49770 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 207 / Friday, October 27, 2017 / Proposed Rules 

(i) CPSC–CH–C1001–9.4, ‘‘Standard 

Operating Procedure for Determination 

of Phthalates’’, September 1, 2017. 

* * * * * 

Alberta E. Mills, 

Acting Secretary, U.S. Consumer Product 

Safety Commission. 

[FR Doc. 2017–23266 Filed 10–26–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6355–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration 

49 CFR Part 395 

[Docket No. FMCSA–2017–0296] 

Hours of Service of Drivers: 

Application for Exemption; Western 

Equipment Dealers Association 

(WEDA) 

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration (FMCSA), DOT. 

ACTION: Application for exemption; 

request for comments. 

SUMMARY: FMCSA announces that the 

Western Equipment Dealers Association 

(WEDA) has requested an exemption on 

behalf of several other organizations and 

their membership from the requirement 

that no later than December 18, 2017, a 

motor carrier require each of its drivers 

to use an electronic logging device 

(ELD) to record the driver’s hours-ofservice (HOS). WEDA states that 

equipment dealer operations in 

agriculture constitute unique 

circumstances that warrant the 

requested exemption, and not granting it 

will pose an undue burden on 

equipment dealers and their customers 

without any measurable safety benefit. 

In its application, WEDA seeks a fiveyear, renewable exemption from the 

ELD requirements which, the 

organization states, if granted will 

achieve a level of safety equivalent to, 

or greater than, the level that would be 

achieved absent the proposed 

exemption. FMCSA requests public 

comment on WEDA’s application for 

exemption. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before November 27, 2017. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

identified by Federal Docket 

Management System (FDMS) Number 

FMCSA–2017–0296 by any of the 

following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

www.regulations.gov. See the Public 

Participation and Request for Comments 

section below for further information. 

• Mail: Docket Management Facility, 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building, 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

• Hand Delivery or Courier: West 

Building, Ground Floor, Room W12– 

140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., 

between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, except Federal holidays. 

• Fax: 1–202–493–2251. 

• Each submission must include the 

Agency name and the docket number for 

this notice. Note that DOT posts all 

comments received without change to 

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information included in a 

comment. Please see the Privacy Act 

heading below. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents or 

comments, go to www.regulations.gov at 

any time or visit Room W12–140 on the 

ground level of the West Building, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, 

DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., ET, 

Monday through Friday, except Federal 

holidays. The on-line FDMS is available 

24 hours each day, 365 days each year. 

Privacy Act: In accordance with 5 

U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits comments 

from the public to better inform its 

rulemaking process. DOT posts these 

comments, without edit, including any 

personal information the commenter 

provides, to www.regulations.gov, as 

described in the system of records 

notice (DOT/ALL–14 FDMS), which can 

be reviewed at www.dot.gov/privacy. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

information concerning this notice, 

contact Mr. Tom Yager, Chief, FMCSA 

Driver and Carrier Operations Division; 

Office of Carrier, Driver and Vehicle 

Safety Standards; Telephone: 614–942– 

6477. Email: MCPSD@dot.gov. If you 

have questions on viewing or submitting 

material to the docket, contact Docket 

Services, telephone (202) 366–9826. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Public Participation and Request for 

Comments 

FMCSA encourages you to participate 

by submitting comments and related 

materials. 

Submitting Comments 

If you submit a comment, please 

include the docket number for this 

notice (FMCSA–2017–0296), indicate 

the specific section of this document to 

which the comment applies, and 

provide a reason for suggestions or 

recommendations. You may submit 

your comments and material online or 

by fax, mail, or hand delivery, but 

please use only one of these means. 

FMCSA recommends that you include 

your name and a mailing address, an 

email address, or a phone number in the 

body of your document so the Agency 

can contact you if it has questions 

regarding your submission. 

