G/TBT/N/USA/1078  
 
1 March 2016  
(16-1229)  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 Aviation Admini stration (FAA) [1096] 
Name and address (including telephon e 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 applic able, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable): Fire safety – Fire 
extinguishers, whether or not charged (HS: 842410). Protection against fire (ICS: 13.220), 
Aircraft and space vehicles  in general (ICS: 49.020) 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document: Harmonization of 
Airworthiness Standards – Fire Extinguishers and Class B and F Cargo Compartments 
(7 pages, in English)  
6. Description of content: The FAA is amending certain airworthiness regulations for 
transport category airplanes by upgrading fire safety standards for Class B cargo compartments; establishing fire safety standards for a new type of cargo compartment, 
Class F; and updating related standards for fire extinguishers. This amendment is based on 
recommendations from the Aviation Rulema king Advisory Commi ttee (ARAC) and the 
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and the changes address designs for which airworthiness directives (ADs) have been i ssued by both the FAA and the French civil 
aviation authority, Direction G[eacute]n[eacute]rale de l'Aviation Civile (DGAC).  
This amendment eliminates certain regulatory differences between the airworthiness 
standards of the FAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), without affecting 
current industry design practices. These change s ensure an acceptable level of safety for 
these types of cargo compartments by standa rdizing certain requirements and procedures. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable: Protection of human health or safety  
8. Relevant documents:  
 81 Federal Register (FR) 7698, 16 January 2016; Title 14 Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR) Part 25 
 Harmonization of Airworthiness Standards – Fire Extinguishers and Class B and F 
Cargo Compartments, Notice of proposed rulemaking, 7 July 2014: 
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR- 2014-07-07/html/2014-15789.htm  
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/F R-2014-07-07/pd f/2014-15789.pdf  G/TBT/N/USA/1078 
 
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  9. Proposed date of adoption: 18 April 2016 
Proposed date of entry into force: 18 April 2016   
10. Final date for comments: None 
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/crnattachm ents/2016/TBT/USA/16_0798_00_E.pdf