G/TBT/N/USA/1677  
15 December 2020  
(20-9072) 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 AMERICA   
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):   
2. Agency responsible:  Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) [1705]  
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 i f 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 [   ], 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):  Railroad 
workplace safety; Occupational safety. Industrial hygiene (ICS 13.100), Information 
technology (IT) in general (ICS 35.020), R ailway engineering in general (ICS 45.020), 
Equipment for railway/cableway construction and maintenance (ICS 45.120)  
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Railroad 
Workplace Safety (8 page(s), in English)  
6. Description of c ontent:  Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) - FRA is proposing to 
revise its regulations governing railroad workplace safety to: Allow for the use of 
alternative security standards for electronic display systems used to view track authority 
information fo r roadway worker safety, and exempt certain drone roadway maintenance 
machines from existing environmental control requirements. These proposals would 
reduce regulatory burdens on the railroad industry while maintaining the existing level of 
safety.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable:  Protection of human health or safety; Cost saving and productivity 
enhancement  G/TBT/N/USA/1677  
 
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  8. Relevant documents:   
85 Federal Register (FR) 79973, 11 December 2020; Title 49 Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR) Part 214:  
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR -2020-12-11/html/2020 -27096.htm  
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR -2020-12-11/pdf/2020 -27096.pdf  
This notice of proposed rulemaking is identified by Docket Number FRA -2019-0074. The 
Docket Folder is available on Regulations.gov at 
https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=FRA -2019-0074 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 commen t period.  
9. Proposed date of adoption:  To be determined  
Proposed date of entry into force:  To be determined  
10. Final date for comments:  9 February 2021  
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_7730_00_e.pdf