Resource Information: Plain-Language Format of Emission Regulations for Nonroad Engines

Plain-Language Format of Emission
Regulations for Nonroad Engines
In the Clean Air Act, Congress has given the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) responsibility to set emission standards
for all types of highway and nonroad engines, vehicles, and equipment.
We have tried to write the regulations to adopt these emission standards
in a way that is easy to understand, even for someone with little legal
or engineering experience in reading regulations. This fact sheet
describes this approach to writing regulations and the plans to extend
this to other programs in the future.
What issues does plain language address?
Regulations related to engine emissions often involve complex language to
implement standards and procedures. However, we are making an extra effort to
write the standards, instructions, and prohibitions in ways that are easy to understand
and less likely to raise questions that require interpretation. This effort is consistent
with an October 1998 Executive Order instructing federal agencies to use plain
language in official documents,

How is plain language different?
Writing plain-language regulations involves four main strategies. We:
• Identify the group of people who are most affected and write it directly to
them. This way requirements and prohibitions sound more like instructions
that are short and to the point. We do make clear, however, that failing to
follow these instructions carries the same penalties as if they were written
more formally.
• Generally use active verbs so it is clear who is responsible to do certain
things.
• Avoid using technical or legal terms when common words communicate the
same meaning.
• Organize the provisions to put related things together. This helps the reader
find things faster and reduces the risk of overlapping or inconsistent
requirements. Leaving some section and part numbers unused allows us to add
related requirements in the future without causing confusion.
Office of Transportation and Air Quality
United States
Environmental Protection EPA420-F-07-037
Agency June 2Q07

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How are the new plain-language regulations organized?
These regulations have three portions:
• The main element of the regulations sets emission standards for engines or equipment
also known as the standard-setting part). This includes everything a manufacturer needs
to know to design compliant products, certify them, and show that they meet all
the requirements.
• Another part of the regulations has general procedures and specifications that describe
how to test engines to show that they meet emission standards. This includes analyzer
and test-fuel specifications and instructions for testing engines, calibrating equipment,
and calculating emission levels. We describe any testing provisions that are specific to a
particular type of engine in the standard-setting part.
• A third part of the regulations describes how we administer and enforce our emission-
control programs. Many of these provisions come directly from the Clean Air Act
As with the test procedures and specifications, we address compliance provisions that
are specific to a particular type of engines in the standard-setting part. The general
compliance provisions include:
0 general prohibitions
0 requirements for people installing, using, or servicing certified engines
0 general exemptions for a variety of situations
0 procedures for auditing production-line engines
0 defect-reporting and recall
0 hearing procedures

In effect, the standard-setting part serves as a handbook for manufacturers to meet all the
requirements that apply to them, while the general parts serve as reference materials for
manufacturers and anyone involved in activities related to certified engines.

Chapters, parts, sections, paragraphs—how does it all fit together?
The Office of the Federal Register publishes the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) with a
uniform format and nomenclature that all federal agencies use when writing regulations. The
CFR is divided into 50 "titles," of which Title 40 is reserved for all requirements related to
environmental protection. As with all the titles in the CFR, Title 40 is divided into parts to
address specific programs. Regulations initiated by the Office of Air and Radiation (OAR)
have historically all been located together in Parts 49 through 99. Within the Office of Air and
Radiation, the Office of Transportation and Air Quality has adopted emission standards for
various types of highway and nonroad engines, which are generally in Parts 85 through 94.

To address the need for more regulatory parts for new programs and write them in plain
language, we have reserved a new set of parts—1000 through 1299. The first 100 of these parts
are reserved for emission control programs from the Office of Transportation and Air Quality,
with the intended distribution shown in Table 1 below. So far, we have proposed or adopted
regulations that use five of these new parts:
• Part 1027 specifies certification fees for all engines, vehicles, and equipment.Part 1033 is
the standard-setting part for locomotives.
• Part 1039 is the standard-setting part for land-based nonroad diesel engines.
• Part 1042 is the standard-setting part for marine diesel engines.
Plain-Language Format of Emission Regulations

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• Part 1045 is the standard-setting part for marine spark'ignition engines.
• Part 1048 is the standard-setting part for nonroad spark'ignition engines over 19 kilowatts
that are not used in recreational vehicles.
• Part 1051 is the standard-setting part for recreational vehicles, including snowmobiles,
all'terrain vehicles, and off-highway motorcycles.
• Part 1054 is the standard-setting part for nonroad spark'ignition engines at or below
19 kilowatts.
• Part 1060 specifies emission standards and test procedures for all types of nonroad engines.
• Part 1065 describes general provisions related to procedures for testing engines.
• Part 1068 includes general compliance provisions.
• Part 1074 describes provisions related to preemption of state regulations.

Each of these parts has various subparts, sections, and paragraphs. The following illustration
shows how these fit together and what format we use to identify them.

