Collection of Information; Proposed Extension of Approval; Comment Request-Publicly Available Consumer Product Safety Information Database, 9496-9500 [2023-03080]
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 14, 2023 / Notices
Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552b.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Dated: February 9, 2023.
Christopher Kirkpatrick,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2023–03179 Filed 2–10–23; 11:15 am]
BILLING CODE 6351–01–P
CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY
COMMISSION
[Docket No. CPSC–2010–0041]
Collection of Information; Proposed
Extension of Approval; Comment
Request—Publicly Available Consumer
Product Safety Information Database
Consumer Product Safety
Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
As required by the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the
Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC) announces that the CPSC has
submitted to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) a request for
extension of approval of a collection of
information for the Publicly Available
Consumer Product Safety Information
Database, previously under OMB
Control No. 3041–0146. On December 8,
2022, the CPSC published a notice in
the Federal Register announcing the
agency’s intent to seek this extension.
CPSC received one comment in support
of the collection of information in
response to that notice. By publication
of this notice, the Commission
announces that CPSC has submitted to
the OMB a request for extension of
approval of that collection of
information, without change.
DATES: Written comments on this
request for extension of approval of
information collection requirements
should be submitted by March 16, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments about
this request by email: OIRA_
submission@omb.eop.gov or fax: 202–
395–6881. Comments by mail should be
sent to the Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, Attn: OMB Desk
Officer for the CPSC, Office of
Management and Budget, Room 10235,
725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC
20503. In addition, written comments
that are sent to OMB, also should be
submitted electronically at: https://
www.regulations.gov, under Docket No.
CPSC–2010–0041.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
further information, or a copy of the
supporting statement, contact: Cynthia
Gillham, Consumer Product Safety
Commission, 4330 East West Highway,
Bethesda, MD 20814; (301) 504–7791, or
by email to: cgillham@cpsc.gov.
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SUMMARY:
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A. Background
Section 212 of the Consumer Product
Safety Improvement Act of 2008
(CPSIA) added to the Consumer Product
Safety Act (CPSA) a new section 6A,
which requires the CPSC to establish
and maintain a publicly available,
searchable database (Database) on the
safety of consumer products and other
products or substances regulated by the
CPSC. Among other things, section 6A
requires the CPSC to collect reports of
harm from the public for potential
publication in the publicly available
Database, and to collect and publish
comments from manufacturers about
reports of harm.
In a proposed rule published on May
24, 2010 (75 FR 29156), the CPSC
announced that a proposed collection of
information in conjunction with the
Database, called the Publicly Available
Consumer Product Safety Information
Database, had been submitted to OMB
for review and clearance under 44
U.S.C. 3501–3520. The CPSC issued a
final rule on the Database on December
9, 2010 (75 FR 76832). The final rule
interprets various statutory
requirements in section 6A of the CPSA
pertaining to the information to be
included in the Database. The final rule
also establishes provisions regarding
submitting reports of harm; providing
notice of reports of harm to
manufacturers; publishing reports of
harm and manufacturer comments in
the Database; and dealing with
confidential and materially inaccurate
information.
OMB approved the collection of
information for the Database under
control number 3041–0146. OMB’s most
recent extension of approval, issued on
March 31, 2020, will expire on March
31, 2023. Accordingly, the CPSC is
seeking an extension of approval of this
collection of information.
B. Response To Comment
One individual commenter stated that
this collection of information is
necessary for general consumer safety,
but that the public lacks knowledge of
the Database. The commenter states that
CPSC should prioritize a campaign
regarding the existence and purpose of
the Database to benefit consumers. The
commenter states that the burden
estimates could be reduced through
automated and electronic collection
techniques, and that these options
should be explored, but that CPSC must
maintain data quality. CPSC appreciates
the commenter’s feedback and generally
agrees with the commenter’s statements.
CPSC is not making any changes to the
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burden estimates for this information
collection based on this comment.
C. Information Collected Through the
Database
The primary purpose of this
information collection is to populate the
publicly searchable Database of
consumer product safety information
mandated by section 6A of the CPSA.
The Database information collection has
four components: reports of harm,
manufacturer comments, branding
information, and the Small Batch
Manufacturer Registry (SBMR).
Reports of Harm: Reports of harm
communicate information regarding an
injury, illness, or death, or any risk (as
determined by CPSC) of injury, illness,
or death, relating to the use of a
consumer product or other product or
substance regulated by the CPSC.
Reports can be submitted to the CPSC
by consumers; local, state, or federal
government agencies; healthcare
professionals; child service providers;
public safety entities; and others.
Reports may be submitted via the CPSC
website (www.SaferProducts.gov), by
telephone via a CPSC call center, or by
email, fax, or mail using the incident
report form (available for download or
printing via the CPSC website). Reports
may also originate as a free-form letter
or email. Submitters must consent to
including their report of harm in the
publicly searchable Database.
Manufacturer Comments: Pursuant to
the CPSIA, CPSC transmits a report of
harm to the manufacturer or private
labeler identified in the report, and the
manufacturer or private labeler may
then submit a comment to CPSC related
to the report of harm (hereinafter
‘‘manufacturer comment’’).
