50730 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 168 / Thursday, August 28, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 

1See 72 FR 68234. 

2MEMA submitted a petition for reconsideration 

collectively with the Transportation Safety 

Equipment Institute and the Motor Vehicle Lighting 

Council. 

3See 70 FR 77454 (December 30, 2005) (Docket 

No. NHTSA–2006–23634–3). 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration 

49 CFR Parts 564 and 571 

[Docket No. NHTSA–2007–28322; Notice 2] 

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety 

Standards; Lamps, Reflective Devices, 

and Associated Equipment 

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT. 

ACTION: Final rule; delay of effective 

date. 

SUMMARY: This final rule delays the 

effective date of an amendment that 

reorganizes and improves the structure 

and clarity of the Federal motor vehicle 

safety standard on lamps, reflective 

devices, and associated equipment, from 

September 1, 2008 to December 1, 2009. 

The final rule reorganizing the lighting 

standard was published on December 4, 

2007.1 The agency received fifteen 

petitions for reconsideration of the final 

rule, including two that requested a 

delay in the effective date of the rule, 

and others which raised concerns that 

the reorganization of FMVSS No. 108 

imposed new requirements. To allow for 

more time for the agency to analyze the 

petitions prior to the rule taking effect, 

the agency is delaying the effective date 

until December 1, 2009. 

DATES: The effective date of the final 

rule amending 49 CFR parts 564 and 

571 published at 72 FR 68234 is delayed 

until December 1, 2009. The 

incorporation by reference of certain 

publications listed in the rules is 

approved by the Director of the Federal 

Register as of December 1, 2009. 

Optional early compliance continues to 

be permitted. Any petitions for 

reconsideration of today’s final rule 

must be received by NHTSA not later 

than October 14, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: Any petitions for 

reconsideration should refer to the 

docket number of this document and be 

submitted to: Administrator, National 

Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West 

Building, Ground Floor, Docket Room 

W12–140, Washington, DC 20590. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

non-legal issues, you may call Mr. David 

Hines, Office of Crash Avoidance 

Standards (Phone: 202–493–0245; FAX: 

202–366–7002). For legal issues, you 

may call Mr. Ari Scott, Office of the 

Chief Counsel (Phone: 202–366–2992; 

FAX: 202–366–3820). You may send 

mail to these officials at: National 

Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 

Washington, DC 20590. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety 

Standard (FMVSS) No. 108, Lamps 

Reflective Devices, and Associated 

Equipment, specifies requirements for 

original and replacement lamps, 

reflective devices, and associated 

equipment. The purpose of FMVSS No. 

108 is to reduce traffic accidents and 

deaths and injuries resulting from traffic 

accidents, by providing adequate 

illumination of the roadway, and by 

enhancing the conspicuity of motor 

vehicles on the public roads so that 

their presence is perceived and their 

signals understood, both in daylight and 

in darkness or other conditions of 

reduced visibility. 

On December 4, 2007, NHTSA 

published a final rule amending FMVSS 

No. 108 to reorganize the standard and 

provide a more straightforward and 

logical presentation of the applicable 

regulatory requirements (see 72 FR 

68234). Related amendments were made 

to 49 CFR part 564, Replacement Light 

Source Information. While the final rule 

greatly reduced the number of thirdparty standards incorporated by 

reference, it did not impose any new 

substantive requirements on 

manufacturers. Along with the changes 

made, the final rule specified an 

effective date of September 1, 2008 for 

these amendments and permitted 

voluntary early compliance immediately 

upon publication. 

II. Petitions for Reconsideration 

In response to the December 4 final 

rule, the agency received fifteen 

petitions for reconsideration. Petitions 

for reconsideration were submitted by 

Grote Industries, LLC, Alliance of 

Automobile Manufacturers (Alliance), 

Motor and Equipment Manufacturers 

Association (MEMA) 2, Nissan North 

America, Inc., Valeo Sylvania, Calcoast 

Industrial Testing Laboratory, HarleyDavidson Motor Company, Koito 

Manufacturing Co, Ltd., Ford Motor 

Company, Toyota Motor North America, 

Inc., GE Consumer & Industrial 

Automotive Lighting, SABIC Innovative 

Plastics, Valeo Lighting Systems, 

Vehicle Services Consulting, Inc., and 

American Association for Justice. The 

petitions addressed a wide range of 

FMVSS No. 108 subjects, including 

technical amendments to the rule, 

concern that the reorganization imposed 

new requirements, and requests to 

change the effective date of the final 

rule. Among the latter, specifically, the 

Alliance requested that the final rule 

take effect on September 1, 2009 and 

Harley-Davidson requested, unless the 

agency granted all of the items 

contained in its petition, that the 

effective date be delayed until 

September 1, 2010. 

