Department of Transportation August 3, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces actions taken by the FHWA and other Federal agencies that are final within the meaning of 23 U.S.C. 139(l)(1). The actions relate to a proposed highway project, U.S. Route 823 (the Portsmouth Bypass), from Lucasville in Scioto county to near Sciotodale in Scioto county in the State of Ohio. Those actions grant licenses, permits, and approvals for the project.

This document adopts fees for Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 and until further notice, as authorized by 49 U.S.C. 30141, relating to the registration of importers and the importation of motor vehicles not certified as conforming to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS). These fees are needed to maintain the registered importer (RI) program. We are decreasing the fees for the registration of a new RI from $830 to $677 and the annual fee for renewing an existing registration from $745 to $570. These fees include the costs of maintaining the RI program. The fee required to reimburse the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (Customs) for conformance bond processing costs will increase from $9.30 to $9.77 per bond. We are also increasing the fees assessed against the importer of each vehicle covered by the decision to grant import eligibility. For vehicles determined eligible based on their substantial similarity to a U.S. certified vehicle, the fee is increased from $150 to $208. For vehicles determined eligible based on their capability of being modified to comply with all applicable FMVSS, the fee is increased from $150 to $208. In the event that a petitioner requests an inspection of a vehicle, the fee for such an inspection will remain $827 for vehicles that are the subject of either type of petition. The fee that an RI must pay as a processing cost for review of each conformity package that it submits to NHTSA will decrease to $13 from $18 per certificate. If the vehicle has been entered electronically with Customs through the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) and the registered importer has an e-mail address, the fee for processing the conformity package will continue to be $6, provided the fee is paid by credit card. However, if NHTSA finds that the information in the entry or the conformity package is incorrect, the processing fee will be $48, representing no change from the fee that is currently charged when there are one or more errors in the ABI entry or omissions in the statement of conformity.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain McDonnell Douglas airplanes, identified above. This AD requires installing or replacing with improved parts, as applicable, the bonding straps between the metallic frame of the fillet and the wing leading edge ribs, on both the left and right sides of the airplane. This AD results from fuel system reviews conducted by the manufacturer. We are issuing this AD to reduce the potential of ignition sources inside fuel tanks in the event of a severe lightning strike, which, in combination with flammable fuel vapors, could result in fuel tank explosions and consequent loss of the airplane.