Manufacturer comments may be
submitted through the business portal,
by email, mail, or fax. The business
portal is a feature of the Database that
allows manufacturers and private
labelers who register on the business
portal to receive reports of harm and
comment on such reports through the
business portal. Use of the business
portal expedites the receipt of reports of
harm and business response times.
A manufacturer or private labeler may
request that the CPSC designate
information in a report of harm as
confidential. Such a request may be
made using the business portal, by
email, by mail, or by fax. Additionally,
any person or entity reviewing a report
of harm or comment from a
manufacturer or private labeler, either
before or after publication in the
Database, may request that the report or
comment, or portions of the report or
comment, be excluded from the
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Database because it contains materially
inaccurate information. Such a request
may be made by manufacturers or
private labelers using the business
portal, by email, mail, or fax, and may
be submitted by anyone else by email,
mail, or fax.
Branding Information: Using the
business portal, registered businesses
may voluntarily submit branding
information to assist CPSC in correctly
and timely routing to them reports of
harm involving their products. Brand
names may be licensed to another entity
for use in labeling consumer products
manufactured by that entity. CPSC’s
understanding of licensing
arrangements for consumer products
helps to ensure that the correct
manufacturer or private labeler is timely
notified regarding a report of harm.
Small Batch Manufacturers Registry:
The business portal also contains the
SBMR, which is the online mechanism
by which ‘‘small batch manufacturers’’
(as defined in the CPSA) can identify
themselves to obtain relief from certain
third-party testing requirements for
children’s products. To register as a
small batch manufacturer, a business
must attest that the company’s income
level, and the number of units of the
covered product manufactured for
which relief is sought, both fall within
the statutory limits to receive relief from
third party testing.
D. Estimated Burden
1. Estimated Annual Burden for
Respondents
We estimate the burden of this
collection of information as follows:
TABLE 1—ESTIMATED ANNUAL REPORTING BURDEN FOR REPORTS OF HARM
Number of
respondents
Collection type
Response
frequency 1
Total annual
responses
Minutes
per response
Total burden,
in hours 2
Reports of Harm—submitted through website ....................
Reports of Harm —submitted by phone ..............................
Reports of Harm—submitted by mail, e-mail, fax ...............
4,498
1,032
296
1.45
1.33
3.71
6,522
1,373
1,098
12
10
20
1,304
229
366
Total ..............................................................................
5,826
........................
8,993
........................
1,899
TABLE 2—ESTIMATED ANNUAL REPORTING BURDEN FOR MANUFACTURER SUBMISSIONS
Number of
respondents
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Collection type
Manufacturer Comments—submitted through website .......
Manufacturer Comments—submitted by mail, email, fax ....
Requests to Treat Information as Confidential—submitted
through website ................................................................
Requests to Treat Information as Confidential—submitted
by mail, email, fax ............................................................
Requests to Treat Information as Materially Inaccurate—
submitted through website ...............................................
Requests to Treat Information as Materially Inaccurate—
submitted by mail, email, fax ...........................................
Voluntary Brand Identification ..............................................
Small Batch Manufacturer Identification ..............................
Total ..............................................................................
Based 1 2 on the data set forth in
Tables 1 and 2 above, the annual
reporting cost is estimated to be
$443,089. This estimate is based on the
sum of two estimated total figures for
reports of harm and manufacturer or
private labeler submissions. The
estimated number of respondents and
responses are based on the actual
responses received in FY 2022. We
assume that the number of responses
and respondents will be similar in
future years.
Reports of Harm: Table 1 sets forth
the data used to estimate the burden
associated with submitting reports of
harm. Since the previous renewal of the
collection, the number of annual reports
of harm submitted by mail, email or fax
1 Frequency of responses is calculated by dividing
the number of responses by the number of
respondents.
2 Numbers have been rounded.
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Response
frequency 1
Frm 00072
Minutes per
response
Total burden,
in hours 2
437
115
4.53
1.44
1,980
166
117
147
3,861
407
1
1.00
1
42
1
0
N/A
0
72
0
97
1.46
142
165
391
22
513
1,747
1.23
1.00
1.00
27
513
1,747
195
10
10
88
86
291
2,932
........................
4,576
........................
5,125
decreased from 15,314 to 1,098; reports
of harm submitted by phone decreased
from 1,418 to 1,373; and reports of harm
submitted through the website increased
from 6,023 to 6,522.
We had previously estimated the time
associated with the electronic and
telephone submission of reports of harm
at 12 and 10 minutes, respectively; and
because we have had no indication that
these estimates are not appropriate or
accurate, we used those figures for
present purposes as well. We estimate
that the time associated with a paper or
PDF form would be 20 minutes, on
average.
To estimate the costs for submitting
reports of harm, we multiplied the
estimated total burden hours associated
with reports of harm (1,304 hours + 229
hours + 366 hours = 1,899 hours) by an
estimated total compensation for all
workers in private industry of $38.61
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Total annual
responses
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per hour,3 which results in an estimated
cost of $73,320 (1,899 hours × $38.61
per hour = $73,320 FY22).
