Class 9 Placards for Loads Greater Than 12,440 Pounds

I am writing in response to your January 21, 1997 letter in which you asked whether Federal laws on hazardous materials supersede state regulations. Your question arose following an incident in which your driver was cited by a Colorado state enforcement officer for a violation of § 172.504 of the Colorado Hazardous Materials Regulations, because the driver failed to display "CLASS 9" hazardous materials placards on a motor vehicle carrying 12,440 pounds of "Environmentally hazardous substances, solid, n.o.s., 9, UN 3077, PG III, RQ (Lead)." Your shipping paper indicated that the driver was transporting the shipment from Garland, Texas (U.S.A.), to Alberta, Canada.

You believed your driver was covered by the packaging exception contained in 49 CFR 172.504(f)(9) which states, in pertinent part, "For domestic transportation, a CLASS 9 placard is not required." However, an official from the Colorado Department of Revenue, Motor Carrier Services, told you that the packaging exception did not apply to your driver, because the shipment was ultimately bound for Canada and, correspondingly, was not a domestic shipment for purposes of the packaging exception.

The issue here is not one of supremacy of Federal law over state law. The Colorado requirements appear to be identical, in relevant part, to the Federal requirements in 49 CFR 172.504. The question is whether a shipment of hazardous material traveling through the United States to Canada may benefit from the domestic transportation packaging exception in 49 CFR 172.504(f)(9) while the material is within the United states.

Although this shipment was in "international transportation," as defined at 49 CFR 171.8, this office has maintained that a shipment in international transportation is eligible for the same packaging exceptions that apply to transportation which is domestic only, for those portions of transportation which occur within the borders of the United states. In other words, the definition of domestic transportation" located in 49 CFR 171.8 includes not only transportation exclusively within the United states, but also that domestic portion of "international transportation" which occurs between places within the United states. Therefore, your driver is not required to display CLASS 9 placards on a shipment of Class 9 hazardous material while it is within the united states:

We will consider the need for a clarification of the placarding exception in future rulemaking action. Copies of this response have been sent to both the Colorado Department of Revenue and the Federal Highway Administration. If I can be of further assistance, please contact me at (202) 366-8553.