. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/USA/93 
7 January 2005 
 (05-0059) 
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:   Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (98) 
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:         
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):   gasoline (HS Chapter 
2710 ) (ICS 13.040). 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Control of Emissions 
of Hazardous Air Pollutants From Mobile Sources:  Default Baseline Revision (8  Pages, in 
English) 
6. Description of content:   This action proposes revised default baseline values for 
reformulated gasoline and conventional gaso line under EPA's mobile source air toxics 
(MSAT) program. EPA's final rule, Control of  Emissions of Hazardous Air Pollutants From 
Mobile Sources (66 FR 17230, March 29, 2001), requires that the annual average toxic 
performance of gasoline must be at least as cl ean as the average perfor mance of the gasoline 
produced or imported during the period 199 8-2000 (known as the ``baseline period''). The 
baseline performance is determined separately for each refinery and importer, and the rule 
established default toxics baseline values for re fineries that could not develop individual 
toxics baselines. The default toxics baseline values are based on the national average 
performance of gasoline during th e baseline period. However, at the time of the final rule, 
gasoline toxics performance data were not yet av ailable for the year 2000. Therefore, the 
final rule included regulations directing the EPA  to revise the default toxics baseline values 
in the rule to reflect the entire 1998-2000 base line period once the appropriate data became 
available. With this action, EPA is proposing to revise the default toxics baseline values for 
refineries and importers to reflect the na tional average toxics performance of gasoline 
during 1998-2000.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Protection of Environment G/TBT/N/USA/93 
Page 2  
 
8. Relevant documents:   70 Federal Register (FR) 639 4 January 2005; Title 40 Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 80.  Will a ppear in the Federal Register when adopted. 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:   }To be determined 
10. Final date for comments:   3 February 2005 
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:   
Full text may be found at the following Internet URLs: 
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/24 22/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/05-
42.htm  
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/24 22/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/pdf/
05-42.pdf