Rule Promulgation

This is in response to your letter dated April 13, 1995, concerning DOT standards referenced in the Building officials & Code Administrators International's (BOCA), National Codes.

You enclosed a letter dated August 8, 1994, which you had previously written to the United States Government Printing Office (GPO), Superintendent of Documents. Subsequently, Helen Engrum of my staff telephoned your office and spoke with Christin. Ms. Engrum explained that your initial letter had been written to the GPO and that this office did not receive a copy. Christin, of your office, was aware of this situation. However, since no response had been received from the GPO, Christin asked that we forward the letter to the appropriate GPO office. Therefore, your letter has been forwarded to the following office: Legal Office, c/o Michael White, Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration, 800 North Capitol Street, Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20408.

As a Federal Government agency, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) does not promulgate rulemaking activities in accordance with ANSI's procedures and accreditation. The U.S. DOT's Office of Hazardous Materials Standards operates under the authority of "The Administrative Procedure Act (APA)", which is the basic law that -directs Federal Agencies in the promulgation of rulemaking activities. The Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) are found in Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, Parts 100-177 and Parts 178-199. The HMR are revised and published annually (current edition revised as of 10/l/94).

Furthermore, you asked if the referenced DOT standard comply with Section 4.7.1 of the BOCA Board of Directors' policy. Since receiving your letter, we have been made aware that DOT standards are referenced in the BOCA National Codes; however, since we are not knowledgeable of the BOCA policy and no copy was enclosed for our review, we do not know whether DOT standards comply.