soliciting public comments
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on it. This rule does not impose any additional requirements on
exemption applicants or the public. Therefore, NHTSA has determined
that notice and public comment are unnecessary.
In consideration of the foregoing, NHTSA amends 49 CFR chapter V as
follows:
List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 555
Motor vehicle safety, Motor vehicles.
PART 555--TEMPORARY EXEMPTION FROM MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY AND BUMPER
STANDARDS
0
1. The authority citation for part 555 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30113, 32502, Pub. L. 105-277; delegation
of authority at 49 CFR 1.50.
0
2. Paragraph (a) of Sec. 555.7 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 555.7 Processing of applications.
(a) The agency publishes a notice of the application in the Federal
Register, affording opportunity for comment.
* * * * *
Issued in Washington, DC, under authority delegated in 49 CFR
1.95 and 501.5.
Heidi Renate King,
Deputy Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2018-27795 Filed 12-21-18; 8:45 am]
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