II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5237 

To require the Secretary of Transportation to promulgate regulations relating 

to the approval of foreign manufacturers of cylinders, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 12, 2022 

Mr. PORTMAN (for himself, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. HAGERTY, and Mr. DURBIN) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Transportation to promulgate 

regulations relating to the approval of foreign manufacturers of cylinders, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Compressed Gas Cyl5 inder Safety and Oversight Improvements Act of 2022’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REGULATION OF FOREIGN MANUFACTURERS OF 

7 CYLINDERS USED IN TRANSPORTING HAZ8 ARDOUS MATERIALS. 

9 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) CYLINDER.—The term ‘‘cylinder’’ means 

2 any cylinder specified under any of sections 178.36 

3 through 178.68 of title 49, Code of Federal Regula4 tions (or successor regulations). 

5 (2) FOREIGN MANUFACTURER OF CYLINDERS; 

6 FMOC.—The term ‘‘foreign manufacturer of cyl7 inders’’ or ‘‘FMOC’’ means an entity that manufac8 tures cylinders outside of the United States that are 

9 intended to be represented, marked, certified, or sold 

10 as qualified for use in transporting a hazardous ma11 terial in commerce in the United States. 

12 (3) IN GOOD STANDING.—The term ‘‘in good 

13 standing’’, with respect to an FMOC, means that 

14 the FMOC— 

15 (A) is approved by the Secretary pursuant 

16 to section 107.807 of title 49, Code of Federal 

17 Regulations (or a successor regulation); and 

18 (B) has demonstrated 3 years of compli19 ance with— 

20 (i) part 107 of title 49, Code of Fed21 eral Regulations (or successor regulations); 

22 and 

23 (ii) chapter 51 of title 49, United 

24 States Code. 


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1 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of Transportation. 

3 (b) APPROVAL OF FOREIGN MANUFACTURERS OF

4 CYLINDERS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall promul6 gate regulations to provide that an approval pro7 vided to an FMOC pursuant to section 107.807 of 

8 title 49, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor 

9 regulation), shall be for a period of not longer than 

10 1 year, except as provided under paragraph (2). 

11 (2) 5-YEAR APPROVAL.—The Secretary may 

12 provide a 5-year approval of an FMOC pursuant to 

13 section 107.807 of title 49, Code of Federal Regula14 tions (or a successor regulation), if the following re15 quirements are met: 

16 (A) The FMOC attests that none of the 

17 cylinders made by the FMOC are prohibited 

18 from entry to the United States under section 

19 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 

20 1307). 

21 (B) The FMOC certifies that— 

22 (i) the information provided pursuant 

23 to subsection (e) is accurate; and 


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1 (ii) the FMOC has a proactive respon2 sibility to inform the Secretary if any such 

3 information materially changes. 

4 (C) The Secretary determines that the 

5 FMOC is in good standing. 

6 (3) FACILITY INSPECTIONS.— 

7 (A) DEFINITION OF OBSTRUCTS.—In this 

8 paragraph, the term ‘‘obstructs’’ means taking 

9 actions that are known, or reasonably should be 

10 known, to prevent, hinder, or impede an inspec11 tion. 

12 (B) PENALTIES.—The Secretary may sus13 pend or terminate an approval of an FMOC if 

14 the FMOC obstructs or prevents the Secretary 

15 from carrying out an inspection under section 

16 107.807(c) of title 49, Code of Federal Regula17 tions (or a successor regulation). 

18 (4) INTERACTION WITH OTHER STATUTES, 

19 AGREEMENTS, REGULATIONS.—Nothing in this sec20 tion may be construed to prevent the harmonization 

21 of cylinder standards otherwise authorized by law. 

22 (5) OTHER CAUSE FOR SUSPENSION OR TERMI23 NATION.—The Secretary may suspend or terminate 

24 an approval of an FMOC on determination that the 

25 FMOC knowingly or intentionally misrepresented reVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:33 Dec 13, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5237.IS S5237

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1 sponses to the Secretary required by law, including 

2 under subsection (e). 

3 (c) REEVALUATION BY REQUEST FOR RELATED VIO4 LATIONS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

6 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec7 retary shall promulgate such regulations as are nec8 essary to establish a process, as determined by the 

9 Secretary, for any interested party to request a re10 evaluation of the approval of FMOC cylinders under 

11 section 107.807 of title 49, Code of Federal Regula12 tions (or a successor regulation), to review the accu13 racy and safety of the actions of the FMOC. 

