[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 53 (Monday, March 20, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 14717-14718]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-6777]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
49 CFR Chapter V
[Docket No. 95-16, Notice 01]
Meeting on Regulatory Reform
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces a public meeting at which NHTSA will
seek information from the public on regulatory reform actions the
agency should take related to its motor vehicle regulations. This
notice also invites written comments on the same subject.
DATES: Public meeting: The meeting will be held on March 29, 1995 at
1:00 p.m. Those wishing to make oral presentations at the meeting
should contact Deborah Parker, at the address or telephone number
listed below, by March 27, 1995.
Written comments: Written comments are due by April 7, 1995.
ADDRESSES: Public meeting: The public meeting will be held at the
following location: Ramada Inn (near the Detroit Metro Airport), 8270
Wickham Road, Romulus, MI 48174.
Written comments: All written comments should be mailed to the
Docket Section, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Room
5109, 400 7th Street SW., Washington, DC 20590. Please refer to the
docket number when submitting written comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Deborah Parker, Director, Special
Projects Staff, NPS 01.1, NHTSA, 400 7th Street SW., Washington, DC
20590 (telephone 202-366-4931).
[[Page 14718]] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Calling for a new approach to
the way Government regulates the private sector President Clinton asked
Executive Branch agencies to report to him by June 1, 1995, on ways to
improve the regulatory process. Specifically, the President requested
that agencies: (1) Cut obsolete regulations; (2) reward agency and
regulator performance by rewarding results, not red tape; (3) create
grassroots partnerships by meeting, outside of Washington, D.C., with
those affected by regulations and other interested parties; and (4) use
consensual rulemaking, such as regulatory negotiation, more frequently.
This public meeting will help NHTSA to comply with the President's
directives.
The Agency is focusing at this time on items (1) and (4) described
above. For item (1), cut obsolete regulations, the President requested
that we ``conduct a page-by-page review of all. . .agency regulations
now in force and eliminate or revise those that are outdated or
otherwise in need of reform.'' The President requested that our review
include consideration of at least the following:
`` Is this regulation obsolete?
Could its intended goal be achieved in more efficient,
less intrusive ways?
Are there better private sector alternatives, such as
market mechanisms, that can better achieve the public good envisioned
by the regulation?
Could private business, setting its own standards and
being subject to public accountability, do the job as well?
Could the States or local governments do the job, making
Federal regulation unnecessary? ''
To assist NHTSA in responding to this directive, the public's views
on which Motor Vehicle-related regulations (standards, rules, etc., are
all used interchangeably for this purpose) should be rescinded or
revised are requested (the agency also is reviewing its non-motor
vehicle related regulations but they are not the subject of this
meeting). Both administratively issued and statutorily mandated
regulations are the subject of this review. Suggestions should be
accompanied by a rationale for the action and the expected
consequences. Recommendations should be based on at least the following
considerations:
Cost-effectiveness.
Administrative/compliance burdens.
Whether the standard is performance-oriented, as opposed
to design-oriented or is technology-restricting.
Small business effects.
Frequency of rulemaking to amend or clarify requirements
(including inconsequentiality petitions).
Availability of voluntary industry standards.
Obsolete requirements.
Enforceability of the standard.
Whether the standard reflects a ``common sense'' approach
to solving the problem.
In considering the consequences of any recommendation please
provide the best available information on any effects on safety,
consumer costs, regulated party testing/certification costs, small
business impacts, competition, etc.
By motor vehicle-related regulations, NHTSA means all those
standards/rules related to safety, fuel economy, theft, consumer
information, damageability, and domestic content. The standards
themselves and all related record-keeping and procedural requirements
are included. Parts 520-594 of Title 49, Transportation, of the Code of
Federal Regulations are encompassed.
The public meeting will be held in conjunction with and immediately
after the agency's previously scheduled quarterly technical meeting.
With regard to item (4), consensual rulemaking, the agency wants
recommendations on which active rulemakings--not those rules already in
effect--would be appropriate candidates for the regulatory negotiation
process. Bear in mind that these must be rulemakings in which the
various interested parties would be willing to negotiate solutions.
Currently, the agency is conducting a regulatory negotiation on the
subject of optical headlamp aim.
Procedural Matters
As noted at the beginning of this notice, persons wishing to speak
at the public meeting should contact Deborah Parker by the indicated
date. To facilitate communication, NHTSA will provide auxiliary aids
(e.g., sign-language interpreter, braille materials, large print
materials and/or a magnifying device) to participants as necessary,
during the meeting. Thus, any person desiring assistance of auxiliary
aids should contact Ms. Barbara Carnes, NHTSA Office of Safety
Performance Standards, telephone (202) 366-1810, no later than March
23, 1995.
Those speaking at the public meeting should limit their
presentation to 20 minutes. If the presentation will include slides,
motion pictures, or other visual aids, the presenters should bring at
least one copy to the meeting so that NHTSA can readily include the
material in the public record.
NHTSA staff at the meeting may ask questions of any speaker, and
any participant may submit written questions for the NHTSA staff, at
its discretion, to address to other meeting participants. There will be
no opportunity for participants directly to question each other. If
time permits, persons who have not requested time, but wold like to
make a statement, will be afforded an opportunity to do so.
A schedule of participants making oral presentation will be
available at the designated meeting room. NHTSA will place a copy of
any written statement in the docket for this notice. A verbatim
transcript of the meeting will be prepared and also placed in the NHTSA
docket as soon as possible after the meeting.
Participation in the meeting is not a prerequisite for the
submission of written comments. NHTSA invites written comments from all
interested parties. It is requested but not required that 10 copies be
submitted.
If a commenter wishes to submit certain information under a claim
of confidentiality, three copies of the complete submission, including
purportedly confidential business information, should be submitted to
the Chief Counsel, NHTSA, at the street address given above, and copies
from which the purportedly confidential information has been deleted
should be submitted to the Docket Section. A request for
confidentiality should be accompanied by a cover letter setting forth
the information specified in the agency's confidential business
information regulation. 49 CFR Part 512.
All comments received before the close of business on the comment
closing date indicated above will be considered. Comments will be
available for inspection in the docket.
NHTSA will continue to file relevant information as it becomes
available in the docket after the closing date. It is therefore
recommended that interested persons continue to examine the docket for
new material.
Issued: March 14, 1995.
Barry Felrice,
Associate Administrator for Safety Performance Standards.
[FR Doc. 95-6777 Filed 3-15-95; 1:03 pm]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P
