Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2008/09/24/E8-22334/schedule-of-fees-authorized-by-49-usc-30141
Timestamp: 2015-03-03 16:39:34
Document Index: 409625527

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 121', '§ 121', 'art 594', 'art 592', '§ 594', '§ 594', '§ 594', '§ 594', '§ 594', '§ 594', '§ 594', '§ 594', '§ 594']

Federal Register | Schedule of Fees Authorized by 49 U.S.C. 30141
Publication Date: Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Dates: The amendments established by this final rule will become effective on October 1, 2008, the beginning of FY 2009. Petitions for reconsideration must be received by NHTSA not later than November 10, 2008.
73 FR 54981
-54986 (6 pages)
Docket No. NHTSA 2008-0114
2127-AK33
Document Number: E8-22334
Shorter URL: https://federalregister.gov/a/E8-22334 Related Topics
This document adopts fees for Fiscal Year 2009 and until further notice, as authorized by 49 U.S.C. 30141, relating to the registration of importers and the importation of motor vehicles not certified as conforming to the Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS). These fees are needed to maintain the registered importer (RI) program.
We are increasing the fees for the registration of a new RI from $677 to $760 and the annual fee for renewing an existing registration from $570 to $651. These fees include the costs of maintaining the RI program. The fee required to reimburse Customs for conformance bond processing costs will increase from $9.77 to $10.23 per bond. We are decreasing the fees to be collected from the importer of each vehicle covered by an import eligibility decision made on an individual make, model, and model year basis. For vehicles determined eligible based on their substantial similarity to a U.S. certified vehicle, the fee will decrease from $208 to $198. For vehicles determined eligible based on their capability of being modified to comply with all applicable FMVSS, the fee will also decrease from $208 to $198. In the event that a petitioner requests an inspection of a vehicle, the fee for such an inspection will remain $827 for vehicles that are the subject of either type of petition. The fee that an RI must pay as a processing cost for review of each conformity package that it submits to NHTSA will increase to $14 from $13 per certificate. If the vehicle has been entered electronically with Customs through the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) and the registered importer has an e-mail address, the fee for processing the conformity package will continue to be $6, provided the fee is paid by credit card. However, if NHTSA finds that the information in the entry or the conformity package is incorrect, the processing fee will be $48, representing no change from the fee that is currently charged when there are one or more errors in the ABI entry or omissions in the statement of conformity.
Sections 594.7 and 594.8—Fees To Cover Agency Costs in Making Importation Eligibility Decisions
The amendments established by this final rule will become effective on October 1, 2008, the beginning of FY 2009. Petitions for reconsideration must be received by NHTSA not later than November 10, 2008.
Petitions for reconsideration of this final rule should refer to the docket and notice numbers identified above and be submitted to: Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building, Washington, DC 20590. It is requested, but not required, that 10 copies of the petition be submitted. The petition must be received not later than 45 days after publication of this final rule in the Federal Register. Petitions filed after that time will be considered petitions filed by interested persons to initiate rulemaking pursuant to 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301.
This rule was preceded by a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that NHTSA published on August 4, 2008 (73 FR 45195).
We last amended the fee schedule in 2006. See final rule published on August 3, 2006 at 71 FR 43985. Those fees applied to Fiscal Years 2007 and 2008.
The fees adopted in this final rule are based on time expenditures and costs associated with the tasks for which the fees are assessed. They reflect the increase in hourly costs in the past two fiscal years attributable to the approximately 2.64 and 4.49 percent raises (including the locality adjustment for Washington, DC) in salaries of employees on the General Schedule that became effective on January 1, 2007, and on January 1, 2008, respectively.
Section 30141(a)(3) of Title 49, U.S. Code provides that RIs must pay the annual fee the Secretary of Transportation establishes “* * * to pay for the costs of carrying out the registration program for importers * * *.” This fee is payable both by new applicants and by existing RIs. To maintain its registration, each RI, at the time it submits its annual fee, must also file a statement affirming that the information it furnished in its registration application (or in later submissions amending that information) remains correct (49 CFR 592.5(f)).
