Interpretation ID: aiam0135
House of Representatives
Washington
DC 20515;
Dear Mr. Anderson: Thank you for your January 8 letter concerning comments by Mr. Jackso Decker of the E. D. Pitnyre Company, which was addressed to the National Highway Safety Bureau on December 20, 1968. I regret that Miss Claybrook of my staff was unable to locate Mr. Decker's letter after the call from your office requesting a copy of my response to Mr. Decker.; Mr. Decker's letter consists of comments to the Federal Highwa Administration Dockets on the pending proposed regulations under which information would be supplied by manufacturers to consumers about various safety performance characteristics of motor vehicles. My staff was unaware of this letter because it was addressed to the Docket and was sent by the mail room directly to the legal office which maintains all dockets. The dockets contain much of the source material which serves as the basis for final rule making on proposed standards and regulations.; In addition, letters such as this are seldom answered not only becaus it is not appropriate to debate the substance of pending rulemaking actions, but also because the purpose of such correspondence is to provide information to the Government in the development of rulemaking. It is not treated as routine correspondence with the agency. In addition, the volume of such comments frequently reaches such vast proportions that it would be virtually impossible to answer them. For example, in response to a recent Federal Highway Administration proposed regulation some 4,000 comments were submitted.; Mr. Decker, incidentally, does not indicate he expected a specifi answer to his letter but, rather, in his last paragraph, asks that his views 'be given serious consideration before proceeding with the issuance of part 275 of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.'; On December 30, 1968, the Federal Highway Administrator issued a notic extending for 60 days the time for filing comments on a number of the proposed regulations for consumer information. This notice also specified that the proposed regulations would not apply to vehicles produced in two or more stages. I am enclosing a copy of this notice with the appropriate section marked for your information.; I regret that we had to ask you to supply a copy of Mr. Decker' letter, but I trust that the above information resolves the issues he raised.; Sincerely, William Haddon, Jr., M.D., Director