# Airgas SAFECOR. — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation **Citation:** 10-0259 **Type / status:** guidance / guidance **Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration **Effective:** Not stated **Published:** 2011-03-29 10-0259 response to Airgas SAFECOR. concerning 171.12, 180.205. ## Document text <<>> U.S. Deportment of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE Washington. D.C. 20590 Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration MAR 242011 Mr. Jon Anderson Airgas SAFECOR. P.O. Box 20067 Cheyenne, WY 82003 Reference No: 10-0259 Dear Mr. Anderson. This responds to your email regarding the requirements for the use and requalification of Transport Canada (TC) and Canadian Transport Commission (CTC) specification cylinders under the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180). Your questions are paraphrased and answered as follows. 01. Can a cylinder only stamped "CTC" be used and filled in the United States? AI. The answer is yes. A United States-based facility is permitted to refill and use a cylinder marked as meeting a CTC specification provided they comply with the applicable requirements specified in § 171.12. In accordance with § 171.12(a)(4) when the provisions of Subchapter C of the HMR require that a DOT specification or a UN pressure receptacle must be used for a hazardous material, a packaging authorized by Transport Canada's Transportation of Dangerous Goods (TOG) Regulations may be used only if it corresponds to the DOT specification or UN standard authorized by this subchapter. 02. Would a United States-based facility with a valid DOT RIN be permitted to requalify a CTC specification cylinder in the United States and apply DOT RIN markings? A2. The answer is yes, § 171.12(d)(4)(ii)(B) states a CTC specification cylinder manufactured, originally marked and approved in accordance with the CTC regulations and in full conformance with the Transport Canada TOG Regulations may be used in the United States if the cylinder has been requalified under a program authorized by the Transport Canada TOG Regulations or requalified in accordance with the requirements in § 180.205 within the prescribed requalification period provided for the corresponding DOT specification. In accordance with § 180.205(b), no person may mark a cylinder with a RIN and a requalification date or otherwise represent that a DOT specification cylinder has been requalified unless all applicable requirements of subpart C of part 180 have been met. This requirement is specific only to DOT specification cylinder requalification and is not applicable to CTC specification cylinders used in the United <<>> States under § 171. 12(d)(4). Therefore a person holding valid DOT RIN would be permitted to requalify a CTC specification cylinder in the United States and apply DOT RIN markings provided all other requirements of § 180.205 are met. Q3. Can a cylinder only stamped "TC" be used and filled in the United States? A3. The answer is no. Currently, cylinders only stamped "TC" are not authorized by the HMR to be used and filled in the United States. Q4. Would a United States-based facility with a valid RIN be permitted to requalify a TC specification cylinder in the United States and apply DOT RIN markings? A4. See A3. I hope this satisfies your inquiry. Please contact us if we can be of further assistance. Sincerely, /J}#1J?~~ ~harleS E. Betts Director, Standards and Rulemaking Division <<>> Drakeford, Carolyn (PHMSA) From: Foster, Glenn (PHMSA) Sent: Friday, December 03,20102:34 PM To: Drakeford, Carolyn (PHMSA) Cc: Betts, Charles (PHMSA); Billings, Delmer (PHMSA); Kelley, Shane (PHMSA); Supko, Ben (PHMSA) Subject: FW: TC Cylinder Clarification Questions Carolyn Please log this inquiry in as a request for a letter of interpretation. Thanks, Glenn From: John Anderson (SAFECOR) [mailto:John.Anderson.5AFECOR@Airgas.com] Sent: Friday, December 03, 2010 2:04 PM To: Chaney, Wayne (PHMSA); Foster, Glenn (PHMSA) Subject: RE: TC Cylinder Clarification Questions Thank you both for your help clarifying this issue. John Anderson Airgas SAFECOR P.O. Box 20067 Cheyenne, WY 82003 Phone 1-307-778-8809 Fax 1-307-778-7497 jOhn.anderson@airgas.com From: Wayne.Chaney@dot.gov [mailto: Wayne.Chaney@dot.gov] Sent: Friday, December 03, 2010 11:31 AM To: John Anderson (SAFECOR); Glenn.Foster@dot.gov Subject: RE: TC Cylinder Clarification Questions Glenn, I want Mr. Anderson to get this from standards as appose to Field operations. Please respond as soon as possible. Wayne E. Chaney Cylinder Program Manager Office ofHazardous Materials Safety. Field Operations Pipeline and IIazardous Materials Safety Adminstration United States Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE Washington, DC 20590 202366-4700 404 393 9552 (fax) From: John Anderson (SAFECOR) [mailto:John.Anderson.5AFECOR@Airgas.com] Sent: Wednesday, December 01,201011:09 AM 1 <<>> To: Chaney, Wayne (PHMSA) Subject: RE: TC Cylinder Clarification Questions Good morning, Were you able to obtain an answer in writing for the questions below? I hope you are