Interpretation ID: aiam1793
Staff
Safety
Nissan Motor Co.
Ltd.
P.O. Box 1606
Englewood Cliffs
NJ 07632;
Dear Mr. Kato: This is in reply to your letter of January 23, 1975, asking whether th name of your distributor may be inserted as the alterer for purposes of the alterer label required pursuant to 49 CFR S 567.7. You indicate that the alteration will be performed on a Datsun Pickup by a dealer, at the request of a customer, but would be the responsibility of the distributor. The labels would be preprinted with the distributor's name, and the dealer would insert only the date on which the vehicle is altered.; We do not believe the alterer label requirements (49 CFR S 567.7 permit the insertion of the name of the distributor as the alterer in the situation you described. The requirements specify that the person making the alteration insert his name on the label, and provide no exceptions from this requirement. Of course, the dealer can rely on the authorization of the distributor to perform the alteration should that issue arise in a subsequent compliance action.; You have also asked why section 567.2 does not specifically apply t dealers. That section was not amended at the time the alterer requirements were issued. However, the NHTSA considers the alterer requirements to apply to any 'person', as stated in that section, and not only to manufacturers and distributors.; Yours truly, Richard B. Dyson, Acting Chief Counsel