Manufacturer Submissions: Tables 2
and 3 set forth the data used to estimate
the burden associated with
manufacturer and private labeler
submissions to the Database. We
observed that a large percentage of the
general comments come from a few
businesses, and we assumed that the
experience of a business that submits
many comments each year would be
different from one that submits only a
few. Accordingly, previously, we
divided all responding businesses into
three groups based on the number of
3 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor
Statistics, Table 4 of the Employer Costs for
Employee Compensation (ECEC), Private Industry
workers, by occupational group, Mar 2022 (data
extracted on 10/3/2022 from: https://www.bls.gov/
news.release/archives/ecec_06162022.pdf).
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general comments submitted, and then
we selected several businesses to
contact from each group. The first group
contacted consisted of businesses that
submitted 50 or more comments,
accounting for 31 percent of all general
comments received. The second group
contacted included businesses that
submitted 6 to 49 comments, accounting
for 39 percent of all general comments
received. The last group contacted
included businesses that submitted no
more than 5 comments, accounting for
30 percent of all general comments
received. We asked each company how
long it typically takes to research,
compose, and enter a comment or a
claim of materially inaccurate
information.
To estimate the burden associated
with submitting a general comment
regarding a report of harm through the
business portal, we averaged the burden
provided by each company within each
group, and then we calculated a
weighted average from the three groups,
weighting each group by the proportion
of comments received from that group.
We found that the average time to
submit a general comment regarding a
report of harm is 117 minutes, based on
the data in Table 3 (((15 minutes + 45
minutes + 30 minutes + 15 minutes)/4
companies)*.31 + ((105 minutes + 45
minutes + 150 minutes + 15 minutes)/
4 companies)*.39 + ((240 minutes + 60
minutes + 480 minutes)/3
companies)*.30 = 117 minutes).
TABLE 3—ESTIMATED BURDEN TO ENTER A GENERAL COMMENT IN THE DATABASE
Group
Group 1 (>=50 comments) ..................................................
Group 2 (6–49 comments) ..................................................
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Group 3 (<=5 comments) ....................................................
Registered businesses generally
submit comments through the CPSC
website. Unregistered businesses submit
comments by mail, email, or fax. We
estimate that submitting comments via
mail, email, or fax takes a little longer
because often, we must ask businesses
to amend their submissions to include
the required certifications. Thus, we
estimated that, on average, comments
submitted by mail, email, or fax take 30
minutes longer than comments
submitted through the CPSC website
(117 minutes + 30 minutes = 147
minutes).
The submission of a claim of
materially inaccurate information is a
relatively rare event for all respondents,
so we averaged all responses together.
Eight of the businesses contacted had
submitted claims of materially
inaccurate information. We found that
the average time to submit a claim that
a report of harm contains a material
inaccuracy is 165 minutes ((30 minutes
+ 90 minutes + 45 minutes + 90 minutes
+ 60 minutes + 660 minutes + 45
minutes + 300 minutes)/8 companies =
165 minutes).
Registered businesses generally
submit claims of materially inaccurate
information through the business portal.
Unregistered businesses submit such
claims by mail, email, or fax. We
estimate that submitting claims via mail,
email, or fax takes a little longer because
we often must ask businesses to amend
their submission to include the required
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General comments
(minutes)
Company
Jkt 259001
Company
Company
Company
Company
Company
Company
Company
Company
Company
Company
Company
A
B
C
D
A
B
C
D
A
B
C
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
certifications. Thus, we estimate that, on
average, claims submitted by mail,
email, or fax take 30 minutes longer
than those submitted through the CPSC
website (165 minutes + 30 minutes =
195 minutes).
The submission of a claim of
confidential information is another
relatively rare event for all respondents,
so we averaged all responses together.
Five of the businesses contacted had
submitted claims of confidential
information. We found that the average
time to submit a claim that a report of
harm contains confidential information
through the CPSC website is 42 minutes
((45 minutes + 15 minutes + 60 minutes
+ 30 minutes + 60 minutes)/5
companies = 42 minutes).
Registered businesses generally
submit confidential information claims
through the business portal.
Unregistered businesses submit
confidential information claims by mail,
email, or fax. We estimate that
submitting claims by mail, email, or fax
takes a little longer because often, we
must ask businesses to amend their
submission to include the required
certifications. Thus, we estimate that a
confidential information claim
submitted by mail, email, or fax would
take 30 minutes longer than those
submitted through the CPSC website (42
minutes + 30 minutes = 72 minutes).
For voluntary brand identification, we
estimate that a response would take 10
minutes, on average. Most responses
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15
45
30
15
105
45
150
15
240
60
480
consist only of the brand name and a
product description. In many cases, a
business will submit multiple entries in
a brief period of time, and we can see
from the date and time stamps on these
records that an entry often takes less
than 2 minutes. CPSC staff enters the
same data in a similar form, based on
our own research, and that experience
was also factored into our estimate.
For small batch manufacturer
identification, we estimate that a
response would take 10 minutes, on
average. The form consists of three
check boxes and the information should
be readily accessible to the respondent.
The responses summarized in Table 2
are generally submitted by
manufacturers. To avoid
underestimating the cost associated
with the collection of this data, we
assigned the higher hourly wage
associated with a manager or
professional in goods-producing
industries to these tasks. To estimate the
cost of manufacturer submissions, we
multiplied the estimated total burden
hours in Table 2 (5,125 hours), by an
estimated total compensation for a
manager or professional in goodsproducing industries of $72.15 per
hour,4 which results in an estimated
4 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor
Statistics, Table 4 of the Employer Costs for
Employee Compensation (ECEC), Private Industry
workers, by occupational group, Mar 2022 (data
extracted on 8/2/2022 from: https://www.bls.gov/
news.release/ecec.t04.htm).
