G/TBT/N/USA/1491  
 
6 June 2019  
(19-3925) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
  
NOTIFICATION  
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6  
 
1. Notifying Member:  UNITED STATES OF AME RICA  
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):   
2. Agency responsible:  Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (OEERE), 
Department of Energy (DOE) [1518]  
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 [  ], 2.10.1 [  ], 5.6.2 [  ], 5.7.1 [  ], other : [X] 
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff 
heading. ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Test 
procedure waiver interim process; Test conditions and procedures in general (ICS 19.020)  
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Test Procedure 
Interim Waiver Process (10 page(s), in English)  
6. Description o f content:  The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposes to streamline 
its test procedure waiver decision -making process to require the Department to notify, in 
writing, an applicant for an interim waiver of the disposition of the request within 
30 business  days of receipt of the application. Should DOE fail to satisfy this requirement, 
the request for interim waiver would be deemed granted based on the criteria in DOE 
regulations. Specifically, DOE regulations require that DOE grant an interim waiver if it 
determines that it is desirable for public policy reasons to grant immediate relief pending 
a determination of the petition for waiver. An interim waiver would remain in effect until 
a waiver decision is published or until DOE publishes a new or amended te st procedure 
that addresses the issues presented in the application, whichever is earlier. This proposal 
is intended to address delays in DOE's current process for considering requests for interim 
waivers and waivers from the DOE test method, which in turn  can result in significant 
delays for manufacturers in bringing new and innovative products to market.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable:  Cost saving and productivity enhancement  
8. Relevant documents:   
• Federal Register (FR) 18414, 1 May 2019; Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations 
(CFR) Parts 430 and 431:  
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR -2019-05-01/html/2019 -08699.h tm 
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR -2019-05-01/pdf/2019 -08699.pdf  G/TBT/N/USA/1491  
 
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  9. Proposed date of adoption:  To be determined  
Proposed date of entry into force:  To be determined  
10. Final date for comments:  1 July 2019  
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/2019/TBT/USA/19_3319_00_e.pdf