In compliance with the statutory directive, we reviewed the existing fees and their bases in an attempt to establish fees that would be sufficient to recover the costs of carrying out the registration program for importers for at least the next two fiscal years. The initial component of the Registration Program Fee is the fee attributable to processing and acting upon registration applications. We will increase this fee from $266 to $295 for new applications. We have also determined that the fee for the review of the annual statement submitted by existing RIs who wish to renew their registrations will be increased from $159 to $186. These fee adjustments reflect our time expenditures in reviewing both new applications and annual statements with accompanying documentation, as well as the inflation factor attributable to Federal salary increases and locality adjustments in the two years since the regulation was last amended.
Based upon our review of these costs, the portion of the fee attributable to the maintenance of the registration program is approximately $465 for each RI, an increase of $54. When this $465 is added to the $295 representing the registration application component, the cost to an applicant comes to $760, which is the fee we are adopting. This represents an increase of $83 over the existing fee. When the $465 is added to the $186 representing the annual statement component, the total cost to an RI renewing its registration comes to $651, which represents an increase of $81.
Section 594.6(h) enumerates indirect costs associated with processing the annual renewal of RI registrations. The provision states that these costs represent a pro rata allocation of the average salary and benefits of employees who process the annual statements and perform related functions, and “a pro rata allocation of the costs attributable to maintaining the office space, and the computer or word processor.” The indirect costs that were previously calculated at $17.07 per man-hour are being increased by $3.24, to $20.31. This increase is based on the difference between enacted budgetary costs within the Department of Transportation for the last two fiscal years, which were higher than the estimates used when the fee schedule was last amended, and takes account of further projected increases over the next two fiscal years.
Section 30141(a)(3) also requires RIs to pay other fees the Secretary of Transportation establishes to cover the costs of “* * * (B) making the decisions under this subchapter.” This includes decisions on whether the vehicle sought to be imported is substantially similar to a motor vehicle that was originally manufactured for importation into and sale in the United States and certified by its original manufacturer as complying with all applicable FMVSS, and whether the vehicle is capable of being readily altered to meet those standards. Alternatively, where there is no substantially similar U.S.-certified motor vehicle, the decision is whether the safety features of the vehicle comply with, or are capable of being altered to comply with, the FMVSS based on destructive test information or such other evidence that NHTSA deems to be adequate. These decisions are made in response to petitions submitted by RIs or manufacturers, or on the Administrator's own initiative.
The fee for a vehicle imported under an eligibility decision made in response to a petition is payable in part by the petitioner and in part by other importers. The fee to be charged for each vehicle is the estimated pro rata share of the costs in making all the eligibility decisions in a fiscal year.
The fee adopted by this final rule reflects the slight increase in hourly costs in the past two fiscal years attributable to the approximately 2.64 and 4.49 percent raises (including the locality adjustment for Washington, DC) in salaries of employees on the General Schedule that became effective on January 1, 2007, and on January 1, 2008, respectively.
We have also reduced costs by issuing a single Federal Register notice to announce import eligibility decisions made on multiple vehicles. Despite the cost savings that have accrued from this development, RIs have imported fewer vehicles each year since we last amended the fee schedule. This has increased the pro rata share of petition costs that are to be assessed against the importer of each vehicle covered by the decision to grant import eligibility. Although the number of petitions submitted in the past two years has decreased, the agency has devoted an increasing share of staff time to the review and processing of import eligibility petitions owing to complications that result when the petitioner or one or more commenters request confidentiality for information they submit to the agency. Additional staff time is also needed to analyze the petitions and any comments received owing to new requirements being adopted in the FMVSS, such as the advanced air bag rule that became effective September 1, 2006. Despite these factors, we are not increasing the current fee of $175 that covers the initial processing of a “substantially similar” petition. We are also maintaining the existing fee of $800 to cover the initial costs for processing petitions for vehicles that have no substantially similar U.S.-certified counterpart.
In the event that a petitioner requests an inspection of a vehicle, the fee for such an inspection will remain $827 for vehicles that are the subject of either type of petition.
Importers of vehicles determined to be eligible for importation pay, upon the importation of those vehicles, a pro rata share of the total cost for making the eligibility decision. The importation fee varies depending upon the basis on which the vehicle is determined to be eligible. For vehicles covered by an eligibility decision on the agency's own initiative (other than vehicles imported from Canada that are covered by eligibility numbers VSA-80 through 83, for which no eligibility decision fee is assessed), the fee will remain $125. NHTSA determined that the costs associated with previous eligibility decisions on the agency's own initiative will be fully recovered by October 1, 2008. We will apply the fee of $125 per vehicle only to vehicles covered by determinations made by the agency on its own initiative on or after October 1, 2008.
