LAW

Hazardous Materials Transportation; Registration and Fee
Assessment Program

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is intended to notify
persons who transport or offer for transportation certain
hazardous materials of an annual requirement to register with the
Department of Transportation. Each person, as defined by the
Federal hazardous materials transportation law (49 U.S.C. 5101 et
seq.), who engages in any of the specified activities relating to
the transportation of hazardous materials is required to register
annually with the Department of Transportation and pay a fee. The
regulations implementing this program are in Title 49, Code of
Federal Regulations, Sections 107.601-107.620.

Proceeds from the fee are used to fund grants to State, local,
and Indian tribal governments for emergency response training and
planning. Grants were awarded to all states, two territories, and
12 Native American tribes during FY 1995. By law, 75 percent of
the Federal grant monies awarded to the States is further
distributed to local emergency response and planning agencies.
The FY 1994 funds helped to provide (1) training for 126,000
emergency response personnel, (2) approximately 300 commodity
flow studies and hazard analyses, (3) 1,200 emergency response
plans updated or written for the first time, (4) assistance to
2,200 local emergency planning committees, and (5) 850 emergency
exercises.

The persons affected by these regulations are those who offer or
transport in commerce any of the following materials:

A. Any highway route-controlled quantity of a Class 7
(radioactive) material;

B. More than 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of a Division 1.1, 1.2, or
1.3 (explosive) material in a motor vehicle, rail car, or freight
container;

C. More than one liter (1.06 quarts) per package of a material
extremely toxic by inhalation (that is, a "material poisonous by
inhalation" that meets the criteria for "hazard zone A");

D. A hazardous material in a bulk packaging having a capacity
equal to or greater than 13,248 liters (3,500 gallons) for
liquids or gases or more than 13.24 cubic meters (468 cubic feet)
for solids; or

E. A shipment, in other than a bulk packaging, of 2,268 kilograms
(5,000 pounds) gross weight or more of a class of hazardous
materials for which placarding of a vehicle, rail car, or freight
container is required for that class.
 
The 1995-96 registration year ends on June 30, 1996. The 1996-97
registration year will begin on July 1, 1996, and end on June 30,
1997. Any person who engages in any of the specified activities
during the 1996-97 registration year must file a registration
statement and pay the associated fee of $300.00 before July 1,
1996, or before engaging in any of the activities, whichever is
later. All persons who registered for the 1995-96 registration
year will be mailed a registration statement form and an
informational brochure in April 1996. Other persons wishing to
obtain the form and any other information relating to this
program should contact the program number given above.

The registration statement has not been revised for the 1996-97 
registration year. In a final rule published under Docket HM-208B
(May 23, 1995; 60 FR 27231) two minor changes in the registration 
requirements were made, effective beginning with the 1996-97 
registration year: (1) foreign offerors are permanently excepted
from the registration requirement if the country in which they
are domiciled does not impose registration or a fee upon U.S.
companies for offering hazardous materials into that country, and
(2) the definition of "materials extremely toxic by inhalation"
has been expanded to include all materials poisonous by
inhalation that meet the criteria for hazard zone A.

Registrants should file a registration statement and pay the 
associated fee well before July 1, 1996, in order to ensure that
a 1996-97 certificate of registration has been obtained by that
date to comply with the recordkeeping requirements. These include
the requirement that the registration number be made available on
board each truck and truck tractor (not including trailers and
semi-trailers) and each vessel used to transport hazardous
materials subject to the registration requirements. A certificate
of registration is generally mailed within three weeks of RSPA's
receipt of a registration statement.

Persons who engage in any of the specified activities during a 
registration year are required to register for that year. Persons
who engaged in these activities during registration year 1992-93
(September 16, 1992, through June 30, 1993), 1993-94 (July 1,
1993, through June 30, 1994), 1994-95 (July 1, 1994, through June
30, 1995), or 1995-96 (July 1, 1995, through June 30, 1996) and
have not filed a registration statement and paid the associated
fee of $300.00 for each year for which registration is required
should contact RSPA to obtain the required form (DOT F 5800.2). A
copy of the form that will be distributed for the 1996-97
registration year may be used to register for previous years.
Persons who fail to register for any registration year in which
they engaged in such activities are subject to civil penalties
for each day a covered activity is performed. The legal
obligation to register for a year in which any specified activity
was conducted does not end with the registration year.
Registration after the completion of a registration year may also
involve the imposition of a late fee and interest in addition to
a civil penalty. 

During the 1994-95 and 1995-96 registration years, RSPA 
participated with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO)
in a pilot test of an alternate procedure for filing the Federal 
registration statement for motor carriers who were also subject
to the State of Ohio's registration program through the PUCO.
That test has been completed and will not be continued during the
1995-96 registration year while the results are evaluated. All
persons required to register with RSPA should do so by submitting
the registration statement with payment directly to the U.S.
Department of Transportation, Hazardous Materials Registration,
P.O. Box 740188, Atlanta, Georgia 30374-0188.

SUMMARY: The Hazardous Materials Registration Program will enter 
registration year 1996-97 on July 1, 1996. Persons who transport
or offer for transportation certain hazardous materials are
required to annually file a registration statement and pay a fee
to the Department of Transportation. Persons who registered for
the 1995-96 registration year will be mailed a registration
statement form and informational brochure in April.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David W. Donaldson, Office of 
Hazardous Materials Planning and Analysis (202-366-4109),
Hazardous Materials Safety, 400 Seventh Street S.W., Washington,
DC 20590-0001.

(Source DOT Federal Register Notice, March 5, 1996)