Importers Need to Ensure Heavy-Duty Trucks, Bulk HFCs Meet EPA Regs

One of the biggest issues that EPA inspectors face when overseeing vehicles and motorized engine imports is coming across vehicles that are not compliant with emissions standards and may have emissions controls missing, an EPA enforcement inspector said during a presentation last week held jointly by EPA and NCBFAA.

These issues arise particularly with imports of vehicles from Canada into the U.S., according to EPA enforcement inspector Mario Jorquera.

This situation is an important one for importers to be aware of because they are the ones responsible for ensuring compliance with EPA emissions regulations, Jorquera said.

“If your client tells you that they've got this fantastic deal on an excavator from China, warn them to be very, very careful and to check with the EPA before importing such a piece of equipment,” Jorquera said. The importer is the one who is liable for importing non-compliant equipment, not the vendor, he said.

Importing non-compliant vehicles usually occurs with heavy-duty pickup trucks, such as Ford F-250s and F-350s, or construction vehicles such as mining dump trucks or diesel excavators.

To tell if heavy-duty trucks have had their emissions controls tampered with, particularly for trucks built after 2014, Jorquera suggested looking underneath the truck for the exhaust system. If the exhaust pipes have bulges, that typically means that there are emissions control components along the pipe. But if the emission control components have been removed, what will often be there instead is a straight pipe that looks shinier and newer.

“Straight pipes basically remove all those emission controls and therefore make it a tampered vehicle that would not be legal to import,” Jorquera said.

Construction vehicles must comply with emissions controls rules that have tightened in recent years to meet Tier IV emissions standards, according to Jorquera. To meet EPA standards, these vehicles also must have additional emissions controls installed before they can be imported.

Unscrupulous vendors may also be forging serial number plates or EPA labels before offering them as imports, he said.

“Exporters are seeing an opportunity to sell to unsuspecting Americans equipment that seems like a great deal and is represented as being legitimate, but, in fact, it is not.”

Jorquera urged brokers and importers during the webinar to file paperwork to EPA early to avoid delays at the port. Items that are important to include in paperwork are the correct engine family name or any exception codes.

In addition to discussing import compliance with EPA emissions controls regulations, other EPA staff during the June 27 webinar spoke about how the hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) phase-down program and the technology transitions program to reduce HFC use affect imports. HFCs are substances recognized for depleting the Earth's ozone layer, which is why EPA is seeking to reduce the use of HFCs.

The HFC phase-down program uses a capping system to reduce the amount of HFCs imported every year. Companies are also able to purchase permits or allowances to import bulk HFCs, and the number of allowances decreases over time in order to reduce the amount of HFCs imported.

There is no de minimis amount for bulk HFC imports, so “if you have even a couple kilograms in a stand-alone tank, you need to have allowances to import that amount,” said EPA’s Pete Rodrigue. “There’s no de minimis threshold below which you don’t need allowances to do the import.”

Importers and brokers also should be aware of the regulations governing HFC imports because there is an intergovernmental task force monitoring this issue, whose members include EPA, CBP and others. If violations are found, the agencies can take away a company’s allowances in addition to applying any civil or criminal penalties, Rodrigue said.