{"operation":"document","citation":"10-0042","title":"Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation","source_type":"guidance","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"guidance","official":true,"published_on":"2010-10-13","effective_on":null,"summary":"10-0042 response to Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. concerning 172.401, 172.407.","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-10-0042.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-10-0042.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-10-0042","source_url":"https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretations/2010/100042.pdf","body":"<<<PAGE 1>>>\n\nU.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials\nSafety Administration\nOCT 1 3 2010\n1200 New Jersey Ave, SE\nWashington, D.C. 20590\nMr. Dan Wieten\nEnviro,nmental Hazmat & Safety Group\nLegal and Corporate Responsibility Department\nToyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc.\n19001 South Western Avenue\nTorrance, CA 90501\nReference No. 10-0042\nDear Mr. Wieten:\nThis is in response to your e-mail requesting clarification ofthe Hazardous Materials Regulations\n(HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) applicable to labeling requirements. Specifically, you state that you\nreceive packages from overseas that may stay in inventory for long periods of time and reoffer the\npackages (in this case, packages containing batteries) into transportation. The labels on the\npackages display the word \"Corrosive\" in both English and Japanese. You refer to interpretation\nletter, Reference No. 98-0235, and state that your understanding of the letter is that the packages\nmay be reoffered into transportation with the Japanese wording on the labels. You ask whether\nyour understanding is correct.\nYour understanding is correct. Except for materials poisonous by inhalation, labels conforming to\nspecifications in the UN Recommendations on the Transport ofDangerous Goods may be used in\nplace ofthe corresponding label under the HMR (see §§ 1 72.401(c) and 172.407(f). These labels\nmay contain text indicating the hazard in the language of the country from which a shipment\noriginates and may continue to be displayed when they are reoffered into transportation, regardless\nof the length of time the packages are held in inventory. With respect to English wording on labels,\nfor Classes 1,2,3.4,5,6, and 8 hazardous materials (see § 172.405(a», text indjcating a hazard\n(for example, \"Corrosive\") is not required on a primary or subsidiary label, but it too may continue\nto be displayed when the package is being reoffered into transportation.\nI hope this information is helpful. Please contact this office should you have additional questions.\nSincerely,\nT. Glenn Foster\nChief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention\nOffice of Hazardous Materials Standards\n\n<<<PAGE 2>>>\n\nDrakeford, Carolyn (PHMSA)\nFrom: Mitchell, Hattie (PHMSA)\nSent: Thursday, February 25,201012:28 PM\nTo: Drakeford, Carolyn (PHMSA)\nSubject: FW: Interpretation Request\nAttachments: IMG_9247.jpg\nFrom: Dan_ Wieten@Toyota.com [mailto: Dan_ Wieten@Toyota.com]\nSent: Tue 2/16/2010 5:40 PM\nTo: Mitchell, Hattie (PHMSA)\nCc: Pollard, Terry (PHMSA); Boehne, Kevin (PHMSA)\nSubject: Interpretation Request\nMs Mitchell,\nI'm not sure if you remember me or not, but I work in the Environmental, Hazmat and Safety Group at Toyota Motor Sales\n(TMS) in Torrance CA I'm writing to request your assistance in clarifying an interpretation that was given to TMS some\nyears ago. A recent visit from your agency to our Kansas City parts distribution has brought this issue to the forefront and\nyour review of the situation would be greatly appreciated. The background is detailed below:\nTMS receives and distributes parts from various domestic and overseas suppliers. We have a network of warehouses\nthroughout the US that receive packaged hazmat parts such as air bags, seat belt pretensioners and batteries, warehouse\nand ship them to our dealer network. These parts come individually packaged, marked and labeled from the supplier.\nThese parts in the supplier packaging may remain in inventory for many months, and in some cases years, before they\nare shipped out again. TMS may on rare occasions repackage or relabel one of these individually packaged service parts,\nif the packagingllabeling is suspect, but mostly these parts pass through our facilities as received from the supplier. Back\nin 1998 TMS sent an interpretation request to RSPA on hazard class labels. The request asked if it was permissible to\ninclude \"Japanese characters on the label\". The response we received (Ref. No. 98-0235 from Del Billings) stated that\n'These labels may contain text indicating the hazard in the language of the country from which a shipment originates\".\nOur Japan suppliers have continued to ship similar labels (the interp was for 2.2 compressed gas labels) since that time.\nLast week an Investigator from your Des Plaines IllinOis Office, Steve Pollard, visited our facility in Kansas City. Looking\nthough the exit briefing it appears the hazmat program at the facility was in good order with no violations or no probable\nviolations noted (Report Control #10438001). The facility did receive one \"Quality Control Item\" to correct within 30 days.\nThe item related to our Battery Package Class 8 Corrosive Labels from our supplier in Japan which have the word\n\"Corrosive\" written in both English and Japanese. As a short term countermeasure the KC facility has begun relabeling\nthe battery packages with a new corrosive label that has no verbiage (English or Japanese) on it.\nI talked this over with Kevin Boehne from the Des Plaines office today. I explained that my understanding of the\ninterpretation letter was that we could reoffer the package with the Japanese verbiage label through our supply chain ( we\nstock this part at not only the KC facility but 10 others across the US). Steve Pollard and Kevin Boehne's opinion is that\nthe letter of interpretation allows us to import these parts with the Japanese verbiage labe', but not to reoffer them from\nour facilities without relabeling them. Kevin and I agreed that the best tack would be to get a clarification from you on this\nissue before we move forward with a corrective action.\nYour review and response with your opinion on the is issue is greatly appreciated. If I can further clarify anything for you\nplease email or call me. Thank you for your support.\nDan Wieten\nEnvironmental Hazmat & Safety Group\nLegal and Corporate Responsibility Department\nToyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc.\nTel: 310-468-7605\nCell: 310-291-4061\n1","truncated":false,"body_characters":5908}