Interpretation ID: bottling_trailer5853v2

Sandra Swanson, Branch Manager
PBB Global Logistics
400 Oyster Point Blvd. #539
S. San Francisco, CA 94080

Dear Mr. Swanson:

This responds to your letter in which you ask if a trailer your client is considering to import into the United States is a "motor vehicle" as defined in our standards. As explained below, our answer is yes.

In your letter, you state that the trailer is not equipped with an engine and is not primarily for "road use". You state that the trailer is equipped with bottling equipment and would be transported to wineries to assist in the bottling of wine. You also state that in the vehicles country of origin (France), it was licensed as a semitrailer and not considered a motor vehicle.

Chapter 301 of Title 49 of the U.S. Code authorizes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to establish Federal motor vehicle safety standards applicable to new motor vehicles. Section 30102(a)(6) of that chapter defines "motor vehicle" as:

[A] vehicle driven or drawn by mechanical power and manufactured primarily for use on the public streets, roads, and highways, but does not include a vehicle operated only on a rail line.

We have issued a number of letters addressing this language. We have stated that vehicles equipped with tracks, agricultural equipment, and other vehicles incapable of highway travel are not motor vehicles. We have also determined that certain vehicles designed and sold solely for off-road use (e.g., airport runway vehicles and underground mining vehicles) are not motor vehicles, even if they may be operationally capable of

highway travel. Also, vehicles are not motor vehicles if they were designed to be used primarily at off-road job sites and, although capable of being operated on public roads from one job site to another, their on-road use is infrequent and incidental to the primary purpose for which they were manufactured (e.g., mobile cranes).

In our previous determinations that vehicles were designed primarily for use off-road, the work-oriented equipment was integral to the design of the vehicle, i.e., the mobility-oriented characteristics of the vehicle reflected the off-road use of the vehicle. For example, in a recent letter to Ms. Melissa A. Burt (March 21, 2005), we noted that the vehicle in question had a lower speed differential than that commonly found on vehicles manufactured for use on public roads, which permitted slow, consistent operating speeds necessary for its off-road use. Further, that vehicles engine was equipped with a front or rear end power takeoff that can run the mixers machinery in the farmers field. The vehicle discussed in the Burt letter was determined not be a motor vehicle as its characteristics, without respect to the work-oriented equipment, demonstrated that the vehicle was not manufactured primarily for use on public roads.

You state that the trailer your client is seeking to import contains bottling equipment, which is intended to be used off-road, i.e., at wineries. However, at issue is the vehicle and not the equipment transported by the vehicle. The characteristics of the trailer you described in your letter, aside from the bottling equipment housed in the trailer, are indistinguishable from trailers manufactured primarily for use on public roads. In your letter, you further state that the vehicle is classified as a "semitrailer" in its country of origin. We note that the definition of "motor vehicle" extends to vehicles that do not have engines, i.e., those that are drawn by mechanical power. "Semitrailer" is specifically defined as a class of motor vehicles in 49 CFR 571.3.

Based on the above discussion we would classify the vehicle your client is seeking to import as a "motor vehicle".If you have any further questions, please contact Mr. Chris Calamita of my staff at (202) 366-2992.

Sincerely,

Stephen P. Wood
Assistant Chief Counsel
for Vehicle Safety Standards and Harmonization

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d.8/10/05