Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 80 / Monday, April 27, 1998 / Proposed Rules 20565

use of used and retreaded tires only to

mileage contract purchasers, but to

widen the exception to permit all

purchasers to provide their own tires. In

addition, since all commenters who

addressed the retreaded tire proposal

supported it, NHTSA adopted that

provision for inclusion in S5.1.3.

NHTSA published the final rule

promulgating the current provisions of

FMVSS No. 120 on May 17, 1984 (49 FR

20822).

d. Federal Register Notice (June 1,

1995)

On June 1, 1995, NHTSA’s Federal

Register Notice solicited comments on

TRI’s petition and whether the standard

should be further amended to permit

manufacturers, distributors, and

dealers—in addition to purchasers—to

install used and/or retreaded tires on

new trucks and buses. Also in the

notice, NHTSA posed fourteen

questions in an attempt to obtain data

ranging from the percentage of

purchasers that use tire contracts and/or

tire banks to the environmental impact

of granting the petition.

e. Agency’s Decision

NHTSA received 13 comments in

response to its notice. Three

commenters clearly supported the idea

of expanding the use of retreads on new

trailers. TRI, the petitioner, repeated its

request for that expansion in its

comments, noting that NHTSA has no

safety data showing that retreads are

less safe than new tires. Dempster

Industries, Inc. (a trailer manufacturer)

and Becker Tire & Treading, Inc. (a

retreader) both noted that recycling is

important and the requested expansion

would result in cost savings for all. Two

other commenters did not oppose the

idea of expanding the use of retreads on

new trailers. The American Trucking

Association (ATA) stated that retreads

cost about half as much as new tires and

that its members believe manufacturers

and dealers are capable of installing

suitable retreads on new trailers. ATA

said that this should not present any

serious problems if the customer is

clearly told what he or she is getting.

Fixible, a bus manufacturer, indicated

that, while it did not oppose the change,

that company would continue to install

only new tires, unless retreads were

provided by the purchaser.

Eight commenters opposed the

expansion requested in the petition.

Two tire manufacturers, Dunlop and

Continental General Tire, both urged the

agency to leave the requirements as they

are. Dunlop noted that there is no

Federal standard regulating these

retreads and that allowing any retread to

be used on new trailers would increase

the number of tire failures experienced

by new trailers. Both the Pennsylvania

Department of Transportation and the

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety

also noted the absence of any Federal

standard for these retreads and

recommended that any expansion in the

use of retreads on new trailers should be

accompanied by a new Federal standard

for these retreads. The National

Automobile Dealers Association

opposed the expansion, arguing that the

price difference for new vs. retreaded

tires is insignificant when compared to

the price of a new vehicle. Two trailer

manufacturers opposed the proposed

change. Big Tex Trailers stated that tires

are critical to safety and the prior

history of retreads is not known. In that

company’s view, the change requested

would lessen safety. Sooner Trailer

Manufacturing Co., Inc. commented that

the National Association of Trailer

Manufacturers, which represents

manufacturers of trailers with a gross

vehicle weight rating of less than 26,000

pounds, has adopted a recommendation

that its members refrain from using

retreads as original equipment on new

trailers. Finally, the American

Retreaders Association commented that

it opposed the change and that its

members believe the current regulatory

provisions work well.

After considering these comments and

reexamining this area, NHTSA has

decided to terminate rulemaking on this

petition. Standard No. 120 currently

requires a quality control check of tires

mounted on new vehicles other than

passenger cars. If those tires are new

tires, they must be certified as

complying with NHTSA’s safety

standards for new tires. If the tires

mounted on new vehicles are used or

retreaded tires, the purchaser has

furnished those tires to the vehicle

manufacturer. Given the substantial

investment the purchaser is making in

a new vehicle, NHTSA has trusted

purchasers to take adequate steps to

assure that the tires given to the

manufacturer are safe and suitable for

use on the new vehicle.

Under the approach requested in

TRI’s petition, quality control of the

tires on new trailers would be left up to

vehicle manufacturers and dealers. As

noted in the comments, there is no

Federal safety standard for nonpassenger car retreads. In addition,

NHTSA is unaware of any voluntary

consensus industry standard for these

retreads. Given these circumstances, it

would be very difficult for vehicle

manufacturers and dealers to apply any

uniform standards for quality control

purposes. Absent uniform standards, it

would be difficult to assure no

degradation of safety of the tires

installed on new trailers and other nonpassenger cars.

NHTSA would reexamine this area if

information becomes available

indicating that adequate quality control

could be assured, such as an industry

standard, best practices of major

retreaders, or other voluntary

approaches, as well as, a possible

Federal Safety Standard. Without

assuring quality control of these

retreads, NHTSA is concerned that the

safety of tires on new trailers would be

diminished.

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 322, 30111, 30115,

30117, and 30166; delegation of authority at

49 CFR 1.50.

Issued on: April 21, 1998.

Ricardo Martinez,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 98–11177 Filed 4–24–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–59–M

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Parts 285 and 644

[I.D. 042098D]

Atlantic Tuna Fisheries; Atlantic

Billfishes; Public Hearings

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of additional public

hearings.

SUMMARY: On April 9, 1998, NMFS

published a document announcing a

series of public hearings to receive

comments from fishery participants and

other members of the public regarding

proposed Atlantic bluefin tuna (ABT)

quota specifications and General

category effort controls, tournament

reporting for Atlantic billfishes, and an

increase in minimum size limits for

Atlantic blue marlin and Atlantic white

marlin. NMFS announces two

additional public hearings.

DATES: The additional hearings are

scheduled as follows:

1. Monday, May 4, 1998, 7 to 9 p.m.,

Riverhead, NY.

2. Monday, May 4, 1998, 7 to 9 p.m.,

Toms River, NJ.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should

be sent to Rebecca Lent, Chief, Highly

Migratory Species Management

Division, Office of Sustainable Fisheries

(F/SF1), NMFS, 1315 East-West
20566 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 80 / Monday, April 27, 1998 / Proposed Rules

Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910-

3282.

The hearing locations are:

1. Riverhead Town Hall, 200 Howell

Avenue, Riverhead, NY 11901, (516)

727–3200

2. Quality Inn, 815 Route 37 West,

Toms River, NJ 08755, (732) 341–2400.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mark Murray-Brown at (978) 281–9260,

Sarah McLaughlin at (301) 713–2347, or

Buck Sutter at (813) 570–5447.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

actions that are the subject of the

hearings are necessary to improve

management and monitoring of the U.S.

Atlantic tuna and billfish fisheries in

order to implement 1996 and 1997

International Commission for the

Conservation of Atlantic Tunas

recommendations and to enhance

collection of data in order to improve

assessment of the environmental,

economic, and social impacts of the

fisheries.

Complete descriptions of the

proposed ABT specifications and the

interim billfish measures are contained

in the proposed rule for ABT published

April 2, 1998 (63 FR 16220), and the

interim rule for billfish published

March 24, 1998 (63 FR 14030),

respectively, and are not repeated here.

Copies of these actions may be obtained

by writing (see ADDRESSES) or calling

one of the contact persons (see FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).

The purpose of this announcement is

to alert the interested public of the

hearings and provide for public

participation.

Special Accommodations

These hearings are physically

accessible to people with disabilities.

Requests for sign language

interpretation or other auxiliary aids

should be directed to Rebecca Lent at

least 5 days prior to the hearing date

(see ADDRESSES).

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq. and 16

U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

Dated: April 21, 1998.

Bruce C. Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 98–11015 Filed 4–23–98; 10:26 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–F