EPA Issues Revised Anti-Tampering Enforcement Policy And Requests Comments On Catalytic Converter Enforcement Policy

Several years into EPA's mobile source enforcement initiative, the agency recently issued an updated enforcement policy addressing vehicle and engine tampering and aftermarket defeat devices (the "Tampering Policy"). The Tampering Policy was posted to the EPA Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance's website in late November, along with a separate pre-publication notice soliciting comment on EPA's 1986 enforcement policy related to catalytic converters. EPA issued the revised Tampering Policy on the heels of a recent EPA report indicating that emission controls have been removed from more than 550,000 diesel trucks in the last decade, resulting in hundreds of thousands of tons of excess emissions over the vehicles' lifetimes. Given these enforcement efforts, the revised Tampering Policy has meaningful implications for those that manufacture, sell, or install certain aftermarket parts or that service engines and vehicles, including considerations for testing,