Interpretation ID: nht71-4.23

DATE: 10/18/71

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; D. W. Toms; NHTSA

TO: Blue Bird Body Company

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: Secretary Volpe has asked me to reply to your letter of October 18, 1971, concerning the applicability of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 in the territories and possessions of the United States.

The Act and the Federal motor vehicle safety standards issued thereunder apply in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Canal Zone, Guam, and American Samoa. Motor vehicles, including buses, manufactured for sale and imported into those areas must meet all applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standards. Only one standard applicable to buses, No. 103, Windshield Defrosting and Defogging Systems, specifically does not apply to buses manufactured for sale outside the Continental United States. There are no Federal standards applicable to school bus bodies, so that the wooden bodied buses in American Samoa, of which you spoke, are not prohited by the Act. School buses manufactured for sale in Puerto Rico are required, however, to have a warning light system.

I HOPE THIS CLARIFIES THE MATTER FOR YOU.