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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 138 / Thursday, July 22, 2021 / Proposed Rules
showerhead. 75 FR 27926 2010
Draft Interpretive Rule. In this 2010
Draft Interpretive Rule, available at https www.regulations.gov/
document?D=EERE-2010-BT-NOA-00160002, DOE discussed how there was uncertainty about how the EPCA
definition of showerhead applies to the diversified showerhead product offerings. Id. at 1. To address this uncertainty, DOE proposed to define a showerhead as any plumbing fitting that is designed to direct water onto a bather. Id. at 2 footnote omitted. As such, DOE stated it would find a showerhead to be noncompliant with EPCAs maximum water use standard if the showerheads standard components, operating in their maximum design flow configuration, taken together use in excess of 2.5 gpm. Id. at 3.
On March 4, 2011, DOE formally withdrew the draft interpretive rule and issued showerhead enforcement guidance. See https www.energy.gov/
sites/prod/files/gcprod/documents/
Showerhead_Guidancel.pdf 2011
Enforcement Guidance In the 2011
Enforcement Guidance, DOE explained that it had received several complaints alleging that certain showerhead products exceeded EPCAs 2.5 gpm standard. DOE stated that it had learned that some had come to believe that a showerhead that expels water from multiple nozzles constituted not a single showerhead, but rather multiple showerheads and thus could exceed the maximum permitted water use by a multiple equal to the number of nozzles on the showerhead. Id. at 1. Following a review of the record from the 2010
Draft Interpretive Rule, DOE concluded that the term any showerhead has been and continues to be sufficiently clear such that no interpretive rule was needed. Id. at 2. Specifically, DOE
stated that multiple spraying components sold together as a single unit designed to spray water onto a single bather constitutes a single showerhead for the purpose of the maximum water use standard. Id. DOE, in its discretion, addressed the misunderstanding of how to measure compliance with the standard by providing a two-year enforcement grace period to allow manufacturers to sell any remaining noncompliant products.
Id. at 23.
DOE proposed revising the test procedure for showerheads and other products and to change the regulatory definition of showerheads. 77 FR 31742
May 30, 2012 May 2012 NOPR.
DOE proposed to adopt definitions for four terms related to showerheads fitting, accessory, body spray, and showerheadin order to address
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certain provisions of the revised American Society of Mechanical Engineers/American National Standards Institute ASME/ANSI test procedures that were not contemplated in the versions referenced by the existing DOE test procedure, and to establish greater clarity with respect to product coverage. 77 FR 31742, 31747.3
Specifically, DOE proposed to define showerhead as an accessory, or set of accessories, to a supply fitting distributed in commerce for attachment to a single supply fitting, for spraying water onto a bather, typically from an overhead position, including body sprays and hand-held showerheads, but excluding safety shower showerheads.
77 FR 31742, 31755. The proposed definition clarified that DOE considered a body spray to be a showerhead for the purposes of regulatory coverage. 77
FR 31742, 31747.
Responding to comments on the May 2012 NOPR, DOE issued on April 8, 2013 a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking SNOPR in which DOE
proposed a revised definition of showerhead and withdrew its proposal to include body sprays in the definition of showerhead in light of concerns raised by commenters and DOEs need to further study the issue.
78 FR 20832, 2083420835, 20841
April 2013 SNOPR. The SNOPRs modified definition of showerhead removed the term accessory from the definition based on comments about the use of the term. 78 FR 20832, 20834.
Under the proposed modified definition, a showerhead is a component of a supply fitting, or set of components distributed in commerce for attachment to a single supply fitting, for spraying water onto a bather, typically from an overhead position, including hand-held showerheads, but excluding safety shower showerheads.
78 FR 20832, 20834. DOE also requested comment on whether to define the term safety shower showerhead to address which products qualify for exclusion from coverage under EPCA and DOE
regulations. 78 FR 20832, 20835, 20840.
On October 23, 2013, DOE issued a final rule amending test procedures for showerheads and other products and adopting definitions for products including showerheads. 78 FR 62970
October 2013 Final Rule. In this final rule, DOE adopted in substance the modified definition of showerhead proposed in the April 2013 SNOPR. 78
FR 62970, 62986. The October 2013
3 DOE also proposed to adopt a definition for hand-held showerhead in the 2012 NOPR. 77 FR
31742, 31747. This NOPR does not reference that discussion, as DOE is not proposing any edits to the existing definition of hand-held showerhead.

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Final Rule defined showerhead as a component or set of components distributed in commerce for attachment to a single supply fitting, for spraying water onto a bather, typically from an overhead position, excluding safety shower showerheads. 78 FR 62970, 62986. DOE did not finalize the definition of body spray proposed in the May 2012 NOPR. 78 FR 62970, 62973. DOE also declined to adopt a definition of safety shower showerhead and explained that it was unable to identify a definition that would clearly distinguish these products from the showerheads covered under EPCA. 78 FR 62970, 62974.
On August 13, 2020, DOE proposed revising the definition of a showerhead to be consistent with the most recent ASME standard. 85 FR
49284 August 2020 NOPR. DOE also proposed to adopt definitions of body spray and safety shower showerhead and to clarify whether the current test procedure would apply to the proposed definitional changes. 85 FR 49284, 49285. In addition, DOE proposed to amend the test procedure for showerheads to address the testing of a single showerhead within a multiheaded showerhead. 85 FR 49284, 49292.
Following the consideration of comments received in response to the August 2020 NOPR, DOE issued the December 16, 2020 Final Rule, which amended the definition for showerhead and adopted definitions for body spray and safety shower showerhead. 85 FR 81341. Specifically, the December 2020 Final Rule amended the meaning of showerhead in a manner that would incorporate the ASME definition for this term by defining it to mean an accessory to a supply fitting for spraying onto a bather, typically from an overhead position. 85
FR 81341, 81343, 81359. Under the December 2020 Final Rules interpretation, each showerhead included in a product with multiple showerheads would separately be required to meet the 2.5 gpm standard established in EPCA. 85 FR 81341, 81342. In addition, DOE established a definition for body spray, citing the need to address ambiguity about whether body sprays were considered showerheads under the October 2013
Final Rule. 85 FR 81341, 81342, 81350.
DOE defined the term body spray as a shower device for spraying water onto a bather from other than the overhead position. A body spray is not a showerhead. 85 FR 81341, 81359.
Lastly, DOE defined the term safety shower showerhead by incorporating by reference the definition of safety
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