G/TBT/N/USA/1498  
28 June 2019  
(19-4349) 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:  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 
Department of Transportation (DOT) [1525]  
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 [  ], 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):  Fuel 
containers used on heavy vehicles; Graphical symbols (ICS 01.080), Accident and disaster 
control (ICS 13.200), Protection against dangerous goods (ICS 13.300), Vessels and 
containers mounted on vehicles (ICS 23.020.20), Crash protection a nd restraint systems 
(ICS 43.040.80), Fuel systems (ICS:43.060.40), Commercial vehicles (ICS 43.080)  
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Federal Motor 
Vehicle Safety Standards; Compressed Natural Gas Fuel Container Integrit y (12 page(s), 
in English)  
6. Description of content:  In response to petitions for rulemaking from the American 
Trucking Associations (ATA) and the Natural Gas Vehicles for America (NGVAmerica), 
NHTSA is proposing to amend the visual inspection labeling requirement in Federal Motor 
Vehicle Safety Standard (F MVSS) No. 304, "Compressed natural gas fuel container 
integrity," to state that CNG fuel containers used on heavy vehicles should be inspected 
at least once every 12 months. NHTSA is proposing this change because CNG heavy 
vehicles are typically used in hi gh-mileage commercial fleet operations and following the 
current mileage -based inspection interval on the label means conducting multiple visual 
inspections per year. NHTSA has tentatively concluded multiple visual inspections per 
year based solely on mile age would not improve vehicle safety for these high -mileage 
CNG heavy vehicles, and could potentially reduce safety. Because the current periodic 
visual inspection interval is intended for light vehicles and is consistent with the operation 
of these vehicl es, no change is proposed to the periodic visual inspection interval for CNG 
fuel containers on light vehicles.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable:  Protection of human health or safety  G/TBT/N/USA/1498  
 
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  8. Relevant documen ts:  
• 84 Federal Register (FR) PAGE#, DATE 2019; Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations 
(CFR) Part 571:  
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR -2019-06-21/html/2019 -12895.htm  
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR -2019-06-21/pdf/2019 -12895.pdf  
9. Proposed date of adoption:  To be determined  
Proposed date of entry into force:  To be determined  
10. Final date for comments:  20 August 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_3638_00_e.pdf