105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 2691
AN ACT
To reauthorize and improve the operations of the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 2691
AN ACT
To reauthorize and improve the operations of the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration Reauthorization Act of
1998’’.
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY ACTIVITIES.—Section
30104 of title 49, United States Code, is amended to read
as follows:
‘‘§ 30104. Authorization of appropriations
‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec-
retary $81,200,000 for the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration to carry out this part in each fiscal
year beginning in fiscal year 1999 and ending in fiscal
year 2001.’’.
(b) MOTOR VEHICLE INFORMATION ACTIVITIES.—
Section 32102 of title 49, United States Code, is amended
to read as follows:
‘‘§ 32102. Authorization of appropriations
‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec-
retary $6,200,000 for the National Highway Traffic Safe-
ty Administration to carry out this part in each fiscal year
beginning in fiscal year 1999 and ending in fiscal year
2001.’’.
SEC. 3. RESTRICTIONS ON LOBBYING ACTIVITIES.
(a) AMENDMENT.—Subchapter I of chapter 301 of
title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the
end the following:
‘‘§ 30105. Restriction on lobbying activities
‘‘No funds appropriated to the Secretary pursuant to
section 30104 or 32102 may be available for any activity
specifically designed to urge a State or local legislator to
favor or oppose the adoption of any specific legislative pro-
posal pending before any State or local legislature.’’.
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents
in subchapter I of chapter 301 of title 49, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘30105.
Restriction on lobbying activities.’’.
SEC. 4. RISK AND BENEFIT DISCLOSURE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Within one year of the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation
shall communicate to the public information regarding the
reasonable risks and benefits of any major device or ele-
ment of design to be installed on or in a motor vehicle
or motor vehicle equipment in compliance with a motor
vehicle safety standard issued under section 30111 of title
49, United States Code, determined by the Secretary to
be important to the protection of motor vehicle occupants.
(b) NOTICE AND COMMENT.—In carrying out sub-
section (a), the Secretary of Transportation shall provide
notice that the Secretary is considering the means for car-
rying out subsection (a) and shall provide opportunity for
comment on—
(1) the extent to which the information to be
communicated under subsection (a) can be commu-
nicated in a manner which is scientifically objective
and which relies upon scientific findings; and
(2) the extent to which such information can be
made available to consumers in a clear and easily
understandable format through the Internet, public
libraries, and such other means as the Secretary
may deem appropriate.
(c) NO REQUIREMENT.—Unless the Secretary of
Transportation determines that it is essential to ensuring
motor vehicle safety, the Secretary may not require a man-
ufacturer or distributor to distribute any statement of rea-
sonable risks and benefits which the Secretary is to com-
municate under subsection (a).
SEC. 5. OCCUPANT PROTECTION PREFERENCES.
Section 30111 of title 49, United States Code, is
amended by inserting after subsection (e) the following:
‘‘(f) SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS RELATING TO OCCU-
PANT PROTECTION.—When prescribing or revising a
motor vehicle safety standard under this section or section
30127 relating to the protection of motor vehicle occu-
pants under this chapter, the Secretary shall, to the extent
relevant and practicable, design such standard to protect
improperly restrained and positioned occupants only to the
extent that such a design would not substantially increase
the risk of injury to properly restrained and positioned oc-
cupants.’’.
SEC. 6. ODOMETERS.
(a) TRANSFERS OF NEW MOTOR VEHICLES.—Sec-
tion 32705(a) of title 49, United States Code, is amended
by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(4)(A) This subsection shall apply to all transfers
of motor vehicles (unless otherwise exempted by the Sec-
retary by regulation), except in the case of transfers of
new motor vehicles from a vehicle manufacturer jointly to
a dealer and a person engaged in the business of renting
or leasing vehicles for a period of 30 days or less.
‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term
‘new motor vehicle’ means any motor vehicle driven with
no more than the limited use necessary in moving, trans-
porting, or road testing such vehicle prior to delivery from
the vehicle manufacturer to a dealer, but in no event shall
the odometer reading of such vehicle exceed 300 miles.’’.