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cost of $ 369,769 (5,125 hours × $72.15
per hour = $369,769).
Therefore, the total estimated annual
cost to respondents is $443,089 ($73,320
burden for reports of harm + $369,769
burden for manufacturer submissions =
$443,089).
2. Estimated Annual Burden on
Government
We estimate the annualized cost to
the CPSC to be $981,516. This figure is
based on the costs for four categories of
work for the Database: Reports of Harm,
Materially Inaccurate Information
Claims, Manufacturer Comments, and
Small Batch Identification. Each
category is described below. No
government cost is associated with
firms’ voluntary brand identification
because this information is entered
directly into the Database by the
manufacturer with no processing
required by the government. The
information assists the government in
directing reports of harm to the correct
manufacturer. Because we only have
one request to treat information as
confidential in FY 2022, we included
the government’s time to process this
claim with the claims of materially
inaccurate information.
Reports of Harm: The Reports of Harm
category includes many different tasks.
Some costs related to this category are
from two data entry contracts. Tasks
related to these contracts include
clerical coding of the report, such as
identifying the type of consumer
product reported and the appropriate
associated hazard, as well as performing
quality control on the data in the report.
Contractor A spends an estimated 4,940
hours per year performing these tasks.
With an hourly rate of $34.53 for
contractor services, the annual cost to
the government of contract A is
$170,578.
9499
The Reports of Harm category also
includes sending consent requests for
reports when necessary, processing that
consent when received, determining
whether a product is out of CPSC’s
jurisdiction, and confirming that
pictures and attachments do not have
any personally identifiable information.
The Reports of Harm category also
entails notifying manufacturers or
private labelers when one of their
products is reported, completing a risk
of harm determination form for every
report eligible for publication, referring
some reports to a subject matter expert
within the CPSC for a determination
whether the reports meet the
requirement of having a risk of harm,
and determining whether a report meets
all the statutory and regulatory
requirements for publication. Detailed
costs are:
TABLE 4—ESTIMATED COSTS FOR REPORTS OF HARM TASK
Number of hours
(annual)
Grade level
Total
compensation
per hour
Total annual
cost
Contract A ..................................................................................................................
7 .................................................................................................................................
9 .................................................................................................................................
12 ...............................................................................................................................
13 ...............................................................................................................................
14 ...............................................................................................................................
4,940
2,912
1,456
3,328
1,248
832
$34.53
40.44
49.47
71.74
85.31
100.81
$170,578
117,761
72,028
238,751
106,467
83,874
Total ....................................................................................................................
14,716
..............................
789,459
Materially Inaccurate Information
(MII) Claims: The MII claims category
includes reviewing and responding to
claims, participating in meetings where
the claims are discussed, and
completing a risk of harm determination
on reports when a company alleges that
a report does not describe a risk of
harm.
TABLE 5—ESTIMATED COSTS FOR MII CLAIMS TASK
Number of hours
(annual)
Grade level
Total
compensation
per hour
Total annual
cost
12 ...............................................................................................................................
13 ...............................................................................................................................
14 ...............................................................................................................................
15 ...............................................................................................................................
SES ............................................................................................................................
312
208
312
21
42
$71.74
85.31
100.81
118.57
132.43
$22,383
17,744
31,453
2,490
5,562
Total ....................................................................................................................
895
..............................
79,632
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Manufacturer Comments: The
Comments category includes reviewing
and accepting or rejecting comments.
TABLE 6—ESTIMATED COSTS FOR MANUFACTURER COMMENTS TASK
Number of hours
(annual)
Grade level
12 ...............................................................................................................................
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Total
compensation
per hour
62
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$71.74
14FEN1
Total annual
cost
$4,448
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 14, 2023 / Notices
TABLE 6—ESTIMATED COSTS FOR MANUFACTURER COMMENTS TASK—Continued
Total
compensation
per hour
Number of hours
(annual)
Grade level
Total annual
cost
13 ...............................................................................................................................
104
85.31
8,872
Total ....................................................................................................................
166
..............................
13,320
Small Batch Manufacturer
Identification: The Small Batch
Manufacturer Identification category
includes time spent posting the list of
small batch registrations, as well as
answering companies’ questions on
registering as a Small Batch
Manufacturer and the implications of
small batch registration.
TABLE 7—ESTIMATED COSTS FOR SMALL BATCH TASK
Total annual cost
15 ...............................................................................................................................
642
$118.57
$76,122
Total ....................................................................................................................
642
..............................
76,122
We estimate the annualized cost to
the CPSC of $958,533, by adding the
four categories of work related to the
Database summarized in Tables 4
through 7 (Reports of Harm ($789,459)
+ MII Claims ($79,632) + Manufacturer
Comments ($13,320) + Small Batch
Identification ($76,122) = $958,533).
This information collection renewal
request is based on an estimated 7,024
burden hours per year for the Database,
which represents a decrease of 6,319
hours since this collection of
information was last approved by OMB
in 2019. Total burden from reports of
harm decreased by 4,647 hours (from
6,546 to 1,899), and total burden for
manufacturer’s submission decreased by
1,672 hours, from 6,797 to 5,125.