The agency's costs for making an import eligibility decision pursuant to a petition are borne in part by the petitioner and in part by the importers of vehicles imported under the petition. In 2007, the most recent year for which complete data exist, the agency expended $76,031 in making import eligibility decisions based on petitions. The petitioners paid $6,975 of that amount in the processing fees that accompanied the filing of their petitions, leaving the remaining $69,056 to be recovered from the importers of the 236 vehicles imported that year under petition-based import eligibility decisions. Dividing $69,056 by 236 yields a pro rata fee of $293 for each vehicle imported under an eligibility decision that resulted from the granting of a petition.
However, the agency believes that the volume of petition-based imports for the next two fiscal years should not be projected on the basis of a single year, particularly one in which the volume of petitioned-based imports was atypically low. The agency therefore took the average number of petition-based imports over the past 15 years to project the number of such vehicles that would be imported in Fiscal Years 2009 and 2010. Further, we assume that petitions filed during Fiscal Years 2009 and 2010 would also more closely reflect the average number of petitions received each year since 1991, the first year that the agency received RI petitions. Based on these estimates, we project that 621 vehicles would be imported under petition-based eligibility decisions and that 39 petition-based import eligibility decisions would be made.
Based on these estimates, the agency's costs for processing these petitions would increase to no more than $136,000. Petitioners would pay slightly more than $13,000 of that amount in the processing fees that accompany the filing of their petitions, leaving the remaining $123,000 to be recovered from the importers of the 621 vehicles to be imported each year under petition-based import eligibility decisions. Dividing $123,000 by 621 yields a pro rata fee of $198 for each vehicle imported under an eligibility decision that results from the granting of a petition.
Based on our estimates for Fiscal Years 2009 and 2010, the pro rata fee to be paid by the importer of each such vehicle will decrease from $208 to $198, representing a decrease of $10 from the existing fee for each vehicle imported. The same $198 fee will be paid regardless of whether the vehicle was petitioned under 49 CFR 593.6(a), based on the substantial similarity of the vehicle to a U.S.-certified model, or was petitioned under 49 CFR 593.6(b), based on the safety features of the vehicle complying with, or being capable of being modified to comply with all applicable FMVSS.
Section 30141(a)(3) also requires an RI to pay any other fees the Secretary of Transportation establishes “* * * to pay for the costs of—(A) processing bonds provided to the Secretary of the Treasury * * *”. Under Section 30141(d), the bond is provided at the time a nonconforming vehicle is imported to ensure that the vehicle will be brought into compliance within 120 days, as required by 49 CFR 591.8(d)(1), or if the vehicle is not brought into compliance within such time, that it be exported, without cost to the United States, or abandoned to the United States. See Section 30141(d)(1)(B).
Customs now exercises the functions associated with the processing of these bonds. The statute contemplates that we will make a reasonable determination of the cost that Customs incurs in processing the bonds. In essence, the cost to Customs is based upon an estimate of the time that a GS-9, Step 5 employee spends on each entry, which Customs has judged to be 20 minutes.
Based on General Schedule salary and locality raises that were effective in January 2007 and 2008 and the inclusion of costs for benefits, we are increasing the processing fee by $0.46, from $9.77 per bond to $10.23. This fee will reflect the direct and indirect costs that are actually associated with processing the bonds.
Each RI is currently required to pay $13 per vehicle to cover the costs the agency incurs in reviewing a certificate of conformity. We have found that these costs have increased to an average of $14 per vehicle because of increased contractor and overhead costs. Based on these costs, we are increasing the fee charged for vehicles for which a paper entry and fee payment is made, from $13 to $14, a difference of $1 per vehicle. However, if an RI enters a vehicle through the ABI system, has an e-mail address to receive communications from NHTSA, and pays the fee by credit card, the cost savings that we realize allow us to significantly reduce the fee to $6. We are maintaining the fee of $6 per vehicle if all the information in the ABI entry is correct.
