EPA and US Customs and Border Protection Team Up to Enforce Clean Air Act

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working with the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on ensuring that imported vehicles and engines comply with Clean Air Act (CAA) requirements. Such items are commonly imported from foreign countries, such as sports cars, motorcycles, and even electrical generators. These items can now be found on the list with other contraband like drugs and guns.

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According to Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, "Importing vehicles and engines without proper pollution controls is bad for human health and the environment, and unfair to those companies that play by the rules. Americans deserve products with emission controls that comply with our nation’s environmental laws."

To enforce these rules, EPA needs the partnership of the CBP, which inspects imported cargo. The CBP would focus on those companies that have previously violated the Clean Air Act, identify their shipments, and hold them for inspection. EPA investigators would aid with the inspection of vehicles and engines. Goods which are not certified as CAA compliant would be seized by the CBP. For example, the EPA and CBP have recently seized illegal off-road motorcycles at the Port of Savannah worth over $125,000.

The EPA's mission is the protection of human health and the environment, which would be affected by the harmful air emissions from non-CAA compliant vehicles and engines. Anybody who plans on importing these types of goods from Canada, Mexico, or overseas must make themselves aware of US regulations which could affect their imports.

For the full list of EPA rules for importing vehicles and engines: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/imports/index.htm