Declines in total burden hours are
attributed primarily to a decline in the
number of reports of harm submitted by
mail, email, and fax. In addition, CPSC
staff has identified an error in the 2019
update for this control number that
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Total
compensation
per hour
Number of hours
(annual)
Grade level
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20:12 Feb 13, 2023
Jkt 259001
increased the estimated burden; the
error involved inclusion of death
certificates collected by CPSC staff in
the number of reports of harm submitted
for the Database by mail, email, and fax.
Finally, for this update there was a
decrease in small batch manufacturer
activity.
Alberta E. Mills,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety
Commission.
[FR Doc. 2023–03080 Filed 2–13–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Office of the Secretary
Arms Sales Notification
Defense Security Cooperation
Agency, Department of Defense (DoD).
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Arms sales notice.
The DoD is publishing the
unclassified text of an arms sales
notification.
SUMMARY:
Neil
Hedlund at neil.g.hedlund.civ@mail.mil
or (703) 697–9214.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
This
36(b)(5)(C) arms sales notification is
published to fulfill the requirements of
section 155 of Public Law 104–164
dated July 21, 1996. The following is a
copy of a letter to the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, Transmittal
21–0I.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Dated: February 9, 2023.
Aaron T. Siegel,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison
Officer, Department of Defense.
[Transmittal No. 21–0I]
AGENCY:
ACTION:
BILLING CODE 5001–06–P
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 30 (Tuesday, February 14, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9496-9500]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03080]
=======================================================================
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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION
[Docket No. CPSC-2010-0041]
Collection of Information; Proposed Extension of Approval;
Comment Request--Publicly Available Consumer Product Safety Information
Database
AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announces that the CPSC has
submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for
extension of approval of a collection of information for the Publicly
Available Consumer Product Safety Information Database, previously
under OMB Control No. 3041-0146. On December 8, 2022, the CPSC
published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the agency's
intent to seek this extension. CPSC received one comment in support of
the collection of information in response to that notice. By
publication of this notice, the Commission announces that CPSC has
submitted to the OMB a request for extension of approval of that
collection of information, without change.
DATES: Written comments on this request for extension of approval of
information collection requirements should be submitted by March 16,
2023.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments about this request by email:
OIRA[email protected] or fax: 202-395-6881. Comments by mail
should be sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs,
Attn: OMB Desk Officer for the CPSC, Office of Management and Budget,
Room 10235, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503. In addition,
written comments that are sent to OMB, also should be submitted
electronically at: https://www.regulations.gov, under Docket No. CPSC-
2010-0041.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, or a copy of
the supporting statement, contact: Cynthia Gillham, Consumer Product
Safety Commission, 4330 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; (301)
504-7791, or by email to: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Background
Section 212 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008
(CPSIA) added to the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) a new section
6A, which requires the CPSC to establish and maintain a publicly
available, searchable database (Database) on the safety of consumer
products and other products or substances regulated by the CPSC. Among
other things, section 6A requires the CPSC to collect reports of harm
from the public for potential publication in the publicly available
Database, and to collect and publish comments from manufacturers about
reports of harm.
In a proposed rule published on May 24, 2010 (75 FR 29156), the
CPSC announced that a proposed collection of information in conjunction
with the Database, called the Publicly Available Consumer Product
Safety Information Database, had been submitted to OMB for review and
clearance under 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520. The CPSC issued a final rule on
the Database on December 9, 2010 (75 FR 76832). The final rule
interprets various statutory requirements in section 6A of the CPSA
pertaining to the information to be included in the Database. The final
rule also establishes provisions regarding submitting reports of harm;
providing notice of reports of harm to manufacturers; publishing
reports of harm and manufacturer comments in the Database; and dealing
with confidential and materially inaccurate information.
OMB approved the collection of information for the Database under
control number 3041-0146. OMB's most recent extension of approval,
issued on March 31, 2020, will expire on March 31, 2023. Accordingly,
the CPSC is seeking an extension of approval of this collection of
information.
B. Response To Comment
One individual commenter stated that this collection of information
is necessary for general consumer safety, but that the public lacks
knowledge of the Database. The commenter states that CPSC should
prioritize a campaign regarding the existence and purpose of the
Database to benefit consumers. The commenter states that the burden
estimates could be reduced through automated and electronic collection
techniques, and that these options should be explored, but that CPSC
must maintain data quality. CPSC appreciates the commenter's feedback
and generally agrees with the commenter's statements. CPSC is not
making any changes to the burden estimates for this information
collection based on this comment.
C. Information Collected Through the Database
The primary purpose of this information collection is to populate
the publicly searchable Database of consumer product safety information
mandated by section 6A of the CPSA. The Database information collection
has four components: reports of harm, manufacturer comments, branding
information, and the Small Batch Manufacturer Registry (SBMR).
Reports of Harm: Reports of harm communicate information regarding
an injury, illness, or death, or any risk (as determined by CPSC) of
injury, illness, or death, relating to the use of a consumer product or
other product or substance regulated by the CPSC. Reports can be
submitted to the CPSC by consumers; local, state, or federal government
agencies; healthcare professionals; child service providers; public
safety entities; and others. Reports may be submitted via the CPSC
website (www.SaferProducts.gov), by telephone via a CPSC call center,
or by email, fax, or mail using the incident report form (available for
download or printing via the CPSC website). Reports may also originate
as a free-form letter or email. Submitters must consent to including
their report of harm in the publicly searchable Database.
