Modern Headlights

Dan,
When we see a lens marked like this, is it safe to assume it doesn't actually comply with anything?

Yep! No guarantee, but this marking has "Fraud/Fake" written all over it. It's kind of a dog's-breakfast mashup of incomplete bits from several different markings. DOT SAE doesn't mean anything by itself. Neither does (E9). This would be sort of like a $20 bill that just had $ and USA in the corners and didn't actually say "20" anywhere.