United States: PHMSA Seeks Comment On Advanced Notice Of Rulemaking On "Reverse Logistics"

On July 5, 2012, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) of the Department of Transportation published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) "to identify ways to reduce the regulatory burden for persons who ship consumer products containing hazardous materials in the "reverse logistics" supply chain."¹ Following collection of information requested in this ANPRM, PHMSA anticipates crafting a final rule that would "simplify the regulations for reverse logistics shipments and provide avenue means for regulatory compliance that maintains transportation safety."²

Reverse logistics "pertains to the safe return of goods from the marketplace to the original vendor, manufacturer, or supplier" and, in essence, is the supply chain in reverse.  According to the current Hazardous Materials Regulations (see Title 49 of CFR), consumer products no longer useful in the retail market, such as used batteries, are considered "fully regulated" and, as such, may pose a problem to those retail outlets that lack the resources and the requisite training to safely handle hazardous materials.

In its efforts to "identify ways to potentially reduce the regulatory burden associated with the return of these hazardous materials" while simultaneously "ensuring their safe transportation," PHMSA has developed a set of questions to solicit feedback on what it considers the key issues.

In addition to responding to relevant questions, commenters should consider providing draft regulatory language and related safety data to assist PHMSA with its analysis and to ensure that the regulatory provisions that are proposed are not burdensome.

Comments are due 90 days from the date of the FR announcement, on October 3, 2012, to Docket PHMSA-2011-0143 (HM-253).  

Footnotes

1 See Federal Register, Volume 77, Number 129 (Thursday, July 5, 2012), Proposed Rules, Pages 39662-39666.

2 Id.

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