REGISTERED IMPORTER NEWSLETTER No. 27
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance
February 16, 2006

Registered Importer Registrations Revoked

An RI occupies a position of public trust to ensure that nonconforming vehicles imported under its auspices are properly conformed to all applicable Federal motor vehicle safety and bumper standards before they are placed in operation on public roads in the United States. RI duties and responsibilities are specified at 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301 and 49 CFR Part 592.  NHTSA can take enforcement action against RIs that violate these provisions.  Depending on the nature of the violation, those actions can include suspending or revoking the RI’s registration. NHTSA has recently taken action to revoke the registrations of two RIs, Registered Importer Corporation of Oxnard, California, and Motorex of Gardena, California. Further information on those actions is set forth below, as well as information on criminal charges that are being brought against the principal of a third RI, Superbike Racing of Valdosta, Georgia.

1) Registered Importer Corporation

On March 5, 2004, Claus Greater, President of Registered Importer Corporation was arrested at his business in Oxnard, California and charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, smuggling, entry of goods by means of false statements, and false statements under the Clean Air Act, following a joint investigation by NHTSA, EPA, the DOT Office of Inspector General, and Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE). On December 14, 2004, Mr. Greater pleaded guilty to two felonies in the U.S. District Court for Central District of California, and was subsequently sentenced to three years of supervised probation and ordered to pay restitution, fines, and a special assessment fee. Once the criminal case was concluded, NHTSA pursued administrative sanctions against Mr. Graeter for violations including the importation of vehicles without DOT Conformance bonds and the affixing of certification labels to vehicles before the completion of all necessary conformance modifications. After giving Mr. Graeter an opportunity to respond to these charges, NHTSA revoked his company’s registration on December 15, 2005.

2) Motorex

After receiving complaints from State officials regarding vehicles imported and allegedly conformed by Motorex that failed to comply with certain standards, NHTSA initiated an investigation of the company’s practices as an RI. The agency’s investigation ultimately revealed that Motorex submitted false statements of conformity to the agency for 17 separate Nissan GTS and GTR “Skyline” passenger cars. Given the gravity of these violations, the agency asked Motorex on June 30, 2005 to show cause why its registration as an RI ought not be revoked. After considering Motorex’s response to the agency’s letter, NHTSA revoked the company’s registration on February 15, 2006.

In the course of its investigation of Motorex, NHTSA obtained from Nissan information that caused the agency to consider the need to partially rescind its prior decision that 1990 to 1999 Nissan GTS and GTR “Skyline” model vehicles are eligible for importation. On November 28, 2005, the agency published in the Federal Register a tentative decision to partially rescind import eligibility for certain model and model year Nissan Skyline vehicles. After considering comments received in response to the notice of tentative decision, on March 1, 2006, the agency published in the Federal Register a final decision to rescind import eligibility for the models and model years at issue. As a result of that decision, only R33 model Nissan Skyline vehicles manufactured between January 1996 and June 1998 remain eligible for importation. All other model and model year vehicles admissible under the prior decision are no longer eligible for importation. As a consequence, the agency rescinded vehicle eligibility number VCP-17, which covered vehicles admissible under the prior decision, and issued vehicle eligibility number VCP-32 to cover only those model and model year Nissan GTS and GTR passenger cars that remain eligible for importation. The rescission will only bar the future importation of the model and model year Nissan GTS and GTR passenger cars that are no longer eligible for importation, and will not affect the status of vehicles that have already been lawfully imported under vehicle eligibility number VCP-17.

3) Superbike Racing, Inc.

A Federal grand jury in Georgia handed down an indictment against Andrew Wright, President of Superbike Racing, (a former RI) for violations of the vehicle importation laws. His trial is to begin in March.

Motor Vehicle Importations

The following table shows the total number of vehicles imported in the past years under Box 3 on the HS-7 Declaration form, broken down by whether or not they are Canadian-certified. The number of active registered importers as of December 31^st of each calendar year is also provided.

Calendar Year	Non-Canadian Vehicle Importations	Canadian Vehicle Importations	Total Vehicle Importations	Number of RIs as of December 31st
2003	583	96,723	97,306	160
2004	327	43,357	43,684	130
2005	192	12,496	12,688	96

HS-7 Declaration Form

The agency is currently revising the HS-7 Declaration form to incorporate new requirements under the amendments to the RI regulations that became effective on September 30, 2004. Those requirements are for an RI to declare that a vehicle offered for importation is not a salvage motor vehicle or a reconstructed motor vehicle. We are also incorporating into the HS-7 Declaration form specific language to cover vehicles that are imported for the purpose of preparing an import eligibility petition. The new HS-7 cannot be released for use until it is approved by other interested government agencies.