Approvals for Hazardous Materials

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has the primary responsibility for the issuance of Department of Transportation (DOT) Special Permits and Approvals under the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR parts 171 180). An approval is a written authorization, including a competent authority approval, issued by the Associate Administrator, the Associate Administrator’s designee, or as otherwise prescribed in the HMR, to perform a function for which prior authorization by the Associate Administrator is required under subchapter C of this chapter (49 CFR parts 171-180). There are more than 100 approval provisions in the HMR and associated procedural regulations. Responses to this information collection are required to obtain benefits, including becoming an approval or certification agency, or obtaining a variance from packaging or handling requirements based on information provided by the respondent. These benefits and variances include, but are not limited to: United Nations (UN) third party certification; authorization to examine and test lighters; authorization to examine and test explosives; and authorization to re-qualify DOT cylinders. This information collection supports the Departmental Strategic Goal for Safety. Required collections are contained in Hazardous Materials Program Procedures, 49 CFR part 107 and parts 100-185. These regulations are promulgated in accordance with 49 U.S.C. 5110, the Federal hazardous materials transportation law. On April 8, 2024, PHMSA published a final rule titled “Hazardous Materials: Harmonization With International Standards” [HM-215Q, 89 FR 25434]. This final rule adds a new entries to the § 173.224 (Self Reactives Table) and § 173.225 (Organic Peroxide Table), which will decrease the number of annual approval applicants. Based on estimates provided in the Regulatory Impact Analysis (PRIA), PHMSA estimates that this proposal would reduce the number of approvals by one annually.

The latest form for Approvals for Hazardous Materials expires 2027-06-30 and can be found here.

Designated approval agencies, independent cylinder testing agencies, and prospective foreign manufacturers of cylinders

Federal Enterprise Architecture: Transportation - Ground Transportation