America-land of free enterprise......maybe not

[firko]

I found this on the Cousin Weedy CZ forum (don't ask) and thought it was pretty interesting. It really does loo like the insurance companies are now running the show.

? Swan MX Lone Star Series Round 1
Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act of 2010
July 13th, 2010 · No Comments · Politics of Riding, Vintage

Watch out. Congress is at it again and this time they may wipe out half the vintage dirt bike industry.

A couple of years ago the motorcycle industry was caught by surprise when Congress enacted, and then deployed, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) — almost immediately wiping out a $1 billion youth motorcycle and atv industry. Over the ensuing two years the CPSIA proved to be a massive screw job for all sorts of small businesses.

On Wednesday, June 30, 2010 the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed (by voice vote) another piece of legislation that could be equally devastating to the vintage dirt bike scene — the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act of 2010, H.R. 4678. The bill now moves to the larger Ways and Means Committee or perhaps to the floor for a vote.

This act is aimed at forcing foreign manufacturers into the US tort system for liability law suits. Like most laws, that sounds great in a sound byte on the news – force all those big Chinese and Taiwanese companies to be accessible to our thousands of personal injury lawyers.

The truth is that if you’re a vintage dirt bike fan and you buy or use any part that’s made in the UK, China, Taiwan, Australia, or Europe by a small manufacturer you may well find that part is no longer available to you. Those cool CZ parts Bertus brings in from Czechoslovakia? Not gonna happen if this bill passes. Nifty trials parts for your Ty250 or TL125 from Great Britain? Kiss them goodbye. Replica frames from GMC in Australia? Adios, amigo.

To get a little more insight into this bill I called Paul Vitrano, General Counsel for the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) and the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF), to discuss it.

According to Paul, the MIC currently has no official position on the bill and has not been involved at the draft stage. However, he did offer some comments based on his reading of the bill text and previous experience with the CPSIA.

My first question to Paul was whether this bill was actually as ominous as it seemed, and whether people like me — vintage bike hobbyists — should be concerned. His answer? A definite Yes, with a couple of caveats.

As currently written the bill does not encompass products that are otherwise covered by the Department of Transportation (DOT). What this means is that manufacturers of parts, pieces, and materials that are DOT-approved for street use should not be subject to the new regulations. Essentially the street bike crowd should be relatively safe. But if you’re into performance (non-DOT) parts for vintage road racing you’re vulnerable.

As for us dirt bike guys, almost none of our stuff is DOT-approved. There may be some parts for early dual-purpose bikes, but I’m not aware of anything. Typically, everything that comes in from overseas for dirt bikes is stamped “For Competition Use Only” specifically as a way of avoiding liability. None of this stuff will be allowed through customs unless the manufacturer has  complied with the onerous registration, agency, and disclosure requirements of the bill.

Paul’s second caveat was that the bill does allow for rule-making after passage. He sees this as a good thing, as the main problem with the CPSIA was that limits were set in the law itself, allowing for little or no flexibility on the part of the bureaucrats responsible for implementation.

Specifically, the bill provides for the administrative bureaucrats to determine the minimum size of the manufacturers to be regulated, based on dollar volume, unit volume, and number of incoming shipments. This means there is the potential for certain small businesses to be exempt, but I fail to see any incentive for the bureaucrats to exempt them. Small, cottage businesses in foreign countries don’t have any political representation in this country, and can’t pay lobbyists to fight on their behalf.

I am not any more comfortable with idiot bureaucrats making laws than I am idiot Congressmen but, to Paul’s point, at least that allows for some input by the affected parties — however difficult and expensive that input may be. With CPSIA there was no input mechanism at all and the result was a legal quagmire of historic proportions.

Paul’s closing comment was that there are some benefits to the bill, in terms of making large foreign manufacturers more accountable, but it definitely bears watching and could  pose serious problems to the vintage hobby.

I first became aware of the bill here, at the Learning Resources, Inc. blog. Editor Rick Woldenberg has posted additional commentary on the bill, specifically on the rule-making and minimum size aspects, here.

If you’re interested I have posted a Government Printing Office PDF of the bill, or you can track it at Thomas.gov using HR4678 for your search. (Note: If you open the PDF it may appear to hang for a minute as it goes out to the GPO site to validate authenticity of the document.)

In summary, I think this is going to be another bad piece of legislation and, unless we are very careful and proactive, the vintage dirt bike hobby could take a real beating on this deal. Few, if any, of the vintage parts guys are members of the MIC (as far as I know) and cannot expect to be represented by them. As to whether the AMA or AHRMA will take a position on this, I do not know.  I will keep you updated here as I learn more.

