G/TBT/N/USA/1188

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NOTIFICATION

The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6

1. / Notifying Member:United States of America
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):
2. / Agency responsible:Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Department of Transportation (DOT) [1206]
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, email and website addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:
Please submit comments to:USA WTO TBT Enquiry Point,
Email:
3. / Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X], 2.10.1 [ ], 5.6.2 [ ], 5.7.1 [ ], other:
4. / Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):Speed limiting devices. Road vehicle systems (ICS:43.040)
5. / Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations; Parts and Accessories Necessary for Safe Operation; Speed Limiting Devices (32 pages, in English)
6. / Description of content:NHTSA and FMCSA are proposing regulations that would require vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 11,793.4 kilograms (26,000 pounds) to be equipped with a speed limiting device initially set to a speed no greater than a speed to be specified in a final rule and would require motor carriers operating such vehicles in interstate commerce to maintain functional speed limiting devices set to a speed no greater than a speed to be specified in the final rule for the service life of the vehicle.
Specifically, NHTSA is proposing to establish a new Federal motor vehicle safety standard (FMVSS) requiring that each new multipurpose passenger vehicle, truck, bus and school bus with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of more than 11,793.4 kilograms (26,000 pounds) be equipped with a speed limiting device. The proposed FMVSS would also require each vehicle, as manufactured and sold, to have its device set to a speed not greater than a specified speed and to be equipped with means of reading the vehicle's current speed setting and the two previous speed settings (including the time and date the settings were changed) through its On-Board Diagnostic connection.
FMCSA is proposing a complementary Federal motor carrier safety regulation (FMCSR) requiring each commercial motor vehicle (CMV) with a GVWR of more than 11,793.4 kilograms (26,000 pounds) to be equipped with a speed limiting device meeting the requirements of the proposed FMVSS applicable to the vehicle at the time of manufacture, including the requirement that the device be set to a speed not greater than a specified speed. Motor carriers operating such vehicles in interstate commerce would be required to maintain the speed limiting devices for the service life of the vehicle.
Based on the agencies' review of the available data, limiting the speed of these heavy vehicles would reduce the severity of crashes involving these vehicles and reduce the resulting fatalities and injuries. We expect that, as a result of this joint rulemaking, virtually all of these vehicles would be limited to that speed.
7. / Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable:Protection of human health or safety; Prevention of deceptive practices and consumer protection
8. / Relevant documents:81 Federal Register (FR) 61941, 7 September 2016; Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 571.Will appear in the Federal Register when adopted.
9. / Proposed date of adoption:To be determined
Proposed date of entry into force:To be determined
10. / Final date for comments:7 November 2016
11. / Texts available from:National enquiry point [ ] or address, telephone and fax numbers and email and website addresses, if available, of other body:
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2016/TBT/USA/16_3817_00_e.pdf