Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/12/12/2012-29901/used-motor-vehicle-trade-regulation-rule
Timestamp: 2015-05-30 22:38:25
Document Index: 459808829

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 455', 'ART 455', 'art 455', '§ 455', '§ 455', '§ 455', '§ 455', '§ 1029']

-73916 (5 pages)
Shorter URL: https://federalregister.gov/a/2012-29901 Related Topics
The Commission promulgated the Used Car Rule in 1984 and the Rule became effective in 1985.
The Used Car Rule is intended primarily to prevent oral misrepresentations and unfair omissions of material facts by used car dealers concerning warranty coverage. To accomplish that goal, the Rule provides a uniform method for disclosing warranty information on a window sticker called the “Buyers Guide” that dealers are required to display on used cars. The Rule requires used car dealers to disclose on the Buyers Guide whether they are offering a used car for sale with a dealer's warranty and, if so, the basic terms, including the duration of coverage, the percentage of total repair costs to be paid by the dealer, and the exact systems covered by the warranty. The Rule additionally provides that the Buyers Guide disclosures are to be incorporated by reference into the sales contract, and are to govern in the event of an inconsistency between the Buyers Guide and the sales contract.
The Rule prescribes Spanish language versions of the Buyers Guide when dealers conduct sales in Spanish.
In 1995, as part of its periodic review, the Commission amended the Used Car Rule by,
among other things, adopting several minor grammatical changes to the Spanish language version of the Buyers Guide.
On July 21, 2008, the Commission announced in the Federal Register its regulatory review of the Rule as part of the FTC's systematic review of its rules and guides.
The Commission has decided to retain the Rule, to revise the Spanish translation of the Buyers Guide as proposed in that Federal Register document, and to make three nonsubstantive technical changes to the text of the Rule.
During the regulatory review, the Commission received one comment favoring the translation changes,
and none opposing them. The Commission received two comments recommending that the Rule require translations of the Buyers Guide into the language used to conduct the sale.
Two comments state that the Buyers Guide should not be translated into Spanish.
During the original 1984 rulemaking, the Commission chose to translate the Buyers Guide only into Spanish. At that time, the Commission considered whether to require a translation of the Buyers Guide into the language used to conduct a used car sale.
The Commission concluded that such a requirement could result in translations of the Buyers Guides of varying linguistic quality and accuracy unless the Commission published official translations of the Buyers Guide into the various languages used in the United States.
The Commission decided to limit the translation of the Buyers Guide to Spanish because, besides English, Spanish is the language most frequently used in the United States during used car transactions.
The Commission sees no reason to revisit its earlier decision and declines to propose requiring translations of the Buyers Guide into languages other than English and Spanish.
Section 1029(d) of Title X of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
authorizes the Commission to use Administrative Procedure Act
procedures to issue or amend rules with respect to motor vehicle dealers predominantly engaged in the sale and servicing, or leasing and servicing, of motor vehicles. Pursuant to this authority, the Commission is implementing several technical amendments to the Used Car Rule.
The Commission finds good cause to adopt these changes without further public comment. Under the APA, notice and comment are not required “when the agency for good cause finds (and incorporates the finding and a brief statement of reasons therefore in the rules issued) that notice and public procedure thereon are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest.”
In this case, the Commission finds that additional public comment on the rule is unnecessary because the Commission has already provided an opportunity for public comment on these revisions to the Spanish translation of the Buyers Guide. Specifically, the Commission requested public comment on these revisions to the Spanish translation of the Buyers Guide as part of its regulatory review of the Buyers Guide. See 73 FR 42285. In response to the Commission's request for comment on these proposed changes, the Commission received one comment favoring the translation changes,
and no comments opposing the changes. Accordingly, the Commission has determined that the public has had sufficient opportunity to comment on the proposed changes. As a result, additional opportunity for public comment is unnecessary.
The Regulatory Flexibility Act (“RFA”) requires an agency to provide a Final Regulatory Flexibility Act Analysis (“FRFA”) when promulgating a final rule that cannot be promulgated without publishing a proposed rulemaking.