(b) EXEMPTED VEHICLES.—Section 32705(a) of title
49, United States Code, as amended by subsection (a),
is amended by adding at the end the following new para-
graph:
‘‘(5) The Secretary may exempt such classes or cat-
egories of vehicles as the Secretary deems appropriate
from these requirements. Until such time as the Secretary
amends or modifies the regulations set forth in 49 CFR
580.6, such regulations shall have full force and effect.’’.
SEC. 7. INTERNATIONAL HARMONIZATION.
(a) AMENDMENT.—Subchapter III of chapter 301 of
title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the
end the following:
‘‘§ 30148. International motor vehicle safety outreach
‘‘(a) ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary is authorized, in
consultation with the Secretaries of State and Commerce
where appropriate, to engage in activities that improve
worldwide motor vehicle safety through appropriate activi-
ties. Such activities may include—
‘‘(1) promoting the adoption of international
and national vehicle standards that are harmonized
with, functionally equivalent to, or compatible with
United States vehicle standards;
‘‘(2) participating in efforts to foster an inter-
national acceptance of globally harmonized or func-
tionally equivalent or compatible motor vehicle regu-
lations and standards to otherwise improve inter-
national highway and motor vehicle safety;
‘‘(3) promoting international cooperative pro-
grams for conducting research, development, dem-
onstration projects, training, and other forms of
technology transfer and exchange, including safety
conferences, seminars, and expositions to enhance
international motor vehicle safety; and
‘‘(4) providing technical assistance to other
countries relating to their adoption of United States
vehicle regulations or standards functionally equiva-
lent to United States vehicle standards.
‘‘(b) COOPERATION.—The Secretary may carry out
the authority granted by this section, in cooperation with
appropriate United States Government agencies, any
State or local agency, and any authority, association, insti-
tution, corporation (profit or nonprofit), foreign govern-
ment, multinational institution, or any other organization
or person.
‘‘(c) CONSIDERATION.—When engaging in activities
to improve worldwide motor vehicle safety, the Secretary
shall ensure that these activities maintain or improve the
level of safety of motor vehicles and motor vehicle equip-
ment sold in the United States.
‘‘(d) PUBLIC MEETINGS AND INFORMATION.—To en-
sure public awareness of, and opportunity to comment on,
decision-making meetings concerning the adoption of a
globally harmonized motor vehicle regulation or standard,
described in subsection (a)(2), by an international body
or representatives of any foreign nation the Secretary
shall—
‘‘(1) not less than quarterly, provide notice of,
and hold a public meeting to receive comments on
the subject matter of, any decision-making meetings
scheduled to be held with an international body or
representatives of any foreign nation before the next
public meeting required to be held under this para-
graph; and
‘‘(2) make available to the public any relevant
information and records, including any proposed
text, concerning the matter of any decision-making
meetings scheduled with an international body or
representatives of any foreign nation as those mate-
rials become available.’’.
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents
in subchapter III of chapter 301 of title 49, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘30148.
International motor vehicle safety outreach.’’.
(B) FINAL
ASSEMBLY
PLACE.—Section
32304(a)(5) of title 49, United States Code, is
amended is amended by adding at the end the
following: ‘‘Such term does not include facilities
for engine and transmission fabrication and as-
sembly and the facilities for fabrication of
motor vehicle equipment component parts which
are produced at the same final assembly place
using forming processes such as stamping, ma-
chining, or molding processes.’’.
(C) OUTSIDE SUPPLIER CONTENT REPORT-
ING.—Section 32304(a)(9)(A) of title 49,
United States Code, is amended to read as fol-
lows:
‘‘(A) for an outside supplier—
‘‘(i) the full purchase price of pas-
senger motor vehicle equipment whose pur-
chase price contains at least 70 percent
value added in the United States and Can-
ada; or
‘‘(ii) that portion of the purchase
price of passenger motor vehicle equipment
containing less than 70 percent value
added in the United States and Canada
that is attributable to the percent value
added in the United States and Canada
when such percent is expressed to the
nearest 5 percent; and’’.
