Interpretation ID: aiam4338
President
Auto Mark Corp.
3901 Atkinson Drive
Suite 220
Louisville
KY 40218;
Dear Mr. Moss: This responds to your letter to Ms. Barbara Kurtz of our Office o Market Incentives. In your letter, you posed several questions about a stencil your company would like to offer to direct importers for marking their vehicle parts in compliance with 49 CFR Part 541, *Federal Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention Standard*. Before responding to your specific questions, I would like to briefly explain the parts marking requirements of Part 541 as they apply to direct importers.; Direct importers are required to *inscribe* an identifying number o the specified parts for each passenger car subject to Part 541 that they import, S541.5(a). The identifying number inscribed on the parts must be the original vehicle identification number assigned to the car by its original manufacturer in the country where the car was assembled or produced, S541.5(b)(3). The identifying number inscribed on the parts must satisfy the size and style requirements specified for vehicle certification labels, S541.5(c). Finally, the identifying number inscribed on the parts must comply with the three requirements of S541.5(d)((2). These requirements are:; >>>1. Removal or alteration of any portion of the number must visibl alter the appearance of the section of the vehicle part on which the identification is marked,; 2. The number must be placed on each part in a location that is visibl without further disassembly once the part has been removed from the vehicle, and; 3. The number must be placed entirely within the target area specifie by the original manufacturer for that part.<<<; There are no other requirements for marking direct importers' vehicles Once the direct importer determines that its vehicle complies with these requirements, it certifies that compliance by affixing a label to the vehicle, as specified in 49 CFR S567.4(k). This certification must be affixed to the vehicle *before* it is imported into the United States.; To respond to your specific question, you stated that you advise direc importers to leave your stencil on each part after etching it. You then posed three questions:; >>>1. Must the initials DOT appear on the stencil?<<< ANSWER: No. Part 541 does *not* require that the DOT symbol appear as part of or in conjunction with inscribed markings on parts.; >>>2. May we leave our name (logo) printed on the stencil?<<< ANSWER: Yes. Using the same principles we have applied in the case o labeling requirements in our safety standard, manufacturers may label information in addition to that which is required by the theft prevention standard, *provided* that the additional information does not obscure or confuse the meaning of the required information or otherwise defeat its purpose. The purpose of requiring the vehicle identification number to be inscribed on specified parts is to allow law enforcement officials to quickly and conclusively establish whether a vehicle or major part is stolen. We do not believe it is possible that law enforcement officials will be distracted from examining the markings inscribed on the parts by the presence of a stencil with your company name on it. Therefore, you are free to leave you company name on the stencil.; >>>3. Do you have any suggestions or objections to offer?<<< ANSWER: Our only concern is that direct imports comply with th requirements of Part 541. Assuming that your stencil is a means for direct importers to comply with those requirements, we have no additional advice to offer.; If you have any further questions or need more information on thi subject, please feel free to contact Steve Kratzke of my staff at this address or by telephone at (202) 366-2992.; Sincerely, Erika Z. Jones, Chief Counsel