. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/USA/159 
14 December 2005 
 (05-5947) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   UNITED STATES
 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):         
2. Agency responsible:   State of California, United States of America (162) 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web-site 
addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be  indicated if different from above:    
U.S. WTO TBT Inquiry Point 
National Center for Standards and Certification Information 
National Institute of St andards and Technology 
100 Bureau Drive, MS-2160 Gaithersburg, MD 20899-2160  
Telephone: 301-975-4040 
Fax:  301-926-1559 Email:  ncsci@nist.gov Internet: http://www.nist.gov/ncsci/ 
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [    ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:   3.2 
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):   Motor vehicles 
(HS:  Chapter 87; ICS:  13.040) 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Heavy-Duty Smoke 
Emissions Test and Heavy-Duty Vehicle Emissions  Control System Inspections (7 Pages, in 
English) 
6. Description of content:   On 29 September 2004, Assembly Bill 1009 (AB1009) was signed 
into law, amending Health and Safety Code  Section 43701.  The amendments require ARB 
to develop and implement, in consultation w ith the California Highway Patrol, regulations 
to ensure that heavy-duty commercial vehicles (HDCVs) operating in California are equipped with engines that, at the time of manuf acture, met standards that were at least as 
stringent as emission standards promulgated by  the United States Environmental Protection 
Agency (U. S. EPA).  In adopting AB 1009, the Legislature found that heavy-duty vehicles 
equipped with engines emitting greater levels of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate 
matter (PM) than those designed to meet standa rds adopted by the U. S. EPA contribute to 
higher levels of ozone and PM, and pose a th reat to public health in California.  
 G/TBT/N/USA/159 
Page 2  
 
ARB staff’s proposal is designed to meet the requi rements of the legislation.  In developing 
its proposal, ARB staff met with stakeholders from companies that operate HDCVs in California, representatives from manufacturer-authorized HDCV service providers, representatives from the California Highway Patrol, and other interested parties at public workshops held on 16 May 2005, and 17 June 2005.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
To protect the environment. 
8. Relevant documents:   Heavy-Duty Vehicle Border Inspection Program AB 1009 (Pawley 
2004) accessible at Internet URL: 
 
http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/hdvip/bip/bip.htm  
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:   }To be determined 
10. Final date for comments:   25 January 2006 
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [  X ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body: