Regulatory Announcement

Plain-Language Format of Emission 

Regulations for Nonroad Engines 

I

n the Clean Air Act, Congress has given the U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency (EPA) responsibility to set emission standards 

for all types of highway and nonroad engines, vehicles, and equipment. 

We have tried to write the regulations to adopt these emission standards 

in a way that is easy to understand, even for someone with little legal 

or engineering experience in reading regulations. This fact sheet 

describes this approach to writing regulations and the plans to extend 

this to other programs in the future. 

What issues does plain language address? 

Regulations related to engine emissions often involve complex language to 

implement standards and procedures. However, we are making an extra effort to 

write the standards, instructions, and prohibitions in ways that are easy to understand 

and less likely to raise questions that require interpretation. This effort is consistent 

with an October 1998 Executive Order instructing federal agencies to use plain 

language in official documents. 

How is plain language different? 

Writing plain-language regulations involves four main strategies. We: 

•	 Identify the group of people who are most affected and write it directly to 

them. This way requirements and prohibitions sound more like instructions 

that are short and to the point. We do make clear, however, that failing to 

follow these instructions carries the same penalties as if they were written 

more formally. 

•	 Generally use active verbs so it is clear who is responsible to do certain 


things.


• Avoid using technical or legal terms when common words communicate the 

same meaning. 

•	 Organize the provisions to put related things together. This helps the reader 

find things faster and reduces the risk of overlapping or inconsistent 

requirements. Leaving some section and part numbers unused allows us to add 

related requirements in the future without causing confusion. 

Office of Transportation and Air Quality 

EPA420-F-07-037 

June 2007 
Resource Information

How are the new plain-language regulations organized? 

These regulations have three portions: 

•	 The main element of the regulations sets emission standards for engines or equipment 

also known as the standard-setting part). This includes everything a manufacturer needs 

to know to design compliant products, certify them, and show that they meet all 

the requirements. 

•	 Another part of the regulations has general procedures and specifications that describe 

how to test engines to show that they meet emission standards. This includes analyzer 

and test-fuel specifications and instructions for testing engines, calibrating equipment, 

and calculating emission levels. We describe any testing provisions that are specific to a 

particular type of engine in the standard-setting part. 

•	 A third part of the regulations describes how we administer and enforce our emissioncontrol programs. Many of these provisions come directly from the Clean Air Act 

As with the test procedures and specifications, we address compliance provisions that 

are specific to a particular type of engines in the standard-setting part. The general 

compliance provisions include: 

◦ general prohibitions 

◦ requirements for people installing, using, or servicing certified engines 

◦ general exemptions for a variety of situations 

◦ procedures for auditing production-line engines 

◦ defect-reporting and recall 

◦ hearing procedures 

In effect, the standard-setting part serves as a handbook for manufacturers to meet all the 

requirements that apply to them, while the general parts serve as reference materials for 

manufacturers and anyone involved in activities related to certified engines. 

Chapters, parts, sections, paragraphs—how does it all fit together? 

The Office of the Federal Register publishes the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) with a 

uniform format and nomenclature that all federal agencies use when writing regulations. The 

CFR is divided into 50 “titles,” of which Title 40 is reserved for all requirements related to 

environmental protection. As with all the titles in the CFR, Title 40 is divided into parts to 

address specific programs. Regulations initiated by the Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) 

have historically all been located together in Parts 49 through 99. Within the Office of Air and 

Radiation, the Office of Transportation and Air Quality has adopted emission standards for 

various types of highway and nonroad engines, which are generally in Parts 85 through 94. 

To address the need for more regulatory parts for new programs and write them in plain 

language, we have reserved a new set of parts—1000 through 1299. The first 100 of these parts 

are reserved for emission control programs from the Office of Transportation and Air Quality, 

with the intended distribution shown in Table 1 below. So far, we have proposed or adopted 

regulations that use five of these new parts: 

•	 Part 1027 specifies certification fees for all engines, vehicles, and equipment.Part 1033 is 

the standard-setting part for locomotives. 

•	 Part 1039 is the standard-setting part for land-based nonroad diesel engines. 

•	 Part 1042 is the standard-setting part for marine diesel engines. 

Plain-Language Format of Emission Regulations 
Resource Information

•	 Part 1045 is the standard-setting part for marine spark-ignition engines. 

•	 Part 1048 is the standard-setting part for nonroad spark-ignition engines over 19 kilowatts 

that are not used in recreational vehicles. 

•	 Part 1051 is the standard-setting part for recreational vehicles, including snowmobiles, 

all-terrain vehicles, and off-highway motorcycles. 

•	 Part 1054 is the standard-setting part for nonroad spark-ignition engines at or below 

19 kilowatts. 

•	 Part 1060 specifies emission standards and test procedures for all types of nonroad engines. 

•	 Part 1065 describes general provisions related to procedures for testing engines. 

•	 Part 1068 includes general compliance provisions. 

•	 Part 1074 describes provisions related to preemption of state regulations. 

Each of these parts has various subparts, sections, and paragraphs. The following illustration 

shows how these fit together and what format we use to identify them. 