Manufacturer Comments: Pursuant to the CPSIA, CPSC transmits a
report of harm to the manufacturer or private labeler identified in the
report, and the manufacturer or private labeler may then submit a
comment to CPSC related to the report of harm (hereinafter
``manufacturer comment''). Manufacturer comments may be submitted
through the business portal, by email, mail, or fax. The business
portal is a feature of the Database that allows manufacturers and
private labelers who register on the business portal to receive reports
of harm and comment on such reports through the business portal. Use of
the business portal expedites the receipt of reports of harm and
business response times.
A manufacturer or private labeler may request that the CPSC
designate information in a report of harm as confidential. Such a
request may be made using the business portal, by email, by mail, or by
fax. Additionally, any person or entity reviewing a report of harm or
comment from a manufacturer or private labeler, either before or after
publication in the Database, may request that the report or comment, or
portions of the report or comment, be excluded from the
[[Page 9497]]
Database because it contains materially inaccurate information. Such a
request may be made by manufacturers or private labelers using the
business portal, by email, mail, or fax, and may be submitted by anyone
else by email, mail, or fax.
Branding Information: Using the business portal, registered
businesses may voluntarily submit branding information to assist CPSC
in correctly and timely routing to them reports of harm involving their
products. Brand names may be licensed to another entity for use in
labeling consumer products manufactured by that entity. CPSC's
understanding of licensing arrangements for consumer products helps to
ensure that the correct manufacturer or private labeler is timely
notified regarding a report of harm.
Small Batch Manufacturers Registry: The business portal also
contains the SBMR, which is the online mechanism by which ``small batch
manufacturers'' (as defined in the CPSA) can identify themselves to
obtain relief from certain third-party testing requirements for
children's products. To register as a small batch manufacturer, a
business must attest that the company's income level, and the number of
units of the covered product manufactured for which relief is sought,
both fall within the statutory limits to receive relief from third
party testing.
D. Estimated Burden
1. Estimated Annual Burden for Respondents
We estimate the burden of this collection of information as
follows:
Table 1--Estimated Annual Reporting Burden for Reports of Harm
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of Response Total annual Minutes per Total burden,
Collection type respondents frequency \1\ responses response in hours \2\
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reports of Harm--submitted 4,498 1.45 6,522 12 1,304
through website................
Reports of Harm --submitted by 1,032 1.33 1,373 10 229
phone..........................
Reports of Harm--submitted by 296 3.71 1,098 20 366
mail, e-mail, fax..............
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total....................... 5,826 .............. 8,993 .............. 1,899
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 2--Estimated Annual Reporting Burden for Manufacturer Submissions
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of Response Total annual Minutes per Total burden,
Collection type respondents frequency \1\ responses response in hours \2\
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manufacturer Comments--submitted 437 4.53 1,980 117 3,861
through website................
Manufacturer Comments--submitted 115 1.44 166 147 407
by mail, email, fax............
Requests to Treat Information as 1 1.00 1 42 1
Confidential--submitted through
website........................
Requests to Treat Information as 0 N/A 0 72 0
Confidential--submitted by
mail, email, fax...............
Requests to Treat Information as 97 1.46 142 165 391
Materially Inaccurate--
submitted through website......
Requests to Treat Information as 22 1.23 27 195 88
Materially Inaccurate--
submitted by mail, email, fax..
Voluntary Brand Identification.. 513 1.00 513 10 86
Small Batch Manufacturer 1,747 1.00 1,747 10 291
Identification.................
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total....................... 2,932 .............. 4,576 .............. 5,125
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Based 1 2 on the data set forth in Tables 1 and 2 above,
the annual reporting cost is estimated to be $443,089. This estimate is
based on the sum of two estimated total figures for reports of harm and
manufacturer or private labeler submissions. The estimated number of
respondents and responses are based on the actual responses received in
FY 2022. We assume that the number of responses and respondents will be
similar in future years.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Frequency of responses is calculated by dividing the number
of responses by the number of respondents.
\2\ Numbers have been rounded.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reports of Harm: Table 1 sets forth the data used to estimate the
burden associated with submitting reports of harm. Since the previous
renewal of the collection, the number of annual reports of harm
submitted by mail, email or fax decreased from 15,314 to 1,098; reports
of harm submitted by phone decreased from 1,418 to 1,373; and reports
of harm submitted through the website increased from 6,023 to 6,522.
We had previously estimated the time associated with the electronic
and telephone submission of reports of harm at 12 and 10 minutes,
respectively; and because we have had no indication that these
estimates are not appropriate or accurate, we used those figures for
present purposes as well. We estimate that the time associated with a
paper or PDF form would be 20 minutes, on average.
