Interpretation Response #13-0072 ([DG Advisor, LLC] [Mr. Ben Barrett])
Below is the interpretation response detail and a list of regulations sections applicable to this response.
Interpretation Response Details
Response Publish Date:
Company Name: DG Advisor, LLC
Individual Name: Mr. Ben Barrett
Location State: MO Country: US
View the Interpretation Document
Response text:
July 11, 2013
Mr. Ben Barrett
President
DG Advisor, LLC
1930 East Blue Ridge Boulevard
Kansas City, MO 64146
Reference No.: 13-0072
Dear Mr. Barrett:
This is in response to your April 9, 2013 letter to the Standards and Rulemaking Division of the Office of Hazardous Materials Safety requesting clarification of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) relating to the applicability and responsibility for specification packaging.
You believe: 1) A person who self-certifies specification packaging by conducting their own tests assumes responsibility for those decisions in their control; 2) If a self-certifier provides instructions to a packaging manufacturer, and further requests them to print the specification marking including the name or symbol of the self-certifier on the packaging, that the packaging manufacturer only assumes responsibility for producing the packaging according to the instructions of the self-certifier and is not responsible to guarantee the results of the drop or stack tests which the packaging manufacturer does not conduct; and 3) a self-certifier may ask a manufacturer to provide a packaging including a specification marking without substantiating to the packaging manufacturer all details concerning the drop and stack tests specified in HMR part 178.
You are correct. In accordance with § 178.2(b)(2), when a specification marking is required and applied to a packaging, the mark is certification that all functions performed by, or on behalf of the person whose name or symbol appears as part of the marking conform to the specified requirements. In the scenario you describe, the self-certifier whose name or symbol is ultimately displayed on the packaging is certifying that the packaging conforms to the specified
requirements. On behalf of the self-certifier, the manufacturer of the packaging, performing the functions of producing the packaging and printing the certification marking on the packaging is only responsible for ensuring those functions are performed correctly. The packaging manufacturer, in following the self-certifier’s instructions, does not need to know the details of the packaging tests.
I trust this satisfies your inquiry. Please contact us if we can be of further assistance.
Sincerely,
Delmer Billings
Senior Regulatory Advisor
Standards and Rulemaking Division
178.2