14 (2) PETITION FOR REEVALUATION.—The regu15 lations promulgated under paragraph (1) shall allow 

16 an interested party to file a petition if that party 

17 has evidence of inaccurate, changed, or fraudulent 

18 attestations or responses made by an FMOC to the 

19 Secretary under subsection (e). 

20 (d) NOTICE AND COMMENT FOR APPLICATIONS BY

21 FOREIGN MANUFACTURERS OF CYLINDERS.—On receipt 

22 of an application for approval under section 107.807 of 

23 title 49, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regu24 lation), the Secretary shall— 


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1 (1) timely publish notification of the application 

2 on the website of the Pipeline and Hazardous Mate3 rials Safety Administration; and 

4 (2) provide 30 days for public comment on the 

5 application prior to approval. 

6 (e) ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS TO ENSURE SAFETY

7 AND COMPLIANCE WITH DOT PROCESSES.— 

8 (1) ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS.—The Secretary 

9 shall require, as part of an application for approval 

10 pursuant to section 107.807 of title 49, Code of 

11 Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation), that 

12 the applicant answer the following questions: 

13 (A) Whether the FMOC applying, or any 

14 entity controlling more than 10 percent of that 

15 FMOC, has ever been subject to a civil mone16 tary penalty under title 49, United States Code, 

17 relating to any actions carried out as an ap18 proved FMOC or during the application for ap19 proval under that section. 

20 (B) Whether the FMOC applying, or any 

21 entity controlling more than 10 percent of that 

22 FMOC, has been delinquent in the payment of 

23 any civil monetary penalties or other fines or 

24 fees under title 49, United States Code. 


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1 (C) Whether the FMOC applying, or any 

2 entity controlling more than 10 percent of that 

3 FMOC, is subject to the Do Not Pay Initiative 

4 established under section 3354 of title 31, 

5 United States Code, as of the date of the appli6 cation. 

7 (D) Whether the FMOC applying, or any 

8 entity controlling more than 10 percent of that 

9 FMOC, is listed in the Military End User List 

10 of the Department of Commerce as of the date 

11 of the application. 

12 (E) Whether the FMOC applying, or any 

13 entity controlling more than 10 percent of that 

14 FMOC, is identified by the Department of De15 fense as an entity listed under section 1237 of 

16 the Strom Thurmond National Defense Author17 ization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 (50 U.S.C. 

18 1701 note; Public Law 105–261) as of the date 

19 of application. 

20 (F) Whether the FMOC applying, or any 

21 entity controlling more than 10 percent of that 

22 FMOC, has been found guilty of a criminal 

23 penalty or assessed a civil penalty under section 

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1 tional Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 

2 Year 2019 (50 U.S.C. 4819). 

3 (G) Whether the FMOC applying, or any 

4 entity controlling more than 10 percent of that 

5 FMOC, is subject to a final antidumping or 

6 countervailing duty order from the Department 

7 of Commerce as of the date of application. 

8 (2) DENIAL OF APPLICATION.—The Secretary 

9 may deny under section 107.709 of title 49, Code of 

10 Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation), an 

11 application for approval under section 107.807 of 

12 that title (or a successor regulation) based on the re13 sponses to the questions required under paragraph 

14 (1). 

15 (f) FOREIGN MANUFACTURERS LISTING APPROV16 ALS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

17 of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall 

18 publish and maintain on the website of the Department 

19 of Transportation a list of approved foreign manufacturers 

20 of cylinders and the duration of those approvals. 

21 (g) AUTHORIZING FOREIGN INSPECTIONS.—Not 

22 later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 

23 Act, the Secretary shall revise section 107.807(d) of title 

24 49, Code of Federal Regulations— 


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1 (1) to require that in any case in which the 

2 Secretary determines there is good cause, an inspec3 tion under that section shall be carried out annually 

4 for such duration as the Secretary determines appro5 priate; 

6 (2) to specify that a refusal of inspection under 

7 that section shall result in a loss of the status of in 

8 good standing; 

9 (3) to allow the Secretary to request, at the dis10 cretion of the Secretary— 

11 (A) production of test and production 

12 records; and 

13 (B) random sample testing; and 

14 (4) to allow for the recovery of all associated 

15 costs of foreign inspections to include travel, time, 

16 and other costs, as determined by the Secretary. 

Æ 


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