Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 187 / Tuesday, September 28, 2004 / Rules and Regulations 57867

1 In general, quarterly reports include information 

on production, incidents involving death or injury, 

numbers of property damage claims, numbers of 

consumer complaints, numbers of warranty claims 

or warranty adjustments, and numbers of field 

reports. See e.g., 49 CFR 579.21 (2003).

penalty under this paragraph is $5,000 

per violation per day. The maximum 

penalty under this paragraph for a 

related series of violations is 

$16,050,000.

* * * * *

(c) Bumper standards. (1) * * * 

(2) The maximum civil penalty under 

this paragraph (c) for a related series of 

violations is $1,025,000. 

(d) Consumer information regarding 

crashworthiness and damage 

susceptibility. A person that violates 49 

U.S.C. 32308(a) is liable to the United 

States Government for a civil penalty of 

not more than $1,100 for each violation. 

Each failure to provide information or 

comply with a regulation in violation of 

49 U.S.C. 32308(a) is a separate 

violation. The maximum penalty under 

this paragraph for a related series of 

violations is $500,000.

* * * * *

Issued on: September 22, 2004. 

Jeffrey W. Runge, 

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 04–21735 Filed 9–27–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration 

49 CFR Part 579 

[Docket No. NHTSA 2001–8677; Notice 12] 

RIN 2127–AJ41 

Reporting of Information and 

Documents About Potential Defects

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: This final rule amends the 

date by which quarterly early warning 

reports are to be submitted to the agency 

from 30 days following the end of a 

calendar quarter to 60 days following 

the end of a calendar quarter. The final 

rule also amends the date by which 

copies of non-dealer field reports are to 

be submitted from 30 days after the 

quarterly reports are due to 15 days after 

those reports are due.

DATES: Effective Date: The effective date 

of this final rule is October 28, 2004. 

Petitions for Reconsideration: Petitions 

for reconsideration of the final rule must 

be received not later than November 12, 

2004.

ADDRESSES: Petitions for reconsideration 

of the final rule should refer to the 

docket and notice number set forth 

above and be submitted to 

Administrator, National Highway 

Traffic Safety Administration, 400 

Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 

20590, with a copy to Docket 

Management, Room PL–401, 400 

Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 

20590.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

non-legal issues, contact Jonathan 

White, Office of Defects Investigation, 

NHTSA (phone: 202–366–5226). For 

legal issues, contact Andrew DiMarsico, 

Office of Chief Counsel, NHTSA (phone: 

202–366–5263).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background 

On July 10, 2002, NHTSA published 

a final rule implementing the early 

warning reporting (EWR) provisions of 

the Transportation Recall Enhancement, 

Accountability, and Documentation 

(TREAD) Act, 49 U.S.C. 30166(m) 67 FR 

45822. The EWR final rule established 

a schedule for the reporting of 

information and submission of copies of 

certain field reports required by the 

rule. The first calendar quarter for 

which reports were required was the 

second calendar quarter of 2003. See 49 

CFR 579.28(a)(2002). For the quarterly 

reporting periods in 2003, the reports 

were due within 60 days after the end 

of the quarter. Thereafter, starting in 

2004, reports were to be due within 30 

days after the end of the quarter. See 49 

CFR 579.28(b) (2002). 

In response to a petition for 

reconsideration of the final rule, on June 

11, 2003, NHTSA amended the 

reporting dates. 68 FR 35145. Under the 

revised rule, the initial reporting period 

for all quarterly data 1 other than 

historical reports and copies of nondealer field reports was the third quarter 

of 2003. Reports covering the last two 

quarters of 2003 and the first quarter of 

2004 were due to NHTSA within 60 

days after the close of the reporting 

period. Thereafter, reports currently are 

due within 30 days after the close of the 

quarter. NHTSA also amended the 

requirements for submission of copies of 

non-dealer field reports. The initial 

reporting period for the submission of 

copies of non-dealer field reports was 

the first calendar quarter of 2004. Under 

that amendment, the dealer field reports 

are due within 30 days after the 

quarterly data are due. 49 CFR 

579.28(b), (n) (2003); see 68 FR 35145.

II. Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 

In response to a petition for 

rulemaking filed by the Alliance of 

Automobile Manufacturers (Alliance), 

on June 29, 2004, NHTSA published a 

proposal to amend the date by which 

quarterly early warning reports are to be 

submitted to the agency from 30 days 

following the end of a calendar quarter 

to 60 days following the end of a 

calendar quarter. In addition, the agency 

proposed to amend the date by which 

copies of non-dealer field reports are to 

be submitted from 30 days after the 

quarterly reports are due to 15 days after 

those reports are due. 69 FR 38860. In 

the NPRM, the agency stated that based 

upon the experience of the Alliance’s 

members, it appeared that 

manufacturers need more than 30 days 

to provide complete and accurate EWR 

reports to NHTSA. The agency further 

explained that complete reports best 

serve its EWR program because its 

analysts use the quarterly reports to 

assist in the identification of possible 

defect trends, and incomplete reports 

would disrupt the analytical process.