III. Agency Response to Petitions 

In the December 2007 final rule, the 

agency set a September 1, 2008 effective 

date. The fifteen petitions for 

reconsideration have asked the agency 

to reconsider many aspects of that 

rulemaking. However, NHTSA’s 

consideration of the petitions has not 

yet concluded, and given the 

imminence of the September 1, 2008 

effective date, the agency has 

determined that it is appropriate to first 

partially respond to petitions 

concerning the effective date of the 

December 2007 final rule. Accordingly, 

the agency is delaying the effective date 

of the December 2007 final rule until 

December 1, 2009, when manufacturers 

will be required to meet the new 

requirements of FMVSS No. 108. Other 

issues raised in the petitions for 

reconsideration will be addressed by the 

agency in a separate document. 

NHTSA believes that a partial 

response to the petitions for 

reconsideration is necessary based upon 

the number of issues raised in the 

petitions for reconsideration, and the 

impact of the revised requirements on 

compliance documentation. As such, 

the agency has determined that delaying 

the effective date is appropriate. The 

agency notes that the Alliance originally 

requested an effective date of September 

1, 2009, one full year after the final rule 

in its comments to our Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking.3

NHTSA expects that all other issues 

raised in the petitions will be fully 

addressed prior to the new December 1, 

2009 effective date. In the event, 

however, that these issues have not been 

resolved, all affected manufacturers will 

be required to meet the new 

requirements. Effective dates of agency 

final rules are not stayed due to 

outstanding petitions for 

reconsideration of those rules. 

IV. Effective Date of This Document 

Because September 1, 2008 (the 

original effective date for the FMVSS 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with RULES

Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 168 / Thursday, August 28, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 50731 

No. 108 final rule) is fast approaching, 

NHTSA finds for good cause that this 

action delaying the effective date should 

take effect immediately. Today’s final 

rule makes no substantive changes to 

FMVSS No. 108, but delays the effective 

date of the December 4, 2007 final rule 

until December 1, 2009 while the 

agency responds to the petitions for 

reconsideration of the rule. 

V. Rulemaking Analyses and Notices 

A. Executive Order 12866 and DOT 

Regulatory Policies and Procedures 

This action delays the effective date of 

an administrative rewrite of FMVSS No. 

108. It was not reviewed by the Office 

of Management and Budget under E.O. 

12866. The agency has considered the 

impact of this action under the 

Department of Transportation’s 

regulatory policies and procedures (44 

FR 11034; February 26, 1979), and has 

determined that it is not ‘‘significant’’

under them. 

This final rule delays the effective 

date of a December 4, 2007 final rule, 

from September 1, 2008, to December 1, 

2009. Neither that rule nor today’s 

action will have any measurable effect 

on costs or benefits since the rule 

merely reorganizes and clarifies existing 

requirements. 

B. Privacy Act 

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://docketsinfo.dot.gov/. 

C. Other Rulemaking Analyses and 

Notices 

In the December 2007 final rule, the 

agency discussed relevant requirements 

related to the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 

the National Environmental Policy Act, 

Executive Order 13132 (Federalism), the 

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act, Civil 

Justice Reform, the National Technology 

Transfer and Advancement Act, the 

Paperwork Reduction Act, and 

Executive Order 13045 (Protection of 

Children from Environmental Health 

and Safety Risks). Since that final rule 

was an administrative rewrite of 

existing requirements and since today’s 

action simply delays the effective date 

of that final rule, today’s rule does not 

affect the agency’s analyses in those 

areas. 

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

30117, and 30166; delegations of authority at 

49 CFR 1.50 and 501.8. 

Issued: August 21, 2008. 

Stephen R. Kratzke, 

Associate Administrator for Rulemaking. 

[FR Doc. E8–19837 Filed 8–27–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with RULES