Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade - Notification - United States - Occupant crash protection

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: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Department of Transportation (DOT) [1694]

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: usatbtep@nist.gov

3.

Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X], 2.10.1 [  ], 5.6.2 [X], 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): Occupant crash protection, air bags; Quality (ICS 03.120), Mechanical testing (ICS 19.060), Crash protection and restraint systems (ICS 43.040.80)

5.

Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document: Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Occupant Crash Protection (14 page(s), in English)

6.

Description of content: Notice of proposed rulemaking - NHTSA is proposing to amend Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 208, "Occupant crash protection," to update the child restraint systems (CRSs) listed in Appendix A-1 of the standard. NHTSA uses the CRSs in Appendix A-1 to test the performance of advanced air bag suppression and low risk deployment systems in either suppressing or deploying the air bag in a low-risk manner in the presence of a CRS. The proposed amendments would ensure that the CRSs used by NHTSA to test advanced air bags are representative of the current CRS fleet, and would make it easier for vehicle manufacturers and test laboratories to acquire CRSs for testing purposes.

7.

Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable: Protection of human health or safety

8.

Relevant documents:

85 Federal Register (FR) 68541, 29 October 2020; Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Parts 571 and 585:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-10-29/html/2020-21476.htm
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-10-29/pdf/2020-21476.pdf

This notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) is identified by Docket Number NHTSA-2020-0094. The Docket Folder is available on Regulations.gov at https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=NHTSA-2020-0094 and provides access to primary documents as well as comments received. Documents are also accessible from Regulations.gov by searching the Docket Number. WTO Members and their stakeholders are asked to submit comments to the USA TBT Enquiry Point. Comments received by the USA TBT Enquiry Point from WTO Members and their stakeholders will be shared with the regulator and will also be submitted to the Docket on Regulations.gov if received within the comment period.

On 12 May 2000, NHTSA issued and published in the Federal Register (65 FR 30680, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2000-05-12/html/00-11577.htm and https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2000-05-12/pdf/00-11577.pdf) the Advanced Air Bag Rule to reduce the frequency and severity of air bag-related injuries to small adults and young children. The Docket Number for this rule is NHTSA-2000-7013.  The Docket Folder is available on Regulations.gov at https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=NHTSA-2000-7013 and provides access to primary and supporting documents as well as comments received. Documents are also accessible from Regulations.gov by searching the Docket Number. 

An extension of the comment period published on 13 July 2005 at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2005-07-13/html/05-13760.htm and https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2005-07-13/pdf/05-13760.pdf for a 19 May 2005 notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on "Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Occupant Crash Protection" published at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2005-05-19/html/05-9924.htm and https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2005-05-19/pdf/05-9924.pdf was notified as G/TBT/N/USA/133. The final rule; delay of compliance date was published on 29 August 2006 at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2006-08-29/html/E6-14256.htm and https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2006-08-29/pdf/E6-14256.pdf, and notified as G/TBT/N/USA/133/Add.1 These regulatory actions are identified by Docket Number NHTSA-2005-21244. The Docket Folder is available on Regulations.gov at https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=NHTSA-2005-21244 and provides access to primary documents as well as comments received. Documents are also accessible from Regulations.gov by searching the Docket Number.

A notice of proposed rulemaking, "Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Occupant Crash Protection" published 25 September 2007 at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2007-09-25/html/E7-18716.htm and https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2007-09-25/pdf/E7-18716.pdf was notified as G/TBT/N/USA/301.  The final rule, published 28 November 2008 at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2008-11-28/html/E8-28096.htm and https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2008-11-28/pdf/E8-28096.pdf, was notified as G/TBT/N/USA/301/Add.1 These actions are identified by Docket Numbers NHTSA-2007-29083 and NHTSA-2007-28707. The Docket Folders are available on Regulations.gov at https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=NHTSA-2007-29083 and  https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=NHTSA-2007-28707 and provide access to primary documents as well as comments received. Documents are also accessible from Regulations.gov by searching the Docket Numbers.

A notice of proposed rulemaking, "Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Occupant Crash Protection", published on 12 September 2008 at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2008-09-12/html/E8-21026.htm and https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2008-09-12/pdf/E8-21026.pdf was notified as G/TBT/N/USA/416 and identified by Docket Number NHTSA-2008-0149. The Docket Folder is available on Regulations.gov at https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=NHTSA-2008-0149 and provides access to primary documents as well as comments received. Documents are also accessible from Regulations.gov by searching the Docket Number.

A final rule published 12 November 2008 at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2008-11-12/html/E8-26812.htm and https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2008-11-12/pdf/E8-26812.pdf notified as G/TBT/N/USA/416/Add.1 is identified by Docket Number NHTSA-08-0168. The Docket Folder is available on Regulations.gov at https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=NHTSA-2008-0168 and provides access to primary documents as well as comments received. Documents are also accessible from Regulations.gov by searching the Docket Number.

A final rule; response to petitions for reconsideration was published on 8 February 2010 at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2010-02-08/html/2010-2610.htm and https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2010-02-08/pdf/2010-2610.pdf, was notified as G/TBT/N/USA/416/Add.2 and is identified by Docket Number NHTSA-2009-0156. The Docket Folder is available on Regulations.gov at https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=NHTSA-2009-0156 and provides access to primary documents as well as comments received. Documents are also accessible from Regulations.gov by searching the Docket Number. 

A final rule published on 29 August 2011 at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-08-29/html/2011-21946.htm and http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-08-29/pdf/2011-21946.pdf and notified as G/TBT/N/USA/416/Add.3 is identified by Docket Number NHTSA-2008-0149. The Docket Folder is available on Regulations.gov at https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=NHTSA-2008-0149 and provides access to primary documents as well as comments received. Documents are also accessible from Regulations.gov by searching the Docket Number. 

9.

Proposed date of adoption: To be determined

Proposed date of entry into force: To be determined

10.

Final date for comments: 28 December 2020

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/2020/TBT/USA/20_6672_00_e.pdf