United States Air and Radiation EPA420-F-00-016
Environmental Protection April 2000
Agency
Office of Transportation and Air Quality
Regulatory
Announcement
Fee Waiver for Small-Volume
Manufacturers
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is adopting a
regulation which waives certification fee payments for small-volume
manufacturers of light-duty vehicles, light-duty trucks, and heavy-duty
engines. The fee waiver provides regulatory relief to these
manufacturers by reducing the front-end expenses required for
certification.
Background
Small volume manufacturers of alternatively fueled vehicles and large-
volume manufacturers with low sales of specific products have made
numerous requests to streamline and reduce the cost of certification. The
manufacturers of alternative fuel vehicles—Compressed Natural Gas
(CNG) and Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG)—also want to make the point
that vehicles using alternative fuels not only satisfy the Clean Air Act for
"Clean-Fuel Fleet Vehicles" (CFFV), but also satisfy the Executive
Order 13031 to reduce the dependency on foreign oil. By to reducing the
cost of compliance and streamlining the certification process, EPA
provides incentives to these small volume manufacturers and qualifying
large-volume manufacturers. These incentives could supply the needs of
many fleet owners for both the CFFV program as well as the Executive
Order.
Highlights of Final Rule
Prior to the EPA issuing a certificate of conformity, each manufacturer
must pay a fee to the U.S. Treasury that covers the cost of compliance
> Printed on Recycled Paper
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and enforcement activities performed by EPA. EPA is adopting a fee
waiver for model years 2000 through 2003 for small-volume manufactur-
ers, significantly reducing the cost of compliance for small-volume
manufacturers.
The key elements of the waiver provisions are:
• Certification fees must be paid before the EPA can issue a certificate
of conformity to any manufacturer ($23,731 for LDV and $12,584
for heavy-duty engines). For small-volume manufacturers (with
sales less than 10,000 units), the payment of these fees prior to
production can impose a significant burden. This final rule waives
the payment for small-volume manufacturers of vehicles with a
gaseous-fuel-only fuel system, thus eliminating one of the certifica-
tion burdens. EPA is extending the fee waiver through MY 2003.
• Large-volume manufacturers producing fewer than 10,000 dedicated
gaseous-fueled vehicles can also apply for this waiver.
« The majority of vehicles that will meet the criteria of a gaseous-fuel-
only system will be certified to Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) or
Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV) emission standards. Vehicles
with dedicated fuel systems certified to Tier 1 standards will also be
eligible.
« With the exception of dual-fuel and flexible-fueled vehicles and
engines, this waiver will also apply to any vehicle certified to LEV,
Inherently Low Emission Vehicle (ILEV), ULEV or Zero Emission
Vehicle (ZEV).
* For converted vehicles that are dual-fueled or flexible-fuel vehicle
there will be a certification fee. This fee, however, will be based on
1 percent of the value added to the vehicle by the conversion.
This final rule will have no adverse effects on air quality since all current
emissions standards and requirements continue to apply. The majority of
vehicles that qualify for the fee waiver provided by this rulemaking will
be certified to ULEV levels. This rule is intended to encourage the
production of these clean vehicles by reducing the cost associated with
certifying them.
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for
Qualifying small-volume manufacturers will realize an immediate cost
savings and are very supportive of this change. In addition, large-volume
manufacturers can also benefit from this in specific cases. Existing
regulations allow "large-volume" manufacturers to classify any engine
family(ies) that meet sales volume criteria for small-volume to be classi-
fied as such. Therefore, a large-volume manufacturer could take advan-
tage of this cost savings, as long as the engine families were dedicated
alternative fuel engine families.
Of
The adoption of this rule will substantially reduce front-end expenses for
small-volume manufacturers affected by this rule and for qualifying
large-volume manufacturers. EPA estimates that qualifying small-
volume and large-volume manufacturers will save about $100,000 during
each of the next four model years due to these provisions. This sum may
seem insignificant within the automobile manufacturing industry, but for
small-volume production (total sales less than 10,000 units) this repre-
sents a significant amount of money that must be paid out prior to the
start of production.
A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published on July 20, 1998, with
the comment period closing on August 19, 1998. One commenters
requested that the comment period be extended. A Notice was published
on September 11, 1998, extending the comment period to October 13,
1998. We received 27 submissions during the comment period.
For
You can access additional documents on clean fuel fleet vehicles elec-
tronically on the Office of Transportation and Air Quality Web site at:
http ://www. epa.gov/otaq/ccf.htm
For further information on this final rule, please contact Clifford Tyree
at:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Transportation and Air Quality
2000 Traverwood Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48105-2498
(734)214-4310
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