Errors in ABI entries not only eliminate any time savings, but also require additional staff time to be expended in reconciling the erroneous ABI entry information with the conformity data that is ultimately submitted. Our experience with these errors has shown that staff members must examine records, make time-consuming long distance telephone calls, and often consult supervisory personnel to resolve the conflicts in the data. We have calculated this staff and supervisory time, as well the telephone charges, to amount to approximately $42 for each erroneous ABI entry. Adding this to the $6 fee for the review of conformity packages on automated entries yields a total of $48, representing no change in the fee that is currently charged when there are one or more errors in the ABI entry or omissions in the statement of conformity.
NHTSA is required under 49 U.S.C. 30141(e) to “review and make appropriate adjustments at least every 2 years in the amounts of the fees” relating to the registration of importers, the processing of bonds, and making decisions concerning the importation of nonconforming vehicles. The statute further requires the agency to “establish the fees for each fiscal year before the beginning of that year.” This final rule implements the statutory provisions. In the NPRM, we proposed to make this rule effective October 1, 2008, and did not receive any comments on this issue. In order to meet the statutory deadline, the agency finds under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3) that it has good cause to make this final rule effective less that thirty days after its publication in the Federal Register. Accordingly, the effective date of this final rule is October 1, 2008.
NHTSA has considered the impact of this rulemaking action under Executive Order 12866 and the Department of Transportation's regulatory policies and procedures. This rulemaking is not significant. Accordingly, the Office of Management and Budget has not reviewed this rulemaking document under Executive Order 12886. Based on the level of the fees and the volume of affected vehicles, NHTSA currently anticipates that the costs of the final rule would be so minimal as not to warrant preparation of a full regulatory evaluation. The action does not involve any substantial public interest or controversy. There would be no substantial effect upon State and local governments. There would be no substantial impact upon a major transportation safety program. A regulatory evaluation analyzing the economic impact of the final rule establishing the registered importer program, adopted on September 29, 1989, was prepared, and is available for review in the docket.
Pursuant to the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq., as amended by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBFEFA) of 1996), whenever an agency is required to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking for any proposed or final rule, it must prepare and make available for public comment a regulatory flexibility analysis that describes the effect of the rule on small entities (i.e., small businesses, small organizations, and small governmental jurisdictions). The Small Business Administration's regulations at 13 CFR Part 121 define a small business, in part, as a business entity “which operates primarily within the United States.” (13 CFR § 121.105(a)). No regulatory flexibility analysis is required if the head of an agency certifies that the rule would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The SBREFA amended the Regulatory Flexibility Act to require Federal agencies to provide a statement of the factual basis for certifying that a rule would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
The following is NHTSA's statement providing the factual basis for the certification (5 U.S.C. 605(b)). The adopted amendments will primarily affect entities that currently modify nonconforming vehicles and which are small businesses within the meaning of the Regulatory Flexibility Act; however, the agency has no reason to believe that these companies would be unable to pay the fees adopted in this rulemaking action. In most instances, these fees would not be changed or be only modestly increased (and in some instances decreased) from the fees previously being paid by these entities. Moreover, consistent with prevailing industry practices, these fees should be passed through to the ultimate purchasers of the vehicles that are altered and, in most instances, sold by the affected registered importers. The cost to owners or purchasers of nonconforming vehicles that are altered to conform to the FMVSS may be expected to increase (or decrease) to the extent necessary to reimburse the registered importer for the fees payable to the agency for the cost of carrying out the registration program and making eligibility decisions, and to compensate Customs for its bond processing costs.
The amendments adopted in this final rule will not have substantial direct effects on the States, on the relationship between the national government and the States, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government as specified in Executive Order 13132. Moreover, NHTSA is required by statute to impose fees for the administration of the RI program and to review and make necessary adjustments in those fees at least every two years. Thus, the requirements of section 6 of the Executive Order do not apply to this rulemaking action.
NHTSA has analyzed this action for purposes of the National Environmental Policy Act. The action would not have a significant effect upon the environment because it is solely concerned with the adjustment of fees associated with the agency's vehicle importation program. On account of those fee adjustments, the annual volume of motor vehicles imported through registered importers is not anticipated to vary significantly from that existing before promulgation of the rule.