Part 1054
Subpart A
Section 1054.1
(a)
(b)
(ii)

Note that a cross-reference to §1054.1(b) in this illustration would refer to the parent paragraph
(b) and all the paragraphs under it. For example, this would include paragraphs (b), (b)(l),
(b)(2), (b)(2)(i), and (b)(2)(ii). A reference to "§1054.1(b) introductory text" would refer only
to the single, parent paragraph (b).

What are the advantages of taking this approach?
The first step for anyone to comply with regulations is to understand them. We believe plain-
language regulations will be a great help to those trying to meet all the requirements that apply.

In addition, setting general testing provisions in Part 1065 and general compliance provisions in
Part 1068 should greatly simplify and coordinate regulations across different programs.
• When we add a new standard-setting part to Subchapter U for a different category of
engines, we apply the existing provisions of Parts 1065 and 1068 as a supplement to the
new standard-setting part.
• If we need to change Parts 1065 or 1068 for any reason, those changes would
automatically apply to the other nonroad engines that are already regulated under those
parts.
• Where the specific provisions of the general parts do not apply, or apply uniquely, for
a particular type of engine, the standard-setting part can include provisions to make
these distinctions.
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This approach has three important implications:
• First, companies already subject to Parts 1065 and 1068 need to stay abreast of what we
are doing in other programs. We generally plan to apply the same provisions to everyone,
but we will go through a public process to do this for each new category of engines. As a
result, there may be some changes resulting from discussions on an otherwise unrelated subject.
• Second, by relying on single "reference" sections to cover multiple programs, we will
necessarily take a consistent approach to these general regulatory provisions. Relying on
centralized reference sections prevents the risk of making corrections or improvements
in one program that don't apply to other programs where that would be the right
thing to do, which will be especially helpful for EPA management of multiple emission
control programs and for manufacturers involved in making engines for more than one
kind of nonroad application.
• Third, the standard-setting part will be smaller. Most parts with nonroad emission
standards are 100 - 150 pages in the CFR. Moving the general provisions into stand-
alone parts will allow us to condense the program'Specific information in the standard-
setting part down to about 50 pages.

How would other programs fit into the new scheme?
The following table shows how we plan to use Subchapter U for regulations related to issues that
fall under the responsibility of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality. We generally refer
to these as "mobile sources" of emissions.
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                                                 Table 1
                           Regulatory Blueprint for Parts 1000 through 1099
Part
Subject
Status
1000 through 1011 State/Federal Implementation Plans, Conformity, Other Broad Mobile-Source Issues
1005
Conformity

1012 through 1026 Highway vehicle programs
1012
1015
1018
1022
1025
Light-duty vehicle standards
Fuel economy andFE retrofits (currently in 40 CFR parts 600 and
610)
Highway motorcycles
Clean fuel fleets/ILEV programs
General enforcement provisions for vehicle programs (mirror 1068,
plus consumer imports, performance warranty, etc.)

1027 through 1029 General certification provisions
1027
Certification fees
proposed
1030 through 1060 Highway and nonroad engine and equipment programs
1030
1033
1036
1039
1042
*1043
1045
1048
1051
1054
Aircraft
Locomotives
Heavy-duty highway engines and vehicles
Nonroad diesel engines and equipment
Marine diesel engines and vessels
Marine vessel operations (MARPOL)
Marine spark-ignition engines and vessels
Large nonroad spark-ignition engines and equipment
Land-based recreational vehicles
Small nonroad spark-ignition engines and equipment
proposed
adopted June 2004
proposed
proposed
adopted November 2002
adopted November 2002
proposed
1057 through 1081 General provisions
1060
1064
1065
1068
1071
1074
General standards and procedures — evaporative emissions
General procedures for vehicle testing (SI and CI)
General procedures for engine testing (SI and CI)
General enforcement provisions for engine programs
Nonconformance penalties
Preemption
proposed
adopted November 2002
adopted November 2002
proposed
1082 through 1099 In-use fuel requirements
1083
1086
1089
*1092
*1095
1098
Registration of fuels and fuel additives
Gasoline
Diesel fuel
Heavy fuels and SOx Emission Control Areas
Alternative fuels
General compliance provisions (penalties, CBI, dumping, hardship,
exemptions, etc.)

  Key:  Bold = adopted.  Plain text = under development.  Italics  = later.
  * The marked parts would involve development of fundamentally new regulatory provisions that may be adopted in the future.
     Other categories already have existing regulatory provisions in the CFR.
  Note that part numbers are not sequential to allow for flexibility with future rulemakings.
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Where Can I Get More Information?
You can access documents related to emission standards on the Office of Transportation and Air
Quality Web site at: www.epa.gov/otaq/.

You can also contact us at:

         U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
         Assessment and Standards Division
         2000 Traverwood Drive
         Ann Arbor, MI48105
         voice-mail:  (734) 214-4636
         E-mail: asdinfo@epa.gov
Plain-Language Format of Emission Regulations

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