Part 1054

 Subpart A

 Section 1054.1 

(a) 

(b)

 (1)

 (2)

 (i)

 (ii) 

Note that a cross-reference to §1054.1(b) in this illustration would refer to the parent paragraph 

(b) and all the paragraphs under it. For example, this would include paragraphs (b), (b)(1), 

(b)(2), (b)(2)(i), and (b)(2)(ii). A reference to “§1054.1(b) introductory text” would refer only 

to the single, parent paragraph (b). 

What are the advantages of taking this approach? 

The first step for anyone to comply with regulations is to understand them. We believe plainlanguage regulations will be a great help to those trying to meet all the requirements that apply. 

In addition, setting general testing provisions in Part 1065 and general compliance provisions in 

Part 1068 should greatly simplify and coordinate regulations across different programs. 

•	 When we add a new standard-setting part to Subchapter U for a different category of 

engines, we apply the existing provisions of Parts 1065 and 1068 as a supplement to the 

new standard-setting part. 

•	 If we need to change Parts 1065 or 1068 for any reason, those changes would 

automatically apply to the other nonroad engines that are already regulated under those 

parts. 

•	 Where the specific provisions of the general parts do not apply, or apply uniquely, for 

a particular type of engine, the standard-setting part can include provisions to make 

these distinctions. 

Plain-Language Format of Emission Regulations 
This approach has three important implications: 

•	 First, companies already subject to Parts 1065 and 1068 need to stay abreast of what we 

are doing in other programs. We generally plan to apply the same provisions to everyone, 

but we will go through a public process to do this for each new category of engines. As a 

result, there may be some changes resulting from discussions on an otherwise unrelated subject. 

•	 Second, by relying on single “reference” sections to cover multiple programs, we will 

necessarily take a consistent approach to these general regulatory provisions. Relying on 

centralized reference sections prevents the risk of making corrections or improvements 

in one program that don’t apply to other programs where that would be the right 

thing to do, which will be especially helpful for EPA management of multiple emission 

control programs and for manufacturers involved in making engines for more than one 

kind of nonroad application. 

•	 Third, the standard-setting part will be smaller. Most parts with nonroad emission 

standards are 100 - 150 pages in the CFR. Moving the general provisions into stand-	 	

	 	 alone parts will allow us to condense the program-specific information in the standard-	 	

	 	 setting part down to about 50 pages. 

How would other programs fit into the new scheme? 

The following table shows how we plan to use Subchapter U for regulations related to issues that 

fall under the responsibility of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality. We generally refer 

to these as “mobile sources” of emissions.

Resource Information

Plain-Language Format of Emission Regulations 
Table 1

Regulatory Blueprint for Parts 1000 through 1099 

Resource Information

Part Subject Status 

1000 through 1011 State/Federal Implementation Plans, Conformity, Other Broad Mobile-Source Issues 

1005 Conformity 

1012 through 1026 Highway vehicle programs 

1012 

1015 

1018 

1022 

1025 

Light-duty vehicle standards 

Fuel economy and FE retrofits (currently in 40 CFR parts 600 and 

610) 

Highway motorcycles 

Clean fuel fleets/ILEV programs 

General enforcement provisions for vehicle programs (mirror 1068, 

plus consumer imports, performance warranty, etc.) 

1027 through 1029 General certification provisions 

1027 Certification fees proposed 

1030 through 1060 Highway and nonroad engine and equipment programs 

1030 

1033 

1036 

1039 

1042 

*1043 

1045 

1048 

1051 

1054 

Aircraft 

Locomotives 

Heavy-duty highway engines and vehicles 

Nonroad diesel engines and equipment 

Marine diesel engines and vessels 

Marine vessel operations (MARPOL) 

Marine spark-ignition engines and vessels 

Large nonroad spark-ignition engines and equipment 

Land-based recreational vehicles 

Small nonroad spark-ignition engines and equipment 

proposed 

adopted June 2004 

proposed 

proposed 

adopted November 2002 

adopted November 2002 

proposed 

1057 through 1081 General provisions 

1060 

1064 

1065 

1068 

1071 

1074 

General standards and procedures—evaporative emissions 

General procedures for vehicle testing (SI and CI) 

General procedures for engine testing (SI and CI) 

General enforcement provisions for engine programs 

Nonconformance penalties 

Preemption 

proposed 

adopted November 2002 

adopted November 2002 

proposed 

1082 through 1099 In-use fuel requirements 

1083 

1086 

1089 

*1092 

*1095 

1098 

Registration of fuels and fuel additives 

Gasoline 

Diesel fuel 

Heavy fuels and SOx Emission Control Areas 

Alternative fuels 

General compliance provisions (penalties, CBI, dumping, hardship, 

exemptions, etc.) 

Key: Bold = adopted. Plain text = under development. Italics = later. 

* The marked parts would involve development of fundamentally new regulatory provisions that may be adopted in the future. 

Other categories already have existing regulatory provisions in the CFR. 

Note that part numbers are not sequential to allow for flexibility with future rulemakings. 

Plain-Language Format of Emission Regulations 
Resource Information

Where Can I Get More Information? 

You can access documents related to emission standards on the Office of Transportation and Air 

Quality Web site at: www.epa.gov/otaq/. 

You can also contact us at: 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency


Assessment and Standards Division


2000 Traverwood Drive


Ann Arbor, MI 48105


voice-mail: (734) 214-4636


E-mail: asdinfo@epa.gov


Plain-Language Format of Emission Regulations