We received comments from industry 

trade associations and the public. For 

the industry, the Rubber Manufacturers 

Association (RMA), the Motor & 

Equipment Manufacturers Association 

(MEMA), the Association of 

International Automobile 

Manufacturers, Inc. (AIAM), the 

Alliance, and the Truck Manufacturers 

Association (TMA) submitted 

comments. In general, the industry 

supported the proposal and urged 

NHTSA to adopt it. Specifically, RMA 

indicated that its members report that 

the process of gathering information and 

completing the reports has been more 

complex than anticipated. In addition, 

MEMA commented that some of its 

members are part of large multi-national 

organizations that require more time to 

identify EWR information, translate it to 

English and prepare the applicable EWR 

report. Lastly, the Alliance and AIAM 

stated that the additional time to 

provide reports would ensure that its 

members provide complete and accurate 

reports to NHTSA. 

We also received one comment 

against the proposal from a private 

citizen. That individual commented that 

60 days to report EWR information is 

unreasonable since computers have the 

ability to quickly collate information. 

III. Discussion 

When we issued the EWR final rule, 

and when we postponed the initial 

reporting period on reconsideration, we 

believed that after manufacturers had 

three opportunities to gain experience 

57868 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 187 / Tuesday, September 28, 2004 / Rules and Regulations 

in making EWR submissions, 30 days 

after the end of each calendar quarter 

would be a sufficient amount of time for 

submitting EWR information. However, 

based upon the comments received from 

the industry, we are adopting the 

proposed revision to section 579.28(b) 

to permit manufacturers to submit EWR 

quarterly data not later than 60 days 

after the end of each calendar quarter. 

As we stated in the NPRM, the EWR 

rule requires manufacturers to submit 

large amounts of data that are stored in 

a variety of locations. As manufacturers 

have compiled and reported EWR 

information, they have gained a better 

understanding of the amount of time it 

takes them to collect, collate, and report 

the information. Based upon the 

experience of commenters, it appears 

that, at least for the foreseeable future, 

manufacturers need more than 30 days 

to collect, collate, and provide complete 

and accurate EWR reports to NHTSA. 

We do not believe that extending the 

due date for EWR reports will be a 

detriment to the interests of motor 

vehicle safety. Incomplete or inaccurate 

data would not serve NHTSA well. In 

fact, incomplete reports could lead the 

agency to fail to identify potential 

defects or to examine issues 

unnecessarily, thereby wasting agency 

resources. 

As we have stated in earlier Federal 

Register notices on the early warning 

reporting program, we plan to begin 

reviewing the EWR regulation after two 

years of reporting experience. During 

the course of this review, we will assess 

whether the appropriate time for 

quarterly reporting should be 30, 60 or 

some other number of days after the end 

of the reporting period. 

Under the current regulations, copies 

of non-dealer field reports are due to 

NHTSA within 30 days after the other 

quarterly reports are due. 49 CFR 

579.28(n) (2003). In essence, beginning 

with the second quarter of 2004, these 

reports are now due 60 days after the 

end of the quarter. Given the structure 

of the regulation, which bases the due 

date for non-dealer field reports on the 

due date for quarterly reports, if we 

were to change the due date for the 

quarterly reports and make no other 

changes, the non-dealer field reports 

would be due 90 days after the end of 

the quarter. We do not see any need for 

a delay of that length. However, to avoid 

any possibility that the submission of 

the field reports could interfere with the 

submission of the quarterly data, we 

proposed to continue to stagger the two 

dates. We proposed a 15 day difference 

between reporting dates for this 

purpose. We did not receive any 

comments to the contrary. Therefore, we 

will adopt the proposal to change the 

language of subsection 579.28(n) to 

require non-dealer field reports to be 

submitted not later than 15 days after 

the quarterly data is due, which would 

be 75 days after the end of the calendar 

quarter. 

IV. Rulemaking Analyses 

Regulatory Policies and Procedures.

Executive Order 12866, ‘‘Regulatory 

Planning and Review’’ (58 FR 51735, 

October 4, 1993) provides for making 

determinations whether a regulatory 

action is ‘‘significant’’ and therefore 

subject to Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) review and to the 

requirements of the Executive Order. 