Pursuant to Executive Order 12988 “Civil Justice Reform,” this agency has considered whether the amendments adopted in this final rule will have any retroactive effect. NHTSA concludes that those amendments will not have any retroactive effect. Judicial review of the final rule may be obtained pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 702. That section does not require that a petition for reconsideration be filed prior to seeking judicial review.
Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, a person is not required to respond to a collection of information by a Federal agency unless the collection displays a valid OMB control number. This final rule will require no information collections.
Executive Order 13045 applies to any rule that (1) is determined to be “economically significant” as defined under Executive Order 12866, and (2) concerns an environmental, health, or safety risk that NHTSA has reason to believe may have a disproportionate effect on children. If the regulatory action meets both criteria, we must evaluate the environmental health or safety effects of the planned rule on children, and explain why the planned rule is preferable to other potentially effective and reasonably feasible alternatives considered by us. This rulemaking is not economically significant and does not concern an environmental, health, or safety risk.
Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all submissions received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual submitting the comment or petition (or signing the comment or petition, 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).
In consideration of the foregoing, Part 594, Schedule of Fees Authorized by 49 U.S.C. 30141, in Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations is amended as follows:
(a) Each person filing an application to be granted the status of a Registered Importer pursuant to part 592 of this chapter on or after October 1, 2008, must pay an annual fee of $760, as calculated below, based upon the direct and indirect costs attributable to:
(b) That portion of the initial annual fee attributable to the processing of the application for applications filed on and after October 1, 2008, is $295. The sum of $295, representing this portion, shall not be refundable if the application is denied or withdrawn.
(d) That portion of the initial annual fee attributable to the remaining activities of administering the registration program on and after October 1, 2008, is set forth in paragraph (i) of this section. This portion shall be refundable if the application is denied, or withdrawn before final action upon it.
(h) * * * This cost is $23.31 per man-hour for the period beginning October 1, 2008.
(i) Based upon the elements and indirect costs of paragraphs (f), (g), and (h) of this section, the component of the initial annual fee attributable to administration of the registration program, covering the period beginning October 1, 2008, is $465. When added to the costs of registration of $295, as set forth in paragraph (b) of this section, the costs per applicant to be recovered through the annual fee are $760. The annual renewal registration fee for the period beginning October 1, 2008, is $651.
3.Amend § 594.7 by revising the section heading and paragraph (e) to read as follows: § 594.7 Fee for filing petitions for a determination whether a vehicle is eligible for importation.
(e) For petitions filed on and after October 1, 2008, the fee payable for seeking a determination under paragraph (a)(1) of this section is $175. The fee payable for a petition seeking a determination under paragraph (a)(2) of this section is $800. If the petitioner requests an inspection of a vehicle, the sum of $827 shall be added to such fee. No portion of this fee is refundable if the petition is withdrawn or denied.
4.Amend § 594.8 by revising paragraph (b) and the first sentence of paragraph (c) to read as follows: § 594.8 Fee for importing a vehicle pursuant to a determination by the Administrator.
(b) If a determination has been made pursuant to a petition, the fee for each vehicle is $198. The direct and indirect costs that determine the fee are those set forth in §§ 594.7(b), (c), and (d).
(c) If a determination has been made on or after October 1, 2008, pursuant to the Administrator's initiative, the fee for each vehicle is $125. * * *
5.Amend § 594.9 by revising paragraph (c) to read as follows: § 594.9 Fee for reimbursement of bond processing costs.
(c) The bond processing fee for each vehicle imported on and after October 1, 2008, for which a certificate of conformity is furnished, is $10.23.
6.Amend § 594.10 by revising paragraph (d) to read as follows: § 594.10 Fee for review and processing of conformity certificate.
(d) The review and processing fee for each certificate of conformity submitted on and after October 1, 2008 is $14. However, if the vehicle covered by the certificate has been entered electronically with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security through the Automated Broker Interface and the registered importer submitting the certificate has an e-mail address, the fee for the certificate is $6, provided that the fee is paid by a credit card issued to the registered importer. If NHTSA finds that the information in the entry or the certificate is incorrect, requiring further processing, the processing fee shall be $48.
Issued on: September 18, 2008.
[FR Doc. E8-22334 Filed 9-23-08; 8:45 am]