To estimate the costs for submitting reports of harm, we multiplied
the estimated total burden hours associated with reports of harm (1,304
hours + 229 hours + 366 hours = 1,899 hours) by an estimated total
compensation for all workers in private industry of $38.61 per hour,\3\
which results in an estimated cost of $73,320 (1,899 hours x $38.61 per
hour = $73,320 FY22).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table
4 of the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC), Private
Industry workers, by occupational group, Mar 2022 (data extracted on
10/3/2022 from: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ecec_06162022.pdf).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manufacturer Submissions: Tables 2 and 3 set forth the data used to
estimate the burden associated with manufacturer and private labeler
submissions to the Database. We observed that a large percentage of the
general comments come from a few businesses, and we assumed that the
experience of a business that submits many comments each year would be
different from one that submits only a few. Accordingly, previously, we
divided all responding businesses into three groups based on the number
of
[[Page 9498]]
general comments submitted, and then we selected several businesses to
contact from each group. The first group contacted consisted of
businesses that submitted 50 or more comments, accounting for 31
percent of all general comments received. The second group contacted
included businesses that submitted 6 to 49 comments, accounting for 39
percent of all general comments received. The last group contacted
included businesses that submitted no more than 5 comments, accounting
for 30 percent of all general comments received. We asked each company
how long it typically takes to research, compose, and enter a comment
or a claim of materially inaccurate information.
To estimate the burden associated with submitting a general comment
regarding a report of harm through the business portal, we averaged the
burden provided by each company within each group, and then we
calculated a weighted average from the three groups, weighting each
group by the proportion of comments received from that group. We found
that the average time to submit a general comment regarding a report of
harm is 117 minutes, based on the data in Table 3 (((15 minutes + 45
minutes + 30 minutes + 15 minutes)/4 companies)*.31 + ((105 minutes +
45 minutes + 150 minutes + 15 minutes)/4 companies)*.39 + ((240 minutes
+ 60 minutes + 480 minutes)/3 companies)*.30 = 117 minutes).
Table 3--Estimated Burden To Enter a General Comment in the Database
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
General comments
Group Company (minutes)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Group 1 (>=50 comments)........................ Company A............................. 15
Company B............................. 45
Company C............................. 30
Company D............................. 15
Group 2 (6-49 comments)........................ Company A............................. 105
Company B............................. 45
Company C............................. 150
Company D............................. 15
Group 3 (<=5 comments)......................... Company A............................. 240
Company B............................. 60
Company C............................. 480
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Registered businesses generally submit comments through the CPSC
website. Unregistered businesses submit comments by mail, email, or
fax. We estimate that submitting comments via mail, email, or fax takes
a little longer because often, we must ask businesses to amend their
submissions to include the required certifications. Thus, we estimated
that, on average, comments submitted by mail, email, or fax take 30
minutes longer than comments submitted through the CPSC website (117
minutes + 30 minutes = 147 minutes).
The submission of a claim of materially inaccurate information is a
relatively rare event for all respondents, so we averaged all responses
together. Eight of the businesses contacted had submitted claims of
materially inaccurate information. We found that the average time to
submit a claim that a report of harm contains a material inaccuracy is
165 minutes ((30 minutes + 90 minutes + 45 minutes + 90 minutes + 60
minutes + 660 minutes + 45 minutes + 300 minutes)/8 companies = 165
minutes).
Registered businesses generally submit claims of materially
inaccurate information through the business portal. Unregistered
businesses submit such claims by mail, email, or fax. We estimate that
submitting claims via mail, email, or fax takes a little longer because
we often must ask businesses to amend their submission to include the
required certifications. Thus, we estimate that, on average, claims
submitted by mail, email, or fax take 30 minutes longer than those
submitted through the CPSC website (165 minutes + 30 minutes = 195
minutes).
The submission of a claim of confidential information is another
relatively rare event for all respondents, so we averaged all responses
together. Five of the businesses contacted had submitted claims of
confidential information. We found that the average time to submit a
claim that a report of harm contains confidential information through
the CPSC website is 42 minutes ((45 minutes + 15 minutes + 60 minutes +
30 minutes + 60 minutes)/5 companies = 42 minutes).
Registered businesses generally submit confidential information
claims through the business portal. Unregistered businesses submit
confidential information claims by mail, email, or fax. We estimate
that submitting claims by mail, email, or fax takes a little longer
because often, we must ask businesses to amend their submission to
include the required certifications. Thus, we estimate that a
confidential information claim submitted by mail, email, or fax would
take 30 minutes longer than those submitted through the CPSC website
(42 minutes + 30 minutes = 72 minutes).
For voluntary brand identification, we estimate that a response
would take 10 minutes, on average. Most responses consist only of the
brand name and a product description. In many cases, a business will
submit multiple entries in a brief period of time, and we can see from
the date and time stamps on these records that an entry often takes
less than 2 minutes. CPSC staff enters the same data in a similar form,
based on our own research, and that experience was also factored into
our estimate.
For small batch manufacturer identification, we estimate that a
response would take 10 minutes, on average. The form consists of three
check boxes and the information should be readily accessible to the
respondent.
