DOT has pushed back the effective dates for two final rules related to hazardous-materials transportation.
As reported in the Federal Register May 26, the deadline for new incident reporting requirements has been extended from July 1, 2004 to January 1, 2005. (See 49 CFR Part 171, “Hazardous Materials: Revisions to Incident Reporting Requirements and the Hazardous Materials Incident Report Form.)
For hazmat incidents occurring on or after January 1, 2005, only the revised DOT Form F 5800.1 (01-2004) will be accepted. The rule was originally published on December 3, 2003 under Docket HM-229 (68 FR 67746).
Implementation of a rule clarifying the applicability of hazmat regulations to loading, unloading and storage operations has been delayed from October 1, 2004 to January 1, 2005. See Federal Register May 28. The original rule (68 FR 61905) was published by RSPA on October 30, 2003.