[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 49, Volume 5]
[Revised as of October 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 49CFR583.6]

[Page 959-962]
 
                        TITLE 49--TRANSPORTATION
 
                            OF TRANSPORTATION
 
PART 583--AUTOMOBILE PARTS CONTENT LABELING--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 583.6  Procedure for determining U.S./Canadian parts content.

    (a) Each manufacturer, except as specified in Sec. 583.5 (f) and 
(g), shall determine the percentage U.S./Canadian Parts Content for each 
carline on a model year basis. This determination shall be made before 
the beginning of each model year. Items of equipment produced at the 
final assembly point (but not as part of final assembly) are treated in 
the same manner as if they were supplied by an allied supplier. All 
value otherwise added at the final assembly point and beyond, including 
all final assembly costs, is excluded from the calculation of U.S./
Canadian parts content. The country of origin of nuts, bolts, clips, 
screws, pins, braces, gasoline, oil, blackout, phosphate rinse, 
windshield washer fluid, fasteners, tire assembly fluid, rivets, 
adhesives, grommets, and wheel weights, used in final assembly of the 
vehicle, is considered to be the country where final assembly of the 
vehicle takes place.
    (b) Determining the value of items of equipment.
    (1) For items of equipment received at the final assembly point, the 
value is the price paid by the manufacturer for the equipment as 
delivered to the final assembly point.
    (2) For items of equipment produced at the final assembly point (but 
not as part of final assembly), the value is the fair market price that 
a manufacturer of similar size and location would pay a supplier for 
such equipment.
    (3) For items of equipment received at the factory or plant of an 
allied supplier, the value is the price paid by the

[[Page 960]]

allied supplier for the equipment as delivered to its factory or plant.
    (c) Determining the U.S./Canadian percentage of the value of items 
of equipment.
    (1) Equipment supplied by an outside supplier to a manufacturer or 
allied supplier is considered:
    (i) 100 percent U.S./Canadian, if 70 percent or more of its value is 
added in the United States and/or Canada; and
    (ii) To otherwise have the actual percent of its value added in the 
United States and/or Canada, rounded to the nearest five percent.
    (2) The extent to which an item of equipment supplied by an allied 
supplier is considered U.S./Canadian is determined by dividing the value 
added in the United States and/or Canada by the total value of the 
equipment. The resulting number is multiplied by 100 to determine the 
percentage U.S./Canadian content of the equipment.
    (3) In determining the value added in the United States and/or 
Canada of equipment supplied by an allied supplier, any equipment that 
is delivered to the allied supplier by an outside supplier and is 
incorporated into the allied supplier's equipment, is considered:
    (i) 100 percent U.S./Canadian, if at least 70 percent of its value 
is added in the United States and/or Canada; and
    (ii) To otherwise have the actual percent of its value added in the 
United States and/or Canada, rounded to the nearest five percent.
    (4)(i) Value added in the United States and/or Canada by an allied 
supplier or outside supplier includes--
    (A) The value added in the U.S. and/or Canada for materials used by 
the supplier, determined according to (4)(ii) for outside suppliers and 
(4)(iii) for allied suppliers, plus,
    (B) For passenger motor vehicle equipment assembled or produced in 
the U.S. or Canada, the value of the difference between the price paid 
by the manufacturer or allied supplier for the equipment, as delivered 
to its factory or plant, and the total value of the materials in the 
equipment.
    (ii) Outside suppliers of passenger motor vehicle equipment will 
determine the value added in the U.S. and/or Canada for materials in the 
equipment as specified in paragraphs (A) and (B).
    (A)(1) For any material used by the supplier which was produced or 
assembled in the U.S. or Canada, the supplier will subtract from the 
total value of the material any value that was not added in the U.S. 
and/or Canada. The determination of the value that was not added in the 
U.S. and/or Canada shall be a good faith estimate based on information 
that is available to the supplier, e.g., information in its records, 
information it can obtain from its suppliers, the supplier's knowledge 
of manufacturing processes, etc.
    (2) The supplier shall consider the amount of value added and the 
location in which that value was added--
    (i) At each earlier stage, counting from the time of receipt of a 
material by the supplier, back to and including the two closest stages 
each of which represented a substantial transformation into a new and 
different product with a different name, character and use.
    (ii) The value of materials used to produce a product in the 
earliest of these two substantial transformation stages shall be treated 
as value added in the country in which that stage occurred.
    (B) For any material used by the supplier which was imported into 
the United States or Canada from a third country, the value added in the 
United States and/or Canada is presumed to be zero. However, if 
documentation is available to the supplier which identifies value added 
in the United States and/or Canada for that material (determined 
according to the principles set forth in (A), such value added in the 
United States and/or Canada is counted.
    (iii) Allied suppliers of passenger motor vehicle equipment shall 
determine the value that is added in the U.S. and/or Canada for 
materials in the equipment in accordance with (c)(3).
    (iv) For the minor items listed in the Sec. 583.4 definition of 
``passenger motor vehicle equipment'' as being excluded from that term, 
outside and allied suppliers may, to the extent that they incorporate 
such items into their equipment, treat the cost of the minor items as 
value added in the country of assembly.

