[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 72 (Friday, April 13, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19281-19282]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-9180]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Coast Guard

[USCG 2000-7821]


Information Collections Under Review by the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB): 2115-0628 and 2115-0015

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DOT.

ACTION: Request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
request for comments announces that the Coast Guard has forwarded the 
two Information Collection Reports (ICRs) abstracted below to OMB for 
review and comment. Our ICRs describe the information we seek to 
collect from the public. Review and comment by OMB ensure that we 
impose only paperwork burdens commensurate with our performance of 
duties.

DATES: Please submit comments on or before May 14, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Please send comments to (1) the Docket Management System 
(DMS), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), room PL-401, 400 
Seventh Street S.W., Washington, DC 20590-0001; and (2) the Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB), 725 17th Street N.W., Washington, DC 20503, to the 
attention of the Desk Officer for the USCG.
    Copies of the complete ICRs are available for inspection and 
copying in public docket USCG 2000-7821 of the Docket Management 
Facility between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays; for inspection and printing on the internet at http://dms.dot.gov; and for inspection from the Commandant (G-CIM-2), U.S. 
Coast Guard, room 6106, 2100 Second Street S.W., Washington, DC, 
between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal 
holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Barbara Davis, Office of Information 
Management, 202-267-2326, for questions on this document; Dorothy 
Beard, Chief, Documentary Services Division, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 202-366-5149, for questions on the docket.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Regulatory History

    This request constitutes the 30-day notice required by OMB. The 
Coast Guard has already published [65 FR 54880 (September 11, 2000)] 
the 60-day notice required by OMB. That notice elicited a comment for 
each of the two ICRs it covered.
    The comment that concerned ICR 2115-0628--Navigation Safety 
Equipment and Emergency Instructions for Certain Towing Vessels--
suggested that: (1) The frequency of certain required safety checks on 
towing vessels is inadequate; (2) a format for recording information is 
needed; (3) certain data in the statement supporting the ICR are 
inaccurate; (4) the Coast Guard should revise the requirements in 
various respects; (5) the cost estimate for this ICR is overstated; and 
(6) the Coast Guard should be collecting more information related to 
fire-protection measures for towing vessels than it is.
    The Coast Guard has reviewed the comment and finds that: (1) The 
frequency of the safety checks is adequate but that the rules do not 
preclude an operator from conducting added checks if he or she deems 
them appropriate; (2) a prescriptive format for recording information 
is not needed, because we determined that the operator should retain 
the flexibility to decide how best to fit the required entries into an 
existing log-keeping system; (3) a correction to the statement 
supporting the ICR is indeed necessary, and we have made it; (4) the 
Coast Guard is processing a previous request by the submitter on this 
subject as a petition for rulemaking; (5) the cost estimate is 
realistic as is clear from a review of the estimate by the program 
office; and (6) this issue is under review by the program office. On 
January 3, 2001, we replied to the submitter and sent a copy to OMB.
    The comment that concerned ICR 2115-0015--Shipping Articles--raised 
several questions regarding the form for Shipping Articles (CG-705A). 
The questions fell into three general areas:
     Whether the Coast Guard would update the form;
     Whether the Coast Guard reviews the forms submitted and 
compiles statistics; and
     What means of enforcement the statutes provide.
    With respect to updating, the program office rersponds that the 
form is functional as it stands and that most users are providing the 
information on their own forms as permitted by rule. While citations to 
the U.S. Code on the current CG-705A are dated, the statutes themselves 
have not changed in substance, and current editions of the U.S. Code 
cross-refer the reader to the Revised Statutes (old editions).
    With respect to statistics, the program office responds that it 
holds these statutorily required forms for record purposes and does not 
routinely review them. The shipping companies do hold them for 3 years 
before submitting them

[[Page 19282]]

to the Coast Guard for archiving. We need not review them without good 
cause nor need we compile statistics regarding their use. The forms 
provide basic protections to merchant seamen in their employment aboard 
U.S.-flag commercial vessels.
    With respect to means of enforcement for failure to post or submit 
articles, the program office responds that the statutes vary depending 
on whether the particular voyage is coastwise rather than foreign or 
intercoastal. The statute covering coastwise voyages limits enforcement 
to the master of the vessel while the other statute permits wider 
discretion over enforcement. On February 23, 2001, we replied to the 
submitter and sent a copy to OMB.

Request for Comments

    The Coast Guard invites comments on the proposed collections of 
information to determine whether the collections are necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the Department. In particular, 
the Coast Guard would appreciate comments addressing: (1) The practical 
utility of the collections; (2) the accuracy of the Department's 
estimated burden of the collections; (3) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information that is the subject of the 
collections; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of collections on 
respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.
    Comments, to DMS or OIRA, must contain the OMB Control Numbers of 
all ICRs addressed. Comments to DMS must contain the docket number of 
this request, USCG 2000-7821. Comments to OIRA are best assured of 
having their full effect if OIRA receives them 30 or fewer days after 
the publication of this request.

Information Collection Requests

    1. Title: Navigation Safety Equipment and Emergency Instructions 
for Certain Towing Vessels.
    OMB Control Number: 2115-0628.
    Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Affected Public: Owners, operators, and masters of vessels.
    Forms: This collection of information does not require the public 
to fill out Coast Guard forms, but does require owners, operators, and 
masters of vessels to have on board the vessel, or where appropriate in 
company files, Navigation Safety Equipment, a Muster List, and 
Emergency Instructions, for the Coast Guard to inspect.
    Abstract: Rules on navigational-safety equipment help assure that 
the mariner piloting a towing vessel has adequate equipment, charts, 
maps, and other publications. For inspected towing vessels, a muster 
list and emergency instructions provide effective plans and references 
for crew to follow in an emergency.
    Annual Estimated Burden Hours: The estimated burden is 281,998 
hours a year.
    2. Title: Shipping Articles.
    OMB Control Number: 2115-0015.
    Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Affected Public: Merchant mariners.
    Form: CG-705A.
    Abstract: This collection of information requires merchant mariners 
to complete form CG-705A, Shipping Articles, before entering the 
service of a shipping company.
    Annual Estimated Burden Hours: The estimated burden is 18,000 hours 
a year.

    Dated: April 5, 2001.
J. E. Evans,
Acting Director of Information and Technology.
[FR Doc. 01-9180 Filed 4-12-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-U