The Order defines as ‘‘significant 

regulatory action’’ as one that is likely 

to result in a rule that may: 

(1) Have an annual effect on the 

economy of $100 million or more or 

adversely affect in a material way the 

economy, a sector of the economy, 

productivity, competition, jobs, the 

environment, public health or safety, or 

State, local, or Tribal governments or 

communities; 

(2) Create a serious inconsistency or 

otherwise interfere with an action taken 

or planned by another agency; 

(3) Materially alter the budgetary 

impact of entitlements, grants, user fees, 

or loan programs or the rights and 

obligations of recipients thereof; or 

(4) Raise novel legal or policy issues 

arising out of legal mandates, the 

President’s priorities, or the principles 

set forth in the Executive Order.

Today’s final rule was not reviewed 

under E.O. 12866 or the Department of 

Transportation’s regulatory policies and 

procedures. This rulemaking action is 

not significant under Department of 

Transportation policies and procedures. 

The impacts of today’s final rule are 

expected to be so minimal as not to 

warrant preparation of a full regulatory 

evaluation because the final rule only 

revises the time period for reporting 

certain EWR data from 30 days to 60 

days after the calendar quarter ends and 

revises the date for submission of 

certain field reports by 15 days. This 

document does not otherwise change 

the substance of the reports. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act. The 

Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (5 

U.S.C. 601 et seq.) requires agencies to 

evaluate the potential effects of their 

proposed and final rules on small 

businesses, small organizations and 

small governmental jurisdictions. This 

was addressed in the EWR final rule and 

in response to petitions for 

reconsideration. See 67 FR 45870–71 

and 69 FR 3292, 3297 respectively. 

Today’s final rule simply extends dates 

for reporting information under the 

early warning program and does not 

impose any new burdens on small 

businesses. Based on the analyses 

performed in the EWR final rule (67 FR 

45870–71) and the response to petitions 

for rulemaking (69 FR 3292, 3297), I 

certify that this proposed rule will not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

Executive Order 13132 (Federalism)

Executive Order 13132 on ‘‘Federalism’’

requires us to develop an accountable 

process to ensure ‘‘meaningful and 

timely input by State and local officials 

in the development of ‘‘regulatory 

policies that have federalism 

implications.’’ The Executive Order 

defines this phrase to include 

regulations ‘‘that have substantial direct 

effects on the States, on the relationship 

between the national government and 

the States, or on the distribution of 

power and responsibilities among the 

various levels of government.’’ The 

agency has analyzed this final rule in 

accordance with the principles and 

criteria set forth in Executive Order 

13132 and has determined that it will 

not have sufficient federalism 

implications to warrant consultation 

with State and local officials or the 

preparation of a federalism summary 

impact statement. Today’s final rule is 

a rule that regulates the manufacturers 

of motor vehicles and motor vehicle 

equipment, which does not have 

substantial direct effect on the States, on 

the relationship between the national 

government and the States, or on the 

distribution of power and 

responsibilities among the various 

levels of government, as specified in 

Executive Order 13132. 

Civil Justice Reform. This final rule 

will not have a retroactive or 

preemptive effect, and judicial review of 

it may be obtained pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 

702. That section does not require that 

a petition for reconsideration be filed 

prior to seeking judicial review. 

Paperwork Reduction Act. Today’s 

final rule simply extends the reporting 

period for the submission of EWR data. 

It does not create new information 

collection requirements, as that term is 

defined by the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) in 5 CFR part 1320. 

To the extent that this final rule 

implicates the Paperwork Reduction 

Act, we will rely upon our previous 

clearance from OMB. To obtain a threeyear clearance for information collection 

for the EWR rule, we published a 

Paperwork Reduction Act notice on 

June 25, 2002 (67 FR 42843) pursuant to 

the requirements of that Act (44 U.S.C. 

3501 et seq.). We received clearance 

from OMB on December 20, 2002, 

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 187 / Tuesday, September 28, 2004 / Rules and Regulations 57869

which will expire on December 31, 

2005. The clearance number is 2127–

0616. The amendments adopted by this 

document do not change the overall 

paperwork burden. They simply extend 

the dates for reporting certain 

information pursuant to the EWR rule. 

Data Quality Act. Section 515 of the 

FY 2001 Treasury and General 

Government Appropriations Act (Public 

Law 106–554, § 515, codified at 44 

U.S.C. 3516 historical and statutory 

note), commonly referred to as the Data 

Quality Act, directed OMB to establish 

government-wide standards in the form 

of guidelines designed to maximize the 

‘‘quality,’’ ‘‘objectivity,’’ ‘‘utility,’’ and 

‘‘integrity’’ of information that Federal 

agencies disseminate to the public. As 

noted in the EWR final rule (67 FR 

45822), NHTSA has reviewed its data 

collection, generation, and 

dissemination processes in order to 

ensure that agency information meets 

the standards articulated in the OMB 

and DOT guidelines. The changes 

adopted by today’s final rule simply 

extends the reporting period for 

submission of data pursuant to the EWR 

rule and do not have any effects on the 

quality of the date disseminated by the 

agency. 