To submit your comments online, go 

to www.regulations.gov and put the 

docket number, ‘‘FMCSA–2017–0296’’ 

in the ‘‘Keyword’’ box, and click 

‘‘Search.’’ When the new screen 

appears, click on ‘‘Comment Now!’’ 

button and type your comment into the 

text box in the following screen. Choose 

whether you are submitting your 

comment as an individual or on behalf 

of a third party and then submit. If you 

submit your comments by mail or hand 

delivery, submit them in an unbound 

format, no larger than 81⁄2 by 11 inches, 

suitable for copying and electronic 

filing. If you submit comments by mail 

and would like to know that they 

reached the facility, please enclose a 

stamped, self-addressed postcard or 

envelope. FMCSA will consider all 

comments and material received during 

the comment period and may grant or 

not grant this application based on your 

comments. 

II. Legal Basis 

FMCSA has authority under 49 U.S.C. 

31136(e) and 31315 to grant exemptions 

from certain parts of the Federal Motor 

Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). 

FMCSA must publish a notice of each 

exemption request in the Federal 

Register (49 CFR 381.315(a)). The 

Agency must provide the public an 

opportunity to inspect the information 

relevant to the application, including 

any safety analyses that have been 

conducted. The Agency must also 

provide an opportunity for public 

comment on the request. 

The Agency reviews safety analyses 

and public comments submitted, and 

determines whether granting the 

exemption would likely achieve a level 

of safety equivalent to, or greater than, 

the level that would be achieved by the 

current regulation (49 CFR 381.305). 

The decision of the Agency must be 

published in the Federal Register (49 

CFR 381.315(b)) with the reasons for 

denying or granting the application and, 

if granted, the name of the person or 

class of persons receiving the 

exemption, and the regulatory provision 

from which the exemption is granted. 

The notice must also specify the 

effective period and explain the terms 

and conditions of the exemption. The 

exemption may be renewed (49 CFR 

381.300(b)). 


asabaliauskas on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 207 / Friday, October 27, 2017 / Proposed Rules 49771 

III. Request for Exemption 

WEDA filed this application for 

exemption on behalf of its own 

organization and the following: 

Northeast Equipment Dealers 

Association; North Dakota Implement 

Dealers Association; Midwest-South 

Eastern Equipment Dealers Association; 

Far West Equipment Dealers 

Association; Deep South Equipment 

Dealers Association; Equipment Dealers 

Association and the United Equipment 

Dealers Association. 

These groups represent approximately 

6,000 farm, industrial and outdoor 

power equipment dealers in North 

America. WEDA states that in the 

agriculture sector, equipment dealers 

play a key role in selling and servicing 

equipment for farmers and ranchers, as 

they transport machinery to and from 

farms and between dealerships. They 

partner with agricultural producers to 

increase productivity through the 

training and use of new equipment 

technologies. Complying with the ELD 

requirement will be unduly burdensome 

for equipment dealers and their 

customers—farmers and ranchers, 

without providing the sought-after 

safety advancements contemplated by 

the rule. 

Many of the vehicles owned by 

equipment dealers require a commercial 

driver’s license to operate. When 

transporting equipment to and from the 

farm, on behalf of the farmer, they are 

either delivering new equipment or 

transporting equipment to a dealership 

to be serviced. Equipment dealers also 

employ service trucks that drive to 

farms and ranches to work on 

customer’s equipment and deliver parts 

to the customer’s location. In either 

instance, these vehicles usually operate 

within a confined distance from the 

dealership of less than 150 miles, and 

are primarily in rural regions of their 

respective states. 

WEDA states that due to the seasonal, 

unpredictable and rural nature of 

agriculture production, Congress has 

granted agriculture businesses 

numerous exemptions from 

transportation requirements. The clear 

intent was to accommodate agricultural 

operations by broadening the scope of 

existing agribusiness exemptions in 

terms of distance and types of entities 

covered by the exemption because the 

reality of farming and ranching 

operations required it. 

WEDA explains that the agribusiness 

exemption to the HOS rules is separate 

and distinct from the short-haul 

exemption. Under 49 CFR (k)(1–3), 

equipment dealers are exempt from 

HOS and log book requirements during 

State-defined harvest and planting 

seasons when: (1) Transporting farm 

supplies for an agricultural purpose; (2) 

from the dealership to a farm; and (3) 

within a 150 air-mile radius of the 

distribution point. This exemption, 

however, does not cover transportation 

of equipment from the farm to a 

dealership. 