doing well. John Anderson Airgas SAFECOR P.O. Box 20067 Cheyenne, WY 82003 Phone 1-307-778-8809 Fax 1-307-778-7497 john.anderson@airgas.com From: John Anderson (SAFECOR) Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2010 1:31 PM To: 'Wayne.Chaney@dot.gov' Subject: FW: TC Cylinder Clarification Questions Good afternoon Wayne, Have you been able to obtain an answer for the questions below? John Anderson Airgas SAFECOR P.O. Box 20067 Cheyenne, WY82003 Phone 1-307-778-8809 Fax 1-307-778-7497 john .anderson@airgas.com From: John Anderson (SAFECOR) Sent: Monday, May 24, 2010 12: 10 PM To: 'Wayne.Chaney@dot.gov' Subject: FW: TC Cylinder Clarification Questions Good afternoon, Below you will find the string of email with Pascal that prompted my phone call to you this morning. We now have a situation where a customer is wanting to sending to our acetylene plants in Washington/Oregon area some Transport Canada - TC (TC 8) only stamped acetylene cylinders for fill. The cylinders have been requalified by a Canadian RIN holder. Now for the question - can we fill a cylinder that only has a TC marking (no DOT markings) and return it to the customer in Canada? In reading 49 CFR 171.12 our regulations appear to allow the filling and shipment of a cylinder that is in compliance with the Canadian regulations. Now for another question - Would we be allowed to requalify a TC marked cylinder (no DOT markings) in the United States and apply a DOT RIN as Pascal described below is allowed in Canada (allows a pre 1993 DOT marked cylinder to have a Canadian RIN)? Our understanding has always been that a US DOT RIN can only be applied to a DOT marked cylinder. Thank you for your help with these questions and if possible we would appreciate a response this week - we have a large piece of business pending on what is allowed. 2 <<>> John Anderson Airgas SAFECOR P.O. Box 20067 Cheyenne, WY 82003 Phone 1-307-778-8809 Fax 1-307-778-7497 john.anderson@airgas.com From: Verville, Pascal [mailto:pascal.verville@tc.gc.ca] Sent: Monday, May 17, 20107:17 AM To: John Anderson (SAFECOR) Subject: RE: TC Cylinder Clarification Questions Yes to both questions. Best regards, Pascal From: John Anderson (SAFECOR) [mailto:John.Anderson.SAFECOR@Airgas.com] Sent: May 16, 20109:25 PM To: Verville, Pascal Subject: RE: TC Cylinder Clarification Questions Thank you for this confirmation. Please allow me to ask a few more questions. If we have a cylinder in Canada that is a DOT 3AA specification only (and the cylinder was made in the 70's or 80's) can a Canadian company holding a Canadian RIN requalify this DOT marked cylinder? I assume this 1993 date also applies to acetylene cylinders (DOT 8 series cylinders)? John Anderson Airgas SAFECOR P.O. Box 20067 Cheyenne, WY 82003 Phone 1-307-778-8809 Fax 1-307-778-7497 john .anderson@airgas.com From: Verville, Pascal [mailto:pascal.verville@tc.gc.ca] Sent: Friday, May 14, 20107:18 AM To: John Anderson (SAFECOR) Subject: RE: TC Cylinder Clarification Questions Hi John, Your statement in italics is correct. I've made a minor editorial suggestion. From: John Anderson (SAFECOR) [mailto:John .Anderson.SAFECOR@Airgas.com] Sent: May 14, 20108:21 AM 3 ## Provenance - Official: Yes - Source: - Source ID: `phmsa` - SHA-256: `785f20510dee8616e4b9159bc856eb0fc9898743403ae2bf6ffcd21e671802ae` - Retrieved: 2026-08-20T00:59:31.977Z - Exported: 2026-08-22T13:54:59.916Z - Document slug: `phmsa-interpretation-10-0259` ### Source metadata ```json { "materialSubtype": "interpretation", "interpretationArea": "hazardous_materials", "representation": "full_text_from_official_pdf", "companies": [ "Airgas SAFECOR." ], "individuals": [ "Mr. Jon Anderson" ], "refIds": [ "10-0259" ], "catalogDates": [ "2011-03-29" ], "catalogParts": [ 171, 180 ], "catalogRowCount": 2, "sourceRecordUrls": [ "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/node/59841" ], "linkedAttachmentUrls": [], "unavailableResponseUrls": [], "duplicateRepresentationUrls": [], "citedSections": [ "171.12", "180.205" ], "catalogPageUrls": [ "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/regulations/title49/section/17112", "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/regulations/title49/section/180205" ], "pdfUrls": [ "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretations/2010/100259.pdf" ], "representations": [ { "viewUrl": "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretations/2010/100259.pdf", "detailUrl": null, "detailHtmlPath": null, "pdfUrl": "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretations/2010/100259.pdf", "pdfArtifactPath": "data/sources/phmsa-interpretations/10-0259-d0338035b5.pdf", "pdfArtifactSha256": "193063ebbf36b372d5ce026b40d56832aaf4e11e2ea46d47db3c200231c253c2", "extractedTextPath": "data/sources/phmsa-interpretations/10-0259-d0338035b5.v2.txt", "extractedTextSha256": "806eeae48eb919a73e884e96ca2bcd36eaca2cc2ba48b85ab407babbe243a0c6", "pageCount": 5, "extractionVersion": 2 } ], "caveat": "Interpretations apply regulations to the facts presented and do not create independently enforceable requirements.", "jurisdiction": "US" } ```