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. The 

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 

(Public Law 104–4) requires agencies to 

prepare a written assessment of the 

costs, benefits, and other effects of 

proposed or final rules that include a 

Federal mandate likely to result in 

expenditures by State, local or tribal 

governments, in the aggregate, or by the 

private sector, of more than $100 

million annually (adjusted annually for 

inflation with base year of 1995). The 

EWR final rule did not have unfunded 

mandates implications. 67 FR 49263. 

Today’s final rule simply extends the 

reporting period for submission of data 

pursuant to the EWR rule and does not 

create any unfunded mandates within 

the meaning of this Act.

List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 579 

Imports, Motor vehicle safety, Motor 

vehicles, Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements.

■ In consideration of the foregoing, 49 

CFR chapter V is amended as follows:

PART 579—REPORTING OF 

INFORMATION AND 

COMMUNICATIONS ABOUT 

POTENTIAL DEFECTS

■ 1. The authority citation for part 579 

continues to read as follows:

Authority: Sec. 3, Pub. L. 106–414, 114 

Stat. 1800 (49 U.S.C. 30102–103, 30112, 

30117–121, 30166–167); delegation of 

authority at 49 CFR 1.50.

Subpart C—Reporting of Early 

Warning Information

■ 2. In § 579.28, revise paragraphs (b) 

and (n) to read as follows:

§ 579.28 Due date of reports and other 

miscellaneous provisions.

* * * * *

(b) Due date of reports. Except as 

provided in paragraph (n) of this 

section, each manufacturer of motor 

vehicles and motor vehicle equipment 

shall submit each report that is required 

by this subpart not later than 60 days 

after the last day of the reporting period.

* * * * *

(n) Submission of copies of field 

reports. Copies of field reports required 

under this subpart shall be submitted 

not later than 15 days after reports are 

due pursuant to paragraph (b) of this 

section.

Issued on: September 22, 2004. 

Jeffrey W. Runge, 

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 04–21737 Filed 9–27–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration 

49 CFR Part 594 

[Docket No. NHTSA 2004–17987; Notice 2] 

RIN 2127–AJ34 

Schedule of Fees Authorized by 49 

U.S.C. 30141

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: This document adopts fees for 

Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 and until further 

notice, relating to the registration of 

importers and the importation of motor 

vehicles not certified as conforming to 

the Federal motor vehicle safety 

standards (FMVSS).

DATES: The amendments established by 

this final rule will become effective on 

October 1, 2004, the beginning of FY 

2005. Petitions for reconsideration must 

be received by NHTSA not later than 

November 12, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Petitions for reconsideration 

should refer to the docket and notice 

numbers above and be submitted to the 

Administrator, National Highway 

Traffic Safety Administration, 400 

Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 

20590, with a copy to the docket. You 

may provide a copy of your petition by 

any of the following methods: 

• Web site: http://dms.dot.gov. 

Follow the instructions for submitting 

comments on the DOT electronic docket 

site. Please note, if you are submitting 

petitions electronically as a PDF 

(Adobe) file, we ask that the documents 

submitted be scanned using Optical 

Character Recognition (OCR) process, 

thus allowing the agency to search and 

copy certain portions of your 

submissions. Please also note that 

anyone is able to search the electronic 

form of all comments received into any 

of our dockets by the name of the 

individual submitting the comment (or 

signing the comment, if submitted on 

behalf of an association, business, labor 

union, etc.). You may review DOT’s 

complete Privacy Act Statement in the 

Federal Register published on April 11, 

2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 

19477–78) or you may visit http://

dms.dot.gov. 

• Fax: 1–202–493–2251. 

• Mail: Docket Management Facility; 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 

Seventh Street, SW., Nassif Building, 

Room PL–401, Washington, DC 20590–

001. 

• Hand Delivery: Room PL–401 on 

the plaza level of the Nassif Building, 

400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, 

DC, between 9 am and 5 pm, Monday 

through Friday, except Federal 

Holidays. 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

non-legal issues: Coleman Sachs, Office 

of Vehicle Safety Compliance, National 

Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 

400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, 

DC 20590 (202–366–5291). For legal 

issues: Michael Goode, Office of Chief 

Counsel, National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration, 400 Seventh 

Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590 

(202–366–5263).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Introduction 

The amendments we are adopting in 

this rule increase the fees for the 

registration of a new registered importer 

(RI) from $655 to $830 and the annual 

fee for renewing an existing registration 

from $455 to $745. These fees include 

the costs of maintaining the RI program. 

We are also increasing, from $550 to 

$827, the fee for inspecting a vehicle 

that is the subject of an import 

eligibility petition when we are asked to 

conduct such an inspection by the 

petitioner. The fee required to reimburse 

the U.S. Department of Homeland