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[mx250]

Nanny State by stealth - in the Land of the Free  .

[VMX247]

why don't they put more effort into there oil leaks 

[All Things 414]

why don't they put more effort into there oil leaks 

 

[Maicojames]

Yep, it's interesting to see what regulation we do and do not have. Oil leak? ......Why that oil is as natural as the water it is in...........just ask Limbaugh. LOL ..not doing anything well for the sea life in the area, and the people who make their living fishing. While they are being compensated, it is likely they will settle for what looks like a lot of $ now-not fully comprehending the $ loss down the road.
Now this little bill could inhibit much of the parts we use here...damn near have it where no one can afford to VMX much anymore, wasn't that enough.

[tony27]

Have you heard about the bill thats been passed making it an offence to take a camera anywhere near the "clean up area", can't be a spill anymore if theres no photos/video showing it

[matcho mick]

shite  ,i'm definately not exporting any more tanks stateside,

[Maicojames]

shite  ,i'm definately not exporting any more tanks stateside,

.......and while I certainly can not blame you, that is exactly the shit that I feared would happen. Too much hassle/cost liability etc. Looks like any US exchange with VMX parts is now export from US only. You can butt slam your buddy at a bus stop, but don't buy parts-you might hurt someone. LOL

[firko]

Welcome back James....it's been a while  .

This impending new American legislation is yet another example of the insurance companies driving  personal risk issues to the point that it's truly damaging to small business and any entrepreneurial activity. As they (the insurance companies) start dictating more and more input into government legislation by their incessant lobbying of relevant government areas, they have almost by default taken over the creation of a high percentage of government policy. It's become so ingrained in this country that setting up any sort of business has become a nightmare of legislation and impossible to adhere to "rules". Anyone dealing with the Occupational Health and Safety Act will know how difficult it is to comply to.

Our hobby/sport has the potential to be attacked from a number of different directions. The above proposed legislation has an obvious reason for its existence in the saving of hapless American consumers from injury or death from the failure shoddy or substandard products imported from China, India or other third world economies but it has a secondary intent in that it protects American producers by now forcing consumers to "buy local". The flaw in the reasoning for the legislation is that it takes an all encompassing view that anything imported is sub standard yet home grown products are all above their concerns. The proposed legislators have, in a bid to rid the market of dangerous products, also shut the door on quality products made by craftsmen who are above reproach. GMC frames, Matcho Micks fibreglass products and much of the quality products made in Europe, Japan and yes...even China are not going to be allowed into the US unless it complies to"the onerous registration, agency, and disclosure requirements of the bill. And let's not forget the expenses involved in those requirements.

 American small producers may possibly also have to adhere to the same legislation (or have I missed something?). In that case this legislation has humongous repercussions on motorcycling, hot rodding or anything that involves non DOT approved vehicles and parts. In the bid to save ourselves from ourselves the governments have potentially put a nail in the coffin countless small industries service not only the VMX industry but the hot rod, modified car and  all forms of motor racing in general. Big Brother is indeed taking over our lives.

On a similar but slightly different tack, there's something very ominous brewing that could see any modification of any vehicle be declared illegal. The first signs of this is the recent sudden, unannounced introduction of updates to the regulations covering the importation of vehicles have pretty much banned the importation of any registrable modified vehicle manufactured prior to 1989.http://www.asrf.org.au/docs/Import-Bulletin-001.pdf
At the beginning of May a Klub Kevlar member imported a '67 Chevy Camaro that's had quite a bit of modification. He was told by the cars importer that he got the car safely into the country by a matter of days before the new legislation took effect. He was going to take his time getting the car more suitable to his personal likes (converting to RHD, better brakes etc) but he decided to quickly register the car in left hand drive, pretty much as it came into the country just in case there was a sudden legislation change. These new regulations are across the the board and are strict enough to knock back cars with non standard wheels or even an aftermarket exhaust system.

I've never been much of a conspiracy theorist but the above intrusions on our hobbies/lifestyle have left me a little paranoid. I'm starting to think that these are the thin edges of the wedge to the green lobby, insurance industry and road safety lobbies ideals of a safe, electric car world devoid of dangerous motorsport litigation risks. I hope I'm wrong.

[Maicojames]

I hope someone sees the implications of this and is able to do something about it. Yes, there are some who are so far over the green edge they would gladly make the world uninhabitable to reach their goals.