The responses summarized in Table 2 are generally submitted by
manufacturers. To avoid underestimating the cost associated with the
collection of this data, we assigned the higher hourly wage associated
with a manager or professional in goods-producing industries to these
tasks. To estimate the cost of manufacturer submissions, we multiplied
the estimated total burden hours in Table 2 (5,125 hours), by an
estimated total compensation for a manager or professional in goods-
producing industries of $72.15 per hour,\4\ which results in an
estimated
[[Page 9499]]
cost of $ 369,769 (5,125 hours x $72.15 per hour = $369,769).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table
4 of the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC), Private
Industry workers, by occupational group, Mar 2022 (data extracted on
8/2/2022 from: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.t04.htm).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Therefore, the total estimated annual cost to respondents is
$443,089 ($73,320 burden for reports of harm + $369,769 burden for
manufacturer submissions = $443,089).
2. Estimated Annual Burden on Government
We estimate the annualized cost to the CPSC to be $981,516. This
figure is based on the costs for four categories of work for the
Database: Reports of Harm, Materially Inaccurate Information Claims,
Manufacturer Comments, and Small Batch Identification. Each category is
described below. No government cost is associated with firms' voluntary
brand identification because this information is entered directly into
the Database by the manufacturer with no processing required by the
government. The information assists the government in directing reports
of harm to the correct manufacturer. Because we only have one request
to treat information as confidential in FY 2022, we included the
government's time to process this claim with the claims of materially
inaccurate information.
Reports of Harm: The Reports of Harm category includes many
different tasks. Some costs related to this category are from two data
entry contracts. Tasks related to these contracts include clerical
coding of the report, such as identifying the type of consumer product
reported and the appropriate associated hazard, as well as performing
quality control on the data in the report. Contractor A spends an
estimated 4,940 hours per year performing these tasks. With an hourly
rate of $34.53 for contractor services, the annual cost to the
government of contract A is $170,578.
The Reports of Harm category also includes sending consent requests
for reports when necessary, processing that consent when received,
determining whether a product is out of CPSC's jurisdiction, and
confirming that pictures and attachments do not have any personally
identifiable information. The Reports of Harm category also entails
notifying manufacturers or private labelers when one of their products
is reported, completing a risk of harm determination form for every
report eligible for publication, referring some reports to a subject
matter expert within the CPSC for a determination whether the reports
meet the requirement of having a risk of harm, and determining whether
a report meets all the statutory and regulatory requirements for
publication. Detailed costs are:
Table 4--Estimated Costs for Reports of Harm Task
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total
Grade level Number of hours compensation per Total annual
(annual) hour cost
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contract A............................................. 4,940 $34.53 $170,578
7...................................................... 2,912 40.44 117,761
9...................................................... 1,456 49.47 72,028
12..................................................... 3,328 71.74 238,751
13..................................................... 1,248 85.31 106,467
14..................................................... 832 100.81 83,874
--------------------------------------------------------
Total.............................................. 14,716 ................. 789,459
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Materially Inaccurate Information (MII) Claims: The MII claims
category includes reviewing and responding to claims, participating in
meetings where the claims are discussed, and completing a risk of harm
determination on reports when a company alleges that a report does not
describe a risk of harm.
Table 5--Estimated Costs for MII Claims Task
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total
Grade level Number of hours compensation per Total annual
(annual) hour cost
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12..................................................... 312 $71.74 $22,383
13..................................................... 208 85.31 17,744
14..................................................... 312 100.81 31,453
15..................................................... 21 118.57 2,490
SES.................................................... 42 132.43 5,562
--------------------------------------------------------
Total.............................................. 895 ................. 79,632
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manufacturer Comments: The Comments category includes reviewing and
accepting or rejecting comments.
Table 6--Estimated Costs for Manufacturer Comments Task
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total
Grade level Number of hours compensation per Total annual
(annual) hour cost
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12..................................................... 62 $71.74 $4,448
[[Page 9500]]
13..................................................... 104 85.31 8,872
--------------------------------------------------------
Total.............................................. 166 ................. 13,320
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Small Batch Manufacturer Identification: The Small Batch
Manufacturer Identification category includes time spent posting the
list of small batch registrations, as well as answering companies'
questions on registering as a Small Batch Manufacturer and the
implications of small batch registration.
Table 7--Estimated Costs for Small Batch Task
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total
Grade level Number of hours compensation per Total annual cost
(annual) hour
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15..................................................... 642 $118.57 $76,122
--------------------------------------------------------
Total.............................................. 642 ................. 76,122
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We estimate the annualized cost to the CPSC of $958,533, by adding
the four categories of work related to the Database summarized in
Tables 4 through 7 (Reports of Harm ($789,459) + MII Claims ($79,632) +
Manufacturer Comments ($13,320) + Small Batch Identification ($76,122)
= $958,533).
This information collection renewal request is based on an
estimated 7,024 burden hours per year for the Database, which
represents a decrease of 6,319 hours since this collection of
information was last approved by OMB in 2019. Total burden from reports
of harm decreased by 4,647 hours (from 6,546 to 1,899), and total
burden for manufacturer's submission decreased by 1,672 hours, from
6,797 to 5,125.
Declines in total burden hours are attributed primarily to a
decline in the number of reports of harm submitted by mail, email, and
fax. In addition, CPSC staff has identified an error in the 2019 update
for this control number that increased the estimated burden; the error
involved inclusion of death certificates collected by CPSC staff in the
number of reports of harm submitted for the Database by mail, email,
and fax. Finally, for this update there was a decrease in small batch
manufacturer activity.
Alberta E. Mills,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2023-03080 Filed 2-13-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P
