Correction to Decision That Nonconforming Model Year 2000 East Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited Double Decker Tri-Axle Buses (With Volvo B7L Chassis) Are Eligible for Importation

Topics:  East Lancs, Volvo B7L

Claudia W. Covell
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
18 April 2018

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 75 (Wednesday, April 18, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17220-17221]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-08060]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2013-0021, Notice 3]


Correction to Decision That Nonconforming Model Year 2000 East 
Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited Double Decker Tri-Axle Buses (With 
Volvo B7L Chassis) Are Eligible for Importation

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 
Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Correction to previous import eligibility decision.

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SUMMARY: NHTSA is correcting an error made in its decision that certain 
model year (MY) 2000 East Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited Double 
Decker Tri-Axle buses (with Volvo B7L Chassis) that were not originally 
manufactured to comply with all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety 
Standards (FMVSS) are eligible for importation into the United States 
because they have safety features that comply with, or are capable of 
being altered to comply with, all applicable FMVSS. The correction is 
being made to properly identify the subject vehicles as MY 2001 models.

DATES: The original eligibility decision became effective on July 30, 
2015. The correction is effective as of April 8, 2018, and applies to 
any vehicle that may have been previously imported under the original 
eligibility decision.

ADDRESSES: For further information contact George Stevens, Office of 
Vehicle Safety Compliance, NHTSA (202-366-5308).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Under 49 U.S.C. 30141(a)(1)(B), a motor vehicle that was not 
originally manufactured to conform to all applicable FMVSS shall be 
refused admission into the United States unless NHTSA has decided its 
safety features comply with, or are capable of being altered to comply 
with, all applicable FMVSS based on destructive test data or such other 
evidence that NHTSA decides to be adequate.
    Petitions for eligibility decisions may be submitted by either 
manufacturers or importers who have registered with NHTSA pursuant to 
49 CFR part 592. As specified in 49 CFR 593.7, NHTSA publishes notice 
in the Federal Register of each petition that it receives, and affords 
interested persons an opportunity to comment on the petition. At the 
close of the comment period, NHTSA decides, on the basis of the 
petition and any comments that it has received, whether the vehicle is 
eligible for importation. The agency then publishes this decision in 
the Federal Register.
    US Specs, of Havre de Grace, Maryland (``US Specs'') (Registered 
Importer No. RI-03-321), petitioned NHTSA to decide whether MY 2000 
East Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited Double Decker Tri-Axle buses 
(with Volvo B7L Chassis) are eligible for importation into the United 
States. NHTSA published a notice of the petition on January 26, 2015 
(80 FR 4033) to afford an opportunity for public comment. No comments 
were received. The reader is referred to that notice for a thorough 
description of the petition.
    A decision granting the referenced petition was published on August 
25, 2015 (80 FR 46645). Under the decision, certain MY 2000 East 
Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited Double Decker Tri-Axle buses (with 
Volvo B7L Chassis) were determined eligible for importation into the 
United States.
    Import eligibility decisions are made on a make, model, and model 
year basis, typically in response to petitions submitted by a RI. As 
specified in 49 CFR 593.6(b)(1), the petitioning RI must, among other 
things, identify the model year and model of the vehicle for which 
import eligibility is sought.
    In its petition, US Specs identified the subject vehicle as a MY 
2000 East Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited Double Decker Tri-Axle 
buses, built on a Volvo B7L Chassis. At time of submission, there was 
no reason for NHTSA to question this identification of the vehicle.
    It has since come to the agency's attention that manufacturing 
operations on the subject vehicle were completed in calendar year 2001, 
the same year in which the bus entered service. Absent a model year 
designation from the manufacturer or the vehicle's country of origin, 
the year in which manufacturing operations are completed on the vehicle 
serves as the vehicle's model year, as that term is defined in 49 CFR 
593.4.

Correction

    Accordingly, on the basis of the foregoing, NHTSA hereby corrects 
the decision granting import eligibility to MY 2000 East Lancashire 
Coachbuilders Limited Double Decker Tri-Axle buses (mounted on a Volvo 
B7L Chassis) to identify the subject vehicles as the MY 2001 version.
    Conditions for importation of vehicles eligible under this 
corrected decision remain as outlined in the original decision. The 
importer of a vehicle

[[Page 17221]]

admissible under any final decision must indicate on the form HS-7 
accompanying entry the appropriate vehicle eligibility number 
indicating that the vehicle is eligible for entry. VCP-59, the vehicle 
eligibility number assigned to vehicles admissible under the original 
decision, remains as the eligibility number for vehicles admissible 
under the decision as corrected in this notice.

    Authority:  49 U.S.C. 30118, 30120: delegations of authority at 
49 CFR 1.95 and 501.8.

Claudia W. Covell,
Acting Director, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2018-08060 Filed 4-17-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-59-P