(2) 
COUNTRY
OF
ASSEMBLY.—Section
32304(d) of title 49, United States Code, is amend-
ed by adding at the end the following; ‘‘A manufac-
turer may add to the label required under subsection
(b) a line stating the country in which vehicle assem-
bly was completed.’’.
(3) VEHICLE
CONTENT
PERCENTAGE
BY
AS-
SEMBLY PLANT.—Section 32304 of title 49, United
States Code, is amended by redesignating sub-
sections (c) through (f) as subsections (f) through
(i), respectively, and by adding after subsection (b)
the following:
‘‘(c) VEHICLE CONTENT PERCENTAGE BY ASSEMBLY
PLANT.—A manufacturer may display separately on the
label required by subsection (b) the domestic content of
a vehicle based on the assembly plant. Such display shall
occur after the matter required to be in the label by sub-
section (b)(1)(A).’’.
(4) SUPPLIERS FAILING TO REPORT.—Section
32304 of title 49, United States Code, is amended
by adding after subsection (c), as added by para-
graph (3), the following:
‘‘(d) VALUE ADDED DETERMINATION.—If a manu-
facturer or allied supplier requests information in a timely
manner from one or more of its outside suppliers concern-
ing the United States /Canadian content of particular
equipment, but does not receive that information despite
a good faith effort to obtain it, the manufacturer or allied
supplier may make its own good faith value added deter-
minations, subject to the following:
‘‘(1) The manufacturer or allied supplier shall
make the same value added determinations as would
be made by the outside supplier, that is, whether 70
percent or more of the value of equipment is added
in the United States and /or Canada.
‘‘(2) The manufacturer or allied supplier shall
consider the amount of value added and the location
in which the value was added for all of the stages
that the outside supplier would be required to con-
sider.
‘‘(3) The manufacturer or allied supplier may
determine that the value added in the United States
and /or Canada is 70 percent or more only if it has
a good faith basis to make that determination.
‘‘(4) A manufacturer and its allied suppliers
may, on a combined basis, make value added deter-
minations for no more than 10 percent, by value, of
a carline’s total parts content from outside suppliers.
‘‘(5) Value added determinations made by a
manufacturer or allied supplier under this paragraph
shall have the same effect as if they were made by
the outside supplier.
‘‘(6) This provision does not affect the obliga-
tion of outside suppliers to provide the requested in-
formation.’’.
(5) ACCOUNTING FOR THE VALUE OF SMALL
PARTS.—Section 32304 of title 49, United States
Code, is amended by adding after subsection (d), as
added by paragraph (4), the following:
‘‘(e) SMALL PARTS.—The country of origin of nuts,
bolts, clips, screws, pins, braces, gasoline, oil, blackout,
phosphate rinse, windshield washer fluid, fasteners, tire
assembly fluid, rivets, adhesives, and grommets, of any
system, subassembly, or component installed in a vehicle
shall be considered to be the country in which such parts
were included in the final assembly of such vehicle.’’.
(f) STUDY.—The National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration shall conduct a study of the benefits to
motor vehicle drivers of a regulation to require the instal-
lation in a motor vehicle of an interior device to release
the trunk lid. Not later than 18 months after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Administration shall sub-
mit a report on the results of the study to the Committee
on Commerce of the House of Representatives and the
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of
the Senate.
SEC. 9. IMPORTATION OF MOTOR VEHICLE FOR SHOW OR
DISPLAY.
(a) IMPORTATION OF NONCOMPLYING MOTOR VEHI-
CLES.—Section 30114 of title 49, United States Code, is
amended by striking ‘‘or competitive racing events’’ and
inserting ‘‘competitive racing events, show, or display’’.
(b) TRANSITION RULE.—A person who is the owner
of a motor vehicle located in the United States on the date
of enactment of this Act may seek an exemption under
section 30114 of title 49, United States Code, as amended
by subsection (a) of this section, for a period of 6 months
after the date regulations of the Secretary of Transpor-
tation promulgated in response to such amendment take
effect.
Passed the House of Representatives April 21, 1998.
Attest:
Clerk.