An FRFA is not necessary if a general notice of proposed rulemaking is not required for promulgation or if the agency certifies that the rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
The Commission anticipates that the final Rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The amended Rule, like the current Used Car Rule, does not contain reporting or recordkeeping requirements, but does require that dealers disclose certain information. The amended Rule requires only that dealers use a revised Spanish Buyers Guide when conducting sales in Spanish. The amended Rule does not impose additional recordkeeping requirements or change the information that dealers themselves must disclose on the Buyers Guide. Dealers will experience only an initial cost in obtaining revised Spanish Buyers Guides and will be permitted to use existing stocks of Spanish Buyers Guides. As such, the economic impact of the Rule will be minimal.
The final Rule revises the Spanish translation of the Buyers Guide that the Used Car Rule requires used car dealers to display. The final Rule does not require dealers to disclose additional information that they are not already required to provide under the current Rule. Thus, the final Rule does not give rise to changes in the FTC's previously submitted and approved “collection of information” requirements and related Paperwork Reduction Act burden analysis for public comment
and cleared by the Office of Management and Budget.
Accordingly, after review of the public comments, the Commission has determined to amend 16 CFR 455.5 by translating the term “dealer” into Spanish as “concesionario” in footnote 4 of the rule and in the accompanying illustration of the Spanish Buyers Guide. The Commission is also revising the translation of certain other terms in the Guide as follows: “regardless of” shall be translated as “independientemente de”; “Frame-cracks” shall be translated as “Grietas en el chasis”; “Cooling System” shall be translated as “Sistema de enfriamiento”; “Air conditioner” shall be translated as “Aire acondicionado”; “Defroster” shall be translated as “Desempañador”; and “Not enough pedal reserve” shall be translated as “Distancia insuficiente del pedal.”
Finally, the Commission is amending the Rule by making the three nonsubstantive textual revisions described in Section II.B. above.
List of Subjects in 16 CFR Part 455 Back to Top
PART 455—USED MOTOR VEHICLE TRADE REGULATION RULE Back to Top
1.Revise the authority citation for part 455 to read as follows: Authority:
§ 455.2 [Amended]
2.Revise § 455.2 as follows: a. In paragraph (b)(2)(ii), by removing the word “diffential” and adding, in its place, the word “differential;”
b. In paragraph (d), by removing the word “name” and adding, in its place, the word “make” and by removing the word “Vega” and adding, in its place, the word “Corvette;”
3.Amend § 455.5 as follows: a. In footnote 4, by removing the word “vendedor” and adding, in its place, the word “concesionario;” and
b. By removing the current illustration accompanying § 455.5 and adding, in its place, the following illustration:
3. 60 FR 62195 (Dec. 5, 1995).
4. 73 FR 42285 (July 21, 2008). In a separate Federal Register document, the Commission is publishing a notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPR”) addressing the comments received during its review and inviting public comment on whether to amend the Rule and to revise the Buyers Guide. The NPR seeks comments on, among other things, adding a statement, in Spanish, to the English Buyers Guide suggesting that Spanish-speaking consumers who cannot read the English Buyers Guide ask for a copy of it in Spanish.
5. Joint letter from the Consumer Action, Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Federation of California, National Consumer Law Center, U.S. Public Interest Group, Watsonville Law Center (collectively referred to as “CARS,” which signed the joint letter) at 31-35 (page numbers added for convenience). The comment from CARS and other comments that were received by the Commission in response to the regulatory review are available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/comments/usedcarrule/index.shtm. Additional comments on the regulatory review, submitted during a second comment period, are available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/comments/usedcarrulereopen/index.shtm.
6. CARS at 24-25; Broward County, Florida, Permitting, Licensing and Consumer Protection Division at 7 (Sept. 19, 2008).
7. Sachau, Barbara (consumer) (July 21, 2008); King, Monty (Oregon Vehicle Dealer Association) (Aug. 27, 2008).
8. Trade Regulation Rule Concerning Used Motor Vehicles, Statement of Basis and Purpose and Regulatory Analysis (“SBP”), 49 FR 45692, at 45711 (1984).
11. Public Law 111-203, Title X, § 1029(d); 12 U.S.C. 5519(d).
14. Joint letter from CARS, at 31-35.
15. 5 U.S.C. 604(a).
17. 76 FR 144 (Jan. 3, 2011); 75 FR 62538 (Oct. 12, 2010).
18. OMB Control No. 3084-0108 (exp. Feb. 28, 2014).
19. Dealers may use remaining stocks of existing Spanish Buyers Guides.