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Title 49, TransportationRelease 119-110

§32916 Reports to Congress

Title 49 › SUBTITLE VI — MOTOR VEHICLE AND DRIVER PROGRAMS › PART C — INFORMATION, STANDARDS, AND REQUIREMENTS › CHAPTER 329 — AUTOMOBILE FUEL ECONOMY › § 32916

Last updated Sep 23, 2026|Official source

Summary

By January 15 each year, the Secretary of Transportation must send a report to both Houses of Congress and publish it in the Federal Register about the review of the average fuel economy standards. If an exemption is granted under section 32904(b)(6), the Secretaries of Transportation and Labor must each year jointly review how that exemption is working. The review looks at five things: whether it meets the law’s goals, whether it improves fuel efficiency (helping save oil and cut imports), whether it has helped U.S. auto jobs, whether it hasn’t caused unreasonable harm to U.S. auto makers, and whether it let manufacturers that were treated as domestic under section 32904(b)(2) later build the same model in the U.S. even if less than 75 percent of its value was added in the U.S. or Canada. The Secretary of Transportation must put those review results into the next January 15 report that comes more than 180 days after the exemption, or send the results to Congress sooner if needed.

Full Legal Text

Title 49, §32916

Transportation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Annual Report.—
Not later than January 15 of each year, the Secretary of Transportation shall submit to each House of Congress, and publish in the Federal Register, a report on the review by the Secretary of average fuel economy standards prescribed under this chapter.
(b)Joint Examinations After Granting Exemptions.—
(1)After an exemption has been granted under section 32904(b)(6) of this title, the Secretaries of Transportation and Labor shall conduct annually a joint examination of the extent to which section 32904(b)(6)—
(A)achieves the purposes of this chapter;
(B)improves fuel efficiency (thereby facilitating conservation of petroleum and reducing petroleum imports);
(C)has promoted employment in the United States related to automobile manufacturing;
(D)has not caused unreasonable harm to the automobile manufacturing sector in the United States; and
(E)has permitted manufacturers that have assembled passenger automobiles deemed to be manufactured domestically under section 32904(b)(2) of this title thereafter to assemble in the United States passenger automobiles of the same model that have less than 75 percent of their value added in the United States or Canada, together with the reasons.
(2)The Secretary of Transportation shall include the results of the examination under paragraph (1) of this subsection in each report submitted under subsection (a) of this section more than 180 days after an exemption has been granted under section 32904(b)(6) of this title, or submit the results of the examination directly to Congress before the report is submitted when circumstances warrant.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Pub. L. 103–272 Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 32916(a)15:2002(a)(2).Oct. 20, 1972, Pub. L. 92–513, 86 Stat. 947, § 502(a)(2); added Dec. 22, 1975, Pub. L. 94–163, § 301, 89 Stat. 902. 32916(b)(1)15:2012(c)(1).Oct. 20, 1972, Pub. L. 92–513, 86 Stat. 947, § 512(c); added Oct. 10, 1980, Pub. L. 96–425, § 4(a)(2), 94 Stat. 1823. 32916(b)(2)15:2012(c)(2). In subsection (a), the words “a report on the review by the Secretary” are substituted for “a review” for clarity. The words “beginning in 1977” and the text of 15:2002(a) (2d, last sentences) are omitted as executed. In subsection (b)(1), before clause (A), reference to section 32904(b)(4) the 2d time it appears is substituted for “the amendment made to section 2003(b) of this title by section 4(a)(1) of the Automobile Fuel Efficiency Act of 1980” for clarity and to eliminate unnecessary words. Clause (B) is substituted for “achieves the purposes of that Act” for clarity. In subsection (b)(2), the reference to “subsection (a) of this section” is restated to refer to 15:2002(a) rather than 15:2012(a) to reflect the apparent intent of Congress. Although 15:2012(c)(2) refers to an annual report under 15:2012(a), that provision does not provide for an annual report. Pub. L. 103–429This makes conforming

Amendments

necessary because of the restatement of 15:2003(b)(2)(G) as 49:32904(b)(3) by section 6(36)(B) of the bill.

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Paragraph (6) of section 32904(b) of this title, referred to in subsec. (b), was repealed by Pub. L. 110–140, title I, § 113(a), Dec. 19, 2007, 121 Stat. 1508.

Amendments

1994—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 103–429, in par. (1), introductory provisions, substituted “32904(b)(6)” for “32904(b)(4)” in two places, in par. (1)(E), substituted “32904(b)(2)” for “32904(b)(1)(A)”, and in par. (2), substituted “32904(b)(6)” for “32904(b)(4)”.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

49 U.S.C. § 32916

Title 49, Transportation

Last Updated

Sep 23, 2026

Release point: 119-110