# COSBO — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation

**Citation:** 98-0377  
**Type / status:** guidance / guidance  
**Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration  
**Effective:** Not stated  
**Published:** 1999-01-14

98-0377 response to COSBO concerning 172.400.

## Document text

<<<PAGE 1>>>

•
of Transportation
US. Department
400 Seventh Street, S.W.
Research and
Washington, D.C. 20590
Special Programs
Administration
JAN I 4 1999
Mr. Jim Glessner
Ref. No. 98-0377
COSBO
1310 Beaver Road
Sewickley, PA 15143-2008
Dear Mr. Glessner:
This is in response to your letter dated December 14, 1998, regarding whether your modular label, for
placement on the shoulder of compressed gas cylinders, is in compliance with the labeling requirements
of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180). You enclosed a sample of
your company's modular label system and stated that these labels were modeled after the examples
provided in the CGA Pamphlet C-7, Figure 3.
As you are aware, a cylinder containing a compressed gas that is not poisonous, carried by a private or
contract motor carrier, not overpacked, and durably and legibly marked in accordance with CGA
Pamphlet C-7, Appendix A, is excepted from the labeling requirements of the HMR. In accordance
with the requirements of 49 CFR 172.400a(a)(1), these markings are recognized as an alternative to
labeling under the HMR.
Your company's "modular label system" does not meet the requirements in the CGA Pamphlet C-7,
Appendix A, Figure 3. Therefore, these modular labels are unacceptable and may not be used to meet
the exceptions to labeling specified in 49 CFR 172.400a(a)(1).
You may wish to contact the CGA to inquire about getting your "modular label system" incorporated in
the CGA system of markings for compressed gas cylinders, or petition for rulemaking under 49 CFR
106.31 to amend the requirements to allow for use of the modular labels.
I hope this satisfies your inquiry.
Sincerely,
She 70140
Delmer F. Billings
Chief, Standards Development
Office of Hazardous Materials Standards

## Provenance

- Official: Yes
- Source: <https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/1998/980377.pdf>
- Source ID: `phmsa`
- SHA-256: `564313645569ff84b0ea2fe1e6be42a816b18b1178971393c49cb5e92d8ca1d3`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T00:59:31.977Z
- Exported: 2026-08-22T11:13:56.609Z
- Document slug: `phmsa-interpretation-98-0377`

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