Proposed Extension of Approval of Information Collection; Comment Request: Safety Standard for Cigarette Lighters, 2662-2664 [2013-00522]

Agencies

• Consumer Product Safety Commission

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 9 (Monday, January 14, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2662-2664]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-00522]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[Docket No. CPSC-2009-0044]


Proposed Extension of Approval of Information Collection; Comment 
Request: Safety Standard for Cigarette Lighters

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or 
Commission) requests comments on a proposed request for an extension of 
approval of a collection of information from manufacturers and 
importers of disposable and novelty cigarette lighters. This collection 
of information consists of testing and recordkeeping requirements in 
certification regulations implementing the Safety Standard for 
Cigarette Lighters (16 CFR part 1210). The Commission will consider all 
comments received in response to this notice before requesting an 
extension of approval of this collection of information from the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB).

DATES: The Office of the Secretary must receive comments not later than 
March 15, 2013.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2009-
0044, by any of the following methods:

Electronic Submissions

    Submit electronic comments in the following way:
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
    To ensure timely processing of comments, the Commission is no 
longer accepting comments submitted by electronic mail (email), except 
through www.regulations.gov.

Written Submissions

    Submit written submissions in the following way:
    Mail/Hand delivery/Courier (for paper, disk, or CD-ROM 
submissions), preferably in five copies, to: Office of the Secretary, 
Consumer Product Safety Commission, Room 820, 4330 East West Highway, 
Bethesda, MD 20814; telephone (301) 504-7923.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and docket number for this notice. All comments received may be posted 
without change, including any personal identifiers, contact 
information, or other

[[Page 2663]]

personal information provided, to https://www.regulations.gov. Do not 
submit confidential business information, trade secret information, or 
other sensitive or protected information electronically. Such 
information should be submitted in writing.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information contact: 
Robert H. Squibb, Consumer Product Safety Commission, 4330 East West 
Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; (301) 504-7815, or by email to: 
rsquibb@cpsc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 1993, the Commission issued the Safety 
Standard for Cigarette Lighters (16 CFR part 1210) under provisions of 
the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) (15 U.S.C. 2051 et seq.) to 
eliminate or reduce risks of death and burn injury from fires 
accidentally started by children playing with cigarette lighters. The 
standard contains performance requirements for disposable and novelty 
lighters that are intended to make cigarette lighters that are subject 
to the standard resist operation by children younger than 5 years of 
age.

A. Certification Requirements

    Section 14(a) of the CPSA (15 U.S.C. 2063(a)) requires 
manufacturers, importers, and private labelers of a consumer product 
subject to a consumer product safety standard under the CPSA or similar 
rule, ban, standard, or regulation under any other act enforced by the 
Commission to issue a certificate stating that the product complies 
with all applicable rules, bans, standards, or regulations. Section 
14(a) of the CPSA also requires that the certificate of compliance must 
be based on a test of each product or upon a reasonable testing program 
and specify each such rule, ban, standard or regulation applicable to 
the product.
    Section 14(b) of the CPSA (15 U.S.C. 2063(b)) authorizes the 
Commission to issue regulations to prescribe a reasonable testing 
program to support certificates of compliance with a consumer product 
safety standard under the CPSA or similar rule, ban, standard, or 
regulation under any other act enforced by the Commission. Section 
16(b) of the CPSA (15 U.S.C 2065(b)) authorizes the Commission to issue 
rules to require that firms ``establish and maintain'' records to 
permit the Commission to determine compliance with rules issued under 
the authority of the CPSA.
    The Commission has issued regulations prescribing requirements for 
a reasonable testing program to support certificates of compliance with 
the standard for cigarette lighters. These regulations require 
manufacturers and importers to submit a description of each model of 
lighter, results of surrogate qualification tests for compliance with 
the standard, and other information before the introduction of each 
model of lighter in commerce. These regulations also require 
manufacturers, importers, and private labelers of disposable and 
novelty lighters to establish and maintain records to demonstrate 
successful completion of all required tests to support the certificates 
of compliance that they issue. 16 CFR part 1210, Subpart B.
    The Commission uses the information compiled and maintained by 
manufacturers, importers, and private labelers of disposable and 
novelty lighters to protect consumers from risks of accidental deaths 
and burn injuries associated with those lighters. More specifically, 
the Commission uses this information to determine whether lighters 
comply with the standard by resisting operation by young children. The 
Commission also uses this information to obtain corrective actions if 
disposable or novelty lighters fail to comply with the standard in a 
manner that creates a substantial risk of injury to the public.
    OMB approved the collection of information in the certification 
regulations for cigarette lighters under control number 3041-0116. 
OMB's most recent extension of approval will expire on February 28, 
2013. The Commission proposes to request an extension of approval for 
this collection of information requirements.

