. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/USA/174 
3 February 2006 
 (06-0472) 
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) (180) 
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):   Motor Vehicles;  
(HS Chapter:  8703;  ICS:  43) 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Fuel Economy 
Labelling of Motor Vehicles:  Revisions to  Improve Calculation of Fuel Economy 
Estimates;  Proposed Rule (88 pages, in English) 
6. Description of content:   The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing 
changes to the test methods used to calculate  the fuel economy estimates that are posted on 
window stickers of all new cars and light truc ks sold in the United States.  A fundamental 
issue with today's fuel economy estimates is that  the underlying test procedures do not fully 
represent real-world driving conditions.  Although no single test or set of tests can ever 
account for the wide variety of conditions experienced by every driver, the new fuel 
economy estimates would more accurately reflect  a number of important factors that drivers 
are likely to experience on the road.  These ch anges will take effect starting with 2008 
model year vehicles.  Under the new methods, the City MPG estimates for most vehicles would drop 10 per cent to 20 per cent from t oday's labels, depending on the vehicle.  The 
Highway MPG estimates would generally drop 5 per cent to 15 per cent for most vehicles. 
Although today's proposed fuel economy test methods would provide more accurate 
estimates for many consumers, there will always continue to be drivers who get higher or lower fuel economy than the window sticker num bers.  Currently the same test procedures 
are used for both the window sticker estim ates and the fuel economy values used to 
determine a manufacturer's Corporate Averag e Fuel Economy (CAFE).  However, this 
proposal would not alter the test procedures, dr iving cycles, measurement techniques, or the 
calculation methods used to determine CAFE. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Consumer protection G/TBT/N/USA/174 
Page 2  
 
  8. Relevant documents:   71 Federal Register (FR) 5425 1 February 2006;  Title 40 Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR) Parts 86 and 600.  W ill appear 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 March 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:   
Internet URLs: 
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/24 22/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/06-
451.htm  
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/24 22/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/pdf/
06-451.pdf