. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/USA/148 
12 October 2005 
 (05-4646) 
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:   Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT (153) 
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):   Surge brakes 
(HS Chapter:  8703;  ICS:  43.040) 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Surge Brake 
Requirements (5 pages, in English) 
6. Description of content:   In response to a petition for rulemaking from the Surge Brake 
Coalition, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration proposes to amend the Federal 
Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to  allow the use of automatic hydraulic inertia 
brake systems (surge brakes) on trailers operated in interstate commerce.  A surge brake is a 
self-contained permanently closed hydraulic br ake system activated in response to the 
braking action of the tow vehicle.  The amount  of trailer braking effort developed is 
proportional to the total trailer weight and decel eration rate of the tow vehicle.  Currently, 
surge brakes are not considered by FMCSA to comply with the FMCSRs specifying that all 
brakes with which a motor vehicle is equipped mu st at all times be capable of operating, and 
that a single application valve must, when applied, operate all the service brakes on the motor vehicle or combination of motor vehicles.  The intent of this rulemaking is to adopt 
performance-based brake system requirements to  allow the use of surge brakes on certain 
combinations of commercial motor vehicles ba sed upon engineering test data submitted by 
the Surge Brake Coalition. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable:    
 Protection of human safety 
8. Relevant documents:   70 Federal Register (FR) 58657 7 October 2005;  Title 49 Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 393.  Will app ear in the Federal Register when adopted. G/TBT/N/USA/148 
Page 2  
 
 9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:   }To be determined 
10. Final date for comments:   6 December 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 for this Notification is now available on the Internet at URLs: 
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01j an20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/05-20297.htm 
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01j an20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/pdf/05-20297.pdf