B. Estimated Burden

    The cost of the rule's testing requirement is the cost of testing, 
either by the firm or by outside contractors. In fiscal year 2012, 30 
firms submitted new lighter models. The total number of models that 
were child-tested (new models) was 13, and the number of lighters that 
were comparable to previously tested models (comparable models) was 
132. If tested through outside contractors, CPSC staff estimates the 
cost per test to be between $15,000 and $25,000, and $20,000 on 
average. If 13 total tests are done annually by outside contractors, 
the cost would be approximately $260,000. If tests are conducted in-
house, CPSC staff estimates that testing a new model is expected to 
take about 90 hours per model. The total testing time for 13 models, if 
conducted in-house, would be 1,170 hours. Based on an hourly 
compensation for the time required for testing is $61.75 per hour (U.S. 
Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``Employer Costs for Employee 
Compensation,'' June 2012, Table 9, total compensation for management, 
professional, and related workers in goods-producing industries: https://www.bls.gov/ncs), the in-house testing cost would be approximately 
72,245. The total industry cost of the testing component for this 
regulation would be in the range of $72,248 to $260,000 per year, 
depending on the method chosen.
    The cost of the recordkeeping requirement is composed of two 
separate components: recordkeeping for new models and recordkeeping for 
comparable models. The time consumed in recordkeeping for new models 
has been estimated at 20 hours per model. Thus, the total time consumed 
for recordkeeping of new models would be 260 hours (20 hours x 13 
models). We estimate the hourly compensation for the time required for 
recordkeeping is $27.64 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``Employer 
Costs for Employee Compensation,'' June 2012, Table 9, total 
compensation for all sales and office workers in goods-producing, 
private industries: https://www.bls.gov/ncs). The estimated annual cost 
of recordkeeping for new models is about $7,186 (260 hours x $27.64).
    In fiscal year 2012, 132 comparable models were submitted to the 
CPSC. While firms would bear no testing costs for the comparable 
models, the time for recordkeeping is estimated at 3 hours per model. 
Thus, an estimated 396 hours (132 models x 3 hours). We estimate the 
hourly compensation for the time required for record keeping is $27.64 
(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``Employer Costs for Employee 
Compensation,'' June 2012, Table 9, total compensation for all sales 
and office workers in goods-producing, private industries: https://www.bls.gov/ncs). The estimated annual cost of recordkeeping for 
comparable models is about $10,945 (396 hours x $27.64). The estimated 
total recordkeeping costs for new models and comparable models would be 
approximately $18,131 ($7,186 + $10,945).
    Because the number of responses to the CPSC includes paperwork 
associated with the testing for new models, as well as comparable 
models, we expect that the total number of responses will be 145 per 
year (13 tested + 132 comparisons). The total number of hours consumed 
for these responses would be 1,826 hours per year, including new model 
tests (1,170 hours

[[Page 2664]]

if done in-house), new model recordkeeping (260 hours), and 
recordkeeping for comparable models (396 hours). The Commission 
estimates the total cost for firms to test, and prepare, maintain, and 
submit records to the CPSC in compliance with the lighter regulation 
would be in the range of $90,379 to $278,132, depending upon the test 
method chosen.
    The estimated total cost of this collection to the federal 
government is $344,618. This represents two full-time employees 
annually for compliance activities. This estimate uses an annual total 
compensation of $119,238 (the equivalent of a GS-14 Step 5 employee) 
with an additional 30.8 percent added for benefits (U.S. Bureau of 
Labor Statistics, ``Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,'' 
September 2012, Table 1, percentage of wages and salaries for all 
civilian management, professional, and related employees), for a total 
annual compensation per full-time employee of $172,309.

C. Request for Comments

    The Commission solicits written comments from all interested 
persons about the proposed collection of information. The Commission 
specifically solicits information relevant to the following topics:
     Whether the collection of information described above is 
necessary for the proper performance of the Commission's functions, 
including whether the information would have practical utility;
     Whether the estimated burden of the proposed collection of 
information is accurate;
     Whether the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected could be enhanced; and
     Whether the burden imposed by the collection of 
information could be minimized by use of automated, electronic or other 
technological collection techniques, or other forms of information 
technology.

    Dated: January 9, 2013.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2013-00522 Filed 1-11-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P