[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 22, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 15118-15120]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-7020]



=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 15119]]

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

49 CFR Chapter V

[Docket No. 95-16, Notice 2]


Meeting on Regulatory Reform

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting; request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This notice announces a public meeting at which NHTSA will 
seek information from the public on regulatory reform actions the 
agency should take related to its motor vehicle regulations. This 
notice also invites written comments on the same subject.

DATES: Public meeting: The meeting will be held on April 7, 1995 at 
9:30 a.m. Those wishing to make oral presentations at the meeting 
should contact Deborah Parker, at the address or telephone number 
listed below, April 4, 1995.
    Written comments: Written comments are due by April 7, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Public meeting: The public meeting will be held at the 
following location: Room 2230, Nassif Building, 400 7th Street SW., 
Washington, DC 20590.
    Written comments: All written comments should be mailed to the 
Docket Section, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Room 
5109, 400 7th Street SW., Washington, DC 20590. Please refer to the 
docket number when submitting written comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Deborah Parker, Director, Special 
Projects Staff, NPS 01.1, NHTSA, 400 7th Street, SW., Washington, DC 
20590 (telephone 202-366-4931).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Calling for a new approach to the way 
Government regulates the private sector President Clinton asked 
Executive Branch agencies to report to him by June 1, 1995, on ways to 
improve the regulatory process. Specifically, the President requested 
that agencies: (1) Cut obsolete regulations; (2) reward agency and 
regulator performance by rewarding results, not red tape; (3) create 
grassroots partnerships by meeting, outside of Washington, DC, with 
those affected by regulations and other interested parties; and (4) use 
consensual rulemaking, such as regulatory negotiation, more frequently. 
This public meeting will help NHTSA to comply with the President's 
directives.
    The agency is focussing at this time on items (1) and (4) described 
above. For item (1), cut obsolete regulations, the President requested 
that we ``conduct a page-by-page review of all * * * agency regulations 
now in force and eliminate or revise those that are outdated or 
otherwise in need of reform.'' The President requested that our review 
include consideration of at least the following:
    ``<bullet> Is this regulation obsolete?
    <bullet> Could its intended goal be achieved in more efficient, 
less intrusive ways?
    <bullet> Are there better private sector alternatives, such as 
market mechanisms, that can better achieve the public good envisioned 
by the regulation?
    <bullet> Could private business, setting its own standards and 
being subject to public accountability, do the job as well?
    <bullet> Could the States or local governments do the job, making 
Federal regulation unnecessary?''
    To assist NHTSA in responding to this directive, the public's views 
on which Motor Vehicle--related regulations (standards, rules, etc., 
are all used interchangeably for this purpose) should be rescinded or 
revised are requested (the agency also is reviewing its non-motor 
vehicle related regulations but they are not the subject of this 
meeting). Both administratively issued and statutorily mandated 
regulations are the subject of this review. Suggestions should be 
accompanied by a rationale for the action and the expected 
consequences. Recommendations should be based on at least the following 
considerations:
    <bullet> Cost-effectiveness.
    <bullet> Administrative/compliance burdens.
    <bullet> Whether the standard is performance-oriented, as opposed 
to design-oriented or is technology- restricting.
    <bullet> Small business effects.
    <bullet> Frequency of rulemaking to amend or clarify requirements 
(including inconsequentiality petitions).
    <bullet> Availability of voluntary industry standards.
    <bullet> Obsolete requirements.
    <bullet> Enforceability of the standard.
    <bullet> Whether the standard reflects a ``common sense'' approach 
to solving the problem.
    In considering the consequences of any recommendation please 
provide the best available information on any effects on safety, 
consumer costs, regulated party testing/certification costs, small 
business impacts, competition, etc.
    By motor vehicle-related regulations, NHTSA means all those 
standards/rules related to safety, fuel economy, theft, consumer 
information, damageability, and domestic content. The standards 
themselves and all related record-keeping and procedural requirements 
are included. Parts 520-594 of Title 49, Transportation, of the Code of 
Federal Regulations are encompassed.
    This will be the second public meeting held on this subject. The 
first public meeting will be held in conjunction with and immediately 
after the agency's previously scheduled quarterly technical meeting, in 
Romulus, Michigan, on March 29, 1995.
    With regard to item (4), consensual rulemaking, the agency wants 
recommendations on which active rulemakings--not those rules already in 
effect--would be appropriate candidates for the regulatory negotiation 
process. Bear in mind that these must be rulemakings in which the 
various interested parties would be willing to negotiate solutions. 
Currently, the agency is conducting a regulatory negotiation on the 
subject of optical headlamp aim.

Procedural Matters

    As noted at the beginning of this notice, persons wishing to speak 
at the public meeting should contact Deborah Parker by the indicated 
date. To facilitate communication, NHTSA will provide auxiliary aids 
(e.g., sign-language interpreter, braille materials, large print 
materials and/or a magnifying device) to participants as necessary, 
during the meeting. Thus, any person desiring assistance of auxiliary 
aids should contact Ms. Barbara Carnes, NHTSA Office of Safety 
Performance Standards, telephone (202) 366-1810, no later than April 3, 
1995.
    Those speaking at the public meeting should limit their 
presentation to 20 minutes. If the presentation will include slides, 
motion pictures, or other visual aids, the presenters should bring at 
least one copy to the meeting so that NHTSA can readily include the 
material in the public record.
    NHTSA staff at the meeting may ask questions of any speaker, and 
any participant may submit written questions for the NHTSA staff, at 
its discretion, to address to other meeting participants. There will be 
no opportunity for participants directly to question each other. If 
time permits, persons who have not requested time, but would like to 
make a statement, will be afforded an opportunity to do so.
    A schedule of participants making oral presentation will be 
available at the designated meeting room. NHTSA will place a copy of 
any written statement in the docket for this notice. A verbatim 
[[Page 15120]] transcript of the meeting will be prepared and also 
placed in the NHTSA docket as soon as possible after the meeting.
    Participation in the meeting is not a prerequisite for the 
submission of written comments. NHTSA invites written comments from all 
interested parties. It is requested but not required that 10 copies be 
submitted.
    If a commenter wishes to submit certain information under a claim 
of confidentiality, three copies of the complete submission, including 
purportedly confidential business information, should be submitted to 
the Chief Counsel, NHTSA, at the street address given above, and copies 
from which the purportedly confidential information has been deleted 
should be submitted to the Docket Section. A request for 
confidentiality should be accompanied by a cover letter setting forth 
the information specified in the agency's confidential business 
information regulation. 49 CFR Part 512.
    All comments received before the close of business on the comment 
closing date indicated above will be considered. Comments will be 
available for inspection in the docket.
    NHTSA will continue to file relevant information as it becomes 
available in the docket after the closing date. It is therefore 
recommended that interested persons continue to examine the docket for 
new material.
Barry Felrice,
Associate Administrator for Safety Performance Standards.
[FR Doc. 95-7020 Filed 3-17-95; 3:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P