[[Page 961]]

    (v) For passenger motor vehicle equipment which is imported into the 
territorial boundaries of the United States or Canada from a third 
country, the value added in the United States and/or Canada is presumed 
to be zero. However, if documentation is available to the supplier which 
identifies value added in the United States and/or Canada for that 
equipment (determined according to the principles set forth in the rest 
of (c)(4)), such value added in the United States and/or Canada is 
counted.
    (vi) The payment of duty does not result in value added in the 
United States and/or Canada.
    (5) Except as provided in paragraph (c)(6) of this section, if a 
manufacturer or allied supplier does not receive information from one or 
more of its suppliers concerning the U.S./Canadian content of particular 
equipment, the U.S./Canadian content of that equipment is considered 
zero. This provision does not affect the obligation of manufacturers and 
allied suppliers to request this information from their suppliers or the 
obligation of the suppliers to provide the information.
    (6) If a manufacturer or allied supplier requests information in a 
timely manner from one or more of its outside suppliers concerning the 
U.S./Canadian content of particular equipment, but does not receive that 
information despite a good faith effort to obtain it, the manufacturer 
or allied supplier may make its own good faith value added 
determinations, subject to the following provisions:
    (i) The manufacturer or allied supplier shall make the same value 
added determinations as would be made by the outside supplier;
    (ii) The manufacturer or allied supplier shall consider the amount 
of value added and the location in which the value was added for all of 
the stages that the outside supplier would be required to consider;
    (iii) The manufacturer or allied supplier may determine that 
particular value is added in the United States and/or Canada only if it 
has a good faith basis to make that determination;
    (iv) A manufacturer and its allied suppliers may, on a combined 
basis, make value added determinations for no more than 10 percent, by 
value, of a carline's total parts content from outside suppliers;
    (v) Value added determinations made by a manufacturer or allied 
supplier under this paragraph shall have the same effect as if they were 
made by the outside supplier;
    (vi) This provision does not affect the obligation of outside 
suppliers to provide the requested information.
    (d) Determination of the U.S./Canadian percentage of the total value 
of a carline's passenger motor vehicle equipment. The percentage of the 
value of a carline's passenger motor vehicle equipment that is U.S./
Canadian is determined by--
    (1) Adding the total value of all of the equipment (regardless of 
country of origin) expected to be installed in that carline during the 
next model year;
    (2) Dividing the value of the U.S./Canadian content of such 
equipment by the amount calculated in paragraph (d)(1) of this section, 
and
    (3) Multiplying the resulting number by 100.
    (e) Alternative calculation procedures. (1) A manufacturer may 
submit a petition to use calculation procedures based on representative 
or statistical sampling, as an alternative to the calculation procedures 
specified in this section to determine U.S./Canadian parts content and 
major sources of foreign parts content.
    (2) Each petition must--
    (i) Be submitted at least 120 days before the manufacturer would use 
the alternative procedure;
    (ii) Be written in the English language;
    (iii) Be submitted in three copies to: Administrator, National 
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh Street SW., 
Washington, DC 20590;
    (iv) State the full name and address of the manufacturer;
    (v) Set forth in full the data, views and arguments of the 
manufacturer that would support granting the petition, including--
    (A) the alternative procedure, and
    (B) analysis demonstrating that the alternative procedure will 
produce substantially equivalent results to the procedure set forth in 
this section;

[[Page 962]]

    (vi) Specify and segregate any part of the information and data 
submitted in the petition that is requested to be withheld from public 
disclosure in accordance with part 512 of this chapter (the basic 
alternative procedure and basic supporting analysis must be provided as 
public information, but confidential business information may also be 
used in support of the petition).
    (3) The NHTSA publishes in the Federal Register, affording 
opportunity for comment, a notice of each petition containing the 
information required by this part. A copy of the petition is placed in 
the public docket. However, if NHTSA finds that a petition does not 
contain the information required by this part, it so informs the 
petitioner, pointing out the areas of insufficiency and stating that the 
petition will not receive further consideration until the required 
information is submitted.
    (4) If the Administrator determines that the petition does not 
contain adequate justification, he or she denies it and notifies the 
petitioner in writing, explaining the reasons for the denial. A copy of 
the letter is placed in the public docket.
    (5) If the Administrator determines that the petition contains 
adequate justification, he or she grants it, and notifies the petitioner 
in writing. A copy of the letter is placed in the public docket.
    (6) The Administrator may attach such conditions as he or she deems 
appropriate to a grant of a petition, which the manufacturer must follow 
in order to use the alternative procedure.

[60 FR 47894, Sept. 15, 1995; as amended at 61 FR 46390, Sept. 3, 1996; 
62 FR 33761, June 23, 1997; 64 FR 40780, July 28, 1999]