D.C. Mun. Regs. r. 18-702
The Director is authorized to approve or disapprove lighting devices and other equipment and accessories required by this chapter which are intended to be used on a motor vehicle or trailer.
The Director shall approve or disapprove any lighting device of a type for which approval is specifically required in this chapter within a reasonable time after the device has been submitted.
The Director is further authorized to set up the procedure which shall be followed when any device is submitted for approval.
No person shall have for sale, sell, or offer for sale for use upon or as a part of the equipment of a motor vehicle, trailer, or semi-trailer or use upon any such vehicle, any head lamp, auxiliary driving lamp, rear lamp, signal lamp, or reflector (required by this chapter), or any other lamp, or parts of any of the foregoing which tend to change the original design or performance, unless of a type which has been submitted to the Director and approved by him or her.
The Director, upon approving any lamp or device, shall issue to the applicant a certificate of approval together with any instructions determined by him or her.
The Director shall publish lists of all lamps and devices by name and type which have been approved by him or her, together with instructions as to the permissible candlepower rating of the bulbs which he or she has determined for use in them, and such other instructions with respect to adjustment as the Director may consider necessary.
Approval may be revoked if at any time a device falls below the standard of quality upon which approval was based.
When the Director has reason to believe that an approved device which is being sold commercially does not comply with this chapter, he may, after giving thirty (30) days prior notice to .the person holding the certificate of approval for the device in the District, conduct a hearing on the question of compliance of the device.
After the hearing, the Director shall determine whether the device meets the requirements of this chapter and he or she shall give notice to the person holding the certificate of approval for the device in the District.
If, at the expiration of ninety (90) days after the notice, the person holding the certificate of approval for the device has failed to satisfy the Director that the approved device as thereafter to be sold meets the requirements of this chapter, the Director shall suspend or revoke the approval issued for the device until the device is re-submitted to and re-tested by an authorized testing agency and is found to meet the requirements of this chapter.
The Director may require that all of the devices sold after the notification following the hearing be replaced with devices that do comply with the requirements of this chapter.
The Director may, at the time of the re-test, purchase on the open market and submit to the testing agency one (1) or more sets of the approved devices, and if the device upon such retest fails to meet the requirements of this chapter, the Director may refuse to renew the certificate of approval of the device.
No person shall have for sale, sell, or offer for sale for use upon or as a part of the equipment of a motor vehicle, trailer, or semi-trailer, any lamp or device mentioned in this section which has been approved by the Director, unless that lamp or device bears the trade-mark or name under which it is approved so as to be legible when installed.
No person shall use upon any motor vehicle, trailer, or semi-trailer, any lamps mentioned in this section unless the lamps are equipped with bulbs of a rated candlepower and are mounted and adjusted to focus and aim in accordance with this chapter.
D.C. Mun. Regs. r. 18-702