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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 167 / Wednesday, September 1, 2021 / Proposed Rules
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businesses, which are listed by the North American Industry Classification System NAICS. The SBA considers a business entity to be a small business, if, together with its affiliates, it employs less than a threshold number of workers specified in 13 CFR part 121. The NAICS code for clothes washers is 335220, major household appliance manufacturing. The threshold number for NAICS code 335220 is 1,500
employees.97 This employee threshold includes all employees in a businesss parent company and any other subsidiaries. DOE identified 15 original equipment manufacturers OEMs of covered products and equipment. Of those companies, one is a small business that offers a single model of RCWs.
DOE requests comment on its initial determination that there is one small, domestic OEM of RCWs and no small, domestic OEMs of CCWs.
4. Description and Estimate of Compliance Requirements In this NOPR, DOE proposes to amend Appendix J2 and Appendix J3 by 1
further specifying supply water temperature test conditions; 2 further specifying water meter resolution requirements; 3 adding specifications for measuring wash water temperature using submersible data loggers; 4
expanding the load size table to accommodate up to 8.0 ft3 in capacity;
5 defining user-adjustable automatic WFCS; 6 specifying more explicitly the cycle selection for clothes washers with a range of wash time settings; 7
specifying how the energy test cycle flow charts apply to clothes washers that internally generate hot water; 8
specifying that the energy test cycle flow charts be evaluated using the Maximum load size; 9 specifying that testing is to be conducted with any network settings disabled if instructions are available to the user to disable these functions; 10 further specifying the conditions under which data from a test cycle would be discarded; 11 adding a product-specific enforcement provision to accommodate the potential for lot-tolot variation in RMC; 12 deleting obsolete definitions, metrics, and the clothes washer-specific waiver section;
13 consolidating all test cloth-related specifications in Appendix J3; and 14
codifying the test cloth material verification procedure as used by industry into Appendix J3. DOE has initially determined these proposed amendments to Appendix J2 and Appendix J3 would not result in 97 Available online at: www.sba.gov/document/
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manufacturers needing to re-rate clothes washers. The amendment 2 above may require more precise hot water meters for clothes washers with hot water usage less than 0.1 gallons in any of the energy test cycles. However, DOEs analysis of the small manufacturers product offering indicates that the amendment would not apply and no capital expenditures would be necessary for the business.
Next, this NOPR proposes to specify a new Appendix J, to be applicable upon the compliance date of any future amended energy conservation standards for clothes washers. The proposed new Appendix J would include modifications beyond Appendix J2 that:
1 Modify the hot water supply target temperature and clothes washer preconditioning requirements; 2 modify the Extra-Hot Wash threshold temperature; 3 add measurement and calculation of average cycle time; 4
reduce the number of required test cycles by requiring the use of no more than two Warm Wash/Cold Rinse cycles, and no more than two Warm Wash/Warm Rinse cycles; 5 reduce the number of required test cycles by removing the need for one or more cycles used for measuring RMC; 6
reduce the number of load sizes from three to two for units with automatic water fill controls; 7 modify the load size definitions consistent with two, rather than three, load sizes; 8 update the water fill levels to be used for testing to reflect the modified load size definitions; 9 specify the installation of single-inlet clothes washers, and simplify the test procedure for semiautomatic clothes washers; 10 define new performance metrics that are functions of the weighted-average load size rather than clothes container capacity: energy efficiency ratio, active-mode energy efficiency ratio, and water efficiency ratio; 11 update the number of annual clothes washer cycles from 295 to 234; and 12 update the number of hours assigned to lowpower mode to be based on the clothes washers measured cycle time rather than an assumed fixed value. Due to the reduction in number of loads and number of wash cycles, the proposed new Appendix J would be less burdensome than Appendix J2 for industry. However, the small manufacturer would need to re-rate its one model when any future amended energy conservation standard requires the use of the proposed new Appendix J. The cost of re-rating one model would have a cost of less than $1000. DOE
estimates this to be less than 0.1 percent of revenue for the small manufacturer.

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DOE requests comment on its initial determination that the proposed amendments would result in small incremental test burdens on the small business manufacturers of RCWs and CCWs in the United States.
5. Duplication, Overlap, and Conflict With Other Rules and Regulations DOE is not aware of any rules or regulations that duplicate, overlap, or conflict with the rule being considered today.
6. Significant Alternatives to the Rule DOE considered alternative test methods and modifications to the test procedures for RCWs and CCWs, and tentatively determined that there are no better alternatives than the modifications and procedures proposed in this NOPR. DOE expects the proposed amendments to Appendix J2
to result in zero cost to the small manufacturer. DOE expects the new Appendix J would have no impact before an amended energy conservation standard is adopted. After an amended energy conservation standard is adopted, DOE expects the proposed new Appendix J to have de minimis cost impact on the small manufacturer.
Additional compliance flexibilities may be available through other means.
EPCA provides that a manufacturer whose annual gross revenue from all of its operations does not exceed $8
million may apply for an exemption from all or part of an energy conservation standard for a period not longer than 24 months after the effective date of a final rule establishing the standard. 42 U.S.C. 6295t Additionally, section 504 of the Department of Energy Organization Act, 42 U.S.C. 7194, provides authority for the Secretary to adjust a rule issued under EPCA in order to prevent special hardship, inequity, or unfair distribution of burdens that may be imposed on that manufacturer as a result of such rule. Manufacturers should refer to 10 CFR part 430, subpart E, and part 1003 for additional details.
C. Review Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
Manufacturers of RCWs and CCWs must certify to DOE that their products comply with any applicable energy conservation standards. To certify compliance, manufacturers must first obtain test data for their products according to the DOE test procedures, including any amendments adopted for those test procedures. DOE has established regulations for the certification and recordkeeping requirements for all covered consumer
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