Interpretation ID: aiam2898
British Standards Institution
Head Office
2 Park Street
London WIA 2BS;
Dear Mr. Whiston: Please excuse the long delay in responding to your letter abou materials incorporated by reference in the Federal motor vehicle safety standards. Your primary concern is the correct version of the referenced materials to be used in conducting compliance tests if the materials are subject to change.; As you noted, Part 571.5 (CFR 571.5) of our regulations provides, i pertinent part, 'Materials subject to change are incorporated as they are in effect on the date of adoption of this part, unless the reference to them provides otherwise.' Almost all safety standards incorporating materials by reference specifically refer by month and year to a particular version of the referenced material. Therefore, the specified version should be used for compliance test purposes, even if the organization that adopted the reference material has published an updated version. If the reference does not identify a specific version, the version in effect when the safety standard was issued should be used for compliance testing.; As you pointed out, many of the voluntary industry standards do no have an 'effect date.' To determine which version was 'in effect' on the date the Federal safety standard incorporating the material was issued, the agency looks to the version adopted by the organization that developed the material as of that date. For example, the Society of Automotive Engineers Standards do not have an effective date, but they do have an identifying month and year which indicates when the latest version was approved by the appropriate SAE approval body. The agency would look at that identifying month and year to determine which version was in effect on the issuance date of the safety standard or amendment.; Regarding your request for a list of the effective dates of the Federa safety standards, please be aware that the standards are being continually amended and the new provisions have their own effective dates. Thus, there is no single effective date for each standard. The enclosed computer printout provides a listing of the effective dates of the safety standards and their amendments as of July 1978. You are correct in your assumption that the safety standards only apply to vehicles manufactured on or after the effective date of relevant standard.; Finally, the effective date of a safety standard does not have an bearing on which edition of materials incorporated by reference is applicable. The version used for compliance testing is the version specifically referred to in the standard by date or, if there is no date specification, the version which was in effect on the date of issuance of the safety standard.; If you have any further questions, I will be pleased to answer them. Sincerely, Joseph J. Levin, Jr., Chief Counsel