The ELD rule, according to WEDA, 

creates confusing and overlapping 

scenarios due to the conflicting rules 

placed on equipment dealers. 

Depending on the State definition of 

harvest and planting season, an 

equipment dealer may be required to 

install an ELD for only the couple of 

months of the year when the 

agribusiness exemption is not in effect. 

The agribusiness exemption is limited 

in scope; therefore, an equipment dealer 

could be exempt from using an ELD in 

certain cases, while still required to 

utilize an ELD in others. 

The ELD requirements threaten to 

limit the exemptions and weave a 

complex regulatory framework that 

would be difficult for equipment dealers 

to comply with, advises WEDA. The 

short-haul and agribusiness exceptions 

apply in different scenarios at different 

times, and it is unclear in the first 

instance whether both can be combined 

to cover a single driving operation. For 

example, the agribusiness exemption 

would not currently apply to an 

equipment dealer hauling a broken 

tractor from a farm to the dealership for 

repair. The short-haul exemption would 

apply, though, so long as the farm is 

within 100 miles and the HOS 

requirements are met. However, 

suppose a service truck hauling a trailer 

visits a farm 120 miles from the 

dealership to repair a tractor. After 

attempting repairs for several hours and 

working beyond 12 hours in the day, the 

technician must return with the tractor 

or another piece of equipment to 

perform services at the dealership. The 

short haul exemption would not apply 

because it is beyond the 100-mile radius 

and the HOS requirements have been 

exceeded, nor would the agribusiness 

exemption apply because a driver is not 

covered while transporting equipment 

from a farm to the dealership. The 

driver would then be required to record 

the entirety of the day’s driving on an 

ELD because no exemption applies. This 

is but one scenario of many where three 

complex rules overlap at different 

intervals to create confusion about the 

regulations that should be followed, and 

do not contribute to increased safety for 

the driver or the driving public. 

As a practical matter, WEDA states 

that equipment dealers are required to 

install ELDs in all of their commercial 

vehicles despite never or very rarely 

utilizing them. Because of the complex 

and confusing overlap, many dealers 

will install and utilize ELDs when 

unnecessary to avoid harsh penalties 

including thousands of dollars in fines 

and potential shutdown orders. 

Equipment dealers will not claim the 

exemptions intended for them by 

Congress because the confusion and 

complexity spawned by the ELD rule 

creates the risk of penalties being 

imposed which outweigh the benefits. 

The result will be severely diminished 

hours of operation for equipment 

dealers, and, consequently, reduced 

responsiveness to their customers. Costs 

and downtime for farmers and ranchers 

will undoubtedly increase making their 

agriculture producers less competitive 

in a global market. 

IV. Method To Ensure an Equivalent or 

Greater Level of Safety 

WEDA states that its request falls 

within the FMCSA’s discretion to grant 

because the law currently provides 

overlapping exemptions and exceptions 

that, taken together with the ELD 

mandate, create confusing and 

contradicting requirements for 

equipment dealers. In addition, 

equipment dealers’ operations 

constitute unique aspects that should 

warrant an exemption from the ELD 

rules. WEDA therefore seeks a five-year, 

renewable exemption from the ELD 

requirements in the Federal regulations. 

WEDA believes the request should be 

granted because the exemption will 

achieve a level of safety equivalent to, 

or greater than, the level that would be 

achieved absent the proposed 

exemption. 

A copy of WEDA’s application for 

exemption is available for review in the 

docket for this notice. 

Issued on: October 23, 2017. 

Larry W. Minor, 

Associate Administrator for Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2017–23403 Filed 10–26–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration 

49 CFR Part 395 

[Docket No. FMCSA–2017–0298] 

Hours of Service of Drivers: 

Application for Exemption; Motion 

Picture Association of America 

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration (FMCSA), DOT. 


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