EPA's administrative program requirements are designed to ensure that the targeted reductions actually occur by making manufacturers responsible for testing engines, reporting the results to EPA, and demonstrating compliance with the emission standards. The administrative program requirements are described below in section C.
Corporate average standard: The gasoline marine emission standard finalized today is an average emission standard meaning that the manufacturer's product line of outboards and personal watercraft must comply with the emission standards on a corporate average basis. The corporate average emission standard structure helps to make the standard technologically achievable by offering manufacturers flexibility in achieving the HC reductions required. Further, the structure minimizes cost by allowing the manufacturers and the market to determine the best way to achieve the targeted reductions over time. EPA sets the standards that apply to the engines in the manufacturer's new sales fleet, which in effect sets the required reduction in the manufacturer's corporate average emission level. The manufacturer determines on its own what type of control technology to apply to which engines. This flexibility is essential because the emission standard will require revolutionary technology that does not currently exist across the product line, the leadtime for implementation is short, and targeted reductions across the phase-in are large.
