Interpretation ID: nht73-6.16

DATE: 02/07/73

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Richard B. Dyson; NHTSA

TO: Oshkosh Truck Corporation

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in response to your letter of January 31, 1973, in which you asked us to confirm your "understanding that FMVSS No. 121 will not apply to fire-fighting vehicles until 1 September 1976, two years from the effective date." In general, you suggest that "we would expect to comply with FMVSS [for firefighting vehicles] within two years after the effective date or two years from the date of publication of the FMVSS, whichever date occurs later".

You have misread the relevant language of 49 CFR @571.8. That section provides that the effective date of a standard as applied to firefighting vehicles is "either 2 years after the date on which such standard or amendment is published in the Rules and Regulations section of the Federal Register, or the effective date specified in the notice, whichever is later", except as otherwise specified in the standard with reference to those vehicles. The alternatives are thus (a) 2 years after the publication date, or (b) the effective date, whichever is later -- not 2 years after the effective date, as you have read it.

Your reading would not be reasonable; since the effective date cannot be before the publication date, there would be no point to the alternative phrasing.