[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 214 (Monday, November 5, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55979-55980]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-27735]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket Number NHTSA-2001-10866]


Reports, Forms, and Recordkeeping Requirements

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Request for comment on collections of information.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 
et seq.), this notice announces that the National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration (NHTSA) is planning to submit the following 
Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB): Exemption from the Make Inoperative Prohibition, Modifier 
Identification and Consumer Notification, OMB Control Number 2127-New. 
Before submitting the ICR to OMB for review and approval, NHTSA is 
soliciting comments on specific aspects of the information collection 
contained in the final rule of February 27, 2001 (66 FR 12638), 
``Exemption from the Make Inoperative Prohibition.''

DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 4, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Comments must refer to the docket and notice number cited at 
the beginning of this notice and be submitted to U.S. Department of 
Transportation Dockets, Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street, SW., 
Washington, DC 20590. Please identify the collection of information for 
which a comment is provided, by referencing its OMB Control Number. It 
is requested, but not required, that one original plus two copies of 
the comments be provided. The Docket Section is open on weekdays from 
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gayle Dalrymple, Telephone: (202) 366-
5559. Fax: (202) 493-2739.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Affected Entities: Businesses that modify vehicles so that the 
vehicles may be used by persons with disabilities.
    Title: Exemption for the Make Inoperative Prohibition.

I. Background

    On February 27, 2001 NHTSA published a final rule (66 FR 12638) to 
facilitate the modification of motor vehicles so that persons with 
disabilities can drive or ride in them as passengers. In that final 
rule, the agency issued a limited exemption from a statutory provision 
that prohibits specified types of commercial entities from either 
removing safety equipment or features installed on motor vehicles 
pursuant to the Federal motor vehicle safety standards or altering the 
equipment or features so as to adversely affect their performance. The 
exemption is limited in that it allows repair businesses to modify only 
certain types of Federally-required safety equipment and features, 
under specified circumstances. The regulation is found at 49 CFR part 
595 Subpart C--Vehicle Modifications to Accommodate People with 
Disabilities.
    This final rule included two new ``collections of information,'' as 
that term is defined in 5 CFR part 1320 Controlling Paperwork Burdens 
on the Public: modifier identification and a document to be provided to 
the owner of the modified vehicle stating the exemptions used for that 
vehicle and any reduction in load carrying capacity of the vehicle of 
more than 100 kg (220 lbs).

II. Modifier Identification

    Modifiers who take advantage of the exemption created by this rule 
are required to furnish NHTSA with a written document providing the 
modifier's name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that 
the modifier is availing itself of the exemption. The rule requires:

S595.6 Modifier Identification

    (a) Any motor vehicle repair business that modifies a motor 
vehicle to enable a person with a disability to operate, or ride as 
a passenger in, the motor vehicle and intends to avail itself of the 
exemption provided in 49 CFR 595.7 shall furnish the information 
specified in paragraphs (a)(1) through (3) of this section to: 
Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 
Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590.
    (1) Full individual, partnership, or corporate name of the motor 
vehicle repair business.
    (2) Residence address of the motor vehicle repair business and 
State of incorporation if applicable.
    (3) A statement that the motor vehicle repair business modifies 
a motor vehicle to enable a person with a disability to operate, or 
ride as a passenger in, the motor vehicle and intends to avail 
itself of the exemption provided in 49 CFR 595.7.
    (b) Each motor vehicle repair business required to submit 
information under paragraph (a) of this section shall submit the 
information not later than August 27, 2001. After that date, each 
motor vehicle repair business that modifies a motor vehicle to 
enable a person with a disability to operate, or ride as a passenger 
in, the motor vehicle and intends to avail itself of the exemption 
provided in 49 CFR 595.7 shall submit the information required under 
paragraph (a) not later than 30 days after it first modifies a motor 
vehicle to enable a person with a disability to operate, or ride as 
a passenger in, the motor vehicle. Each motor vehicle repair 
business who has submitted required information shall keep its entry 
current, accurate and compete by submitting revised information not 
later than 30 days after the relevant changes in the business 
occur.''

    This requirement is a one-time submission unless changes are made 
to the business as described in paragraph (b). NHTSA estimates that 
there are currently 400 businesses making modifications to motor 
vehicles to accommodate persons with disabilities. Of those 400, we 
estimate 85 percent

[[Page 55980]]

will need to use the exemptions provided by 49 CFR 595.7 (340 
businesses). We estimate that the burden hours to meet the requirement 
of paragraph (a) will be a one-time expenditure of 56.8 hours 
nationwide in 2001:

340 businesses  x  10 minutes/business = 56.8 hours.

    We estimate the material cost associated with this one-time 
submission to be 44 cents per responding business, or $149.60 
nationwide. After the initial submission there will be an annual burden 
for businesses that begin using the exemptions, or make changes to the 
information required in paragraph (a). We estimate that five percent of 
the 340 businesses using the exemptions (85% of 400) will experience 
these changes annually. This will cause an annual burden of 2.8 hours 
and $7.48 in each year after 2001.
    Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources 
expended by person to generate, maintain, retain, disclose or provide 
information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time needed 
to review instruction; develop, acquire, install, and utilize 
technology and systems for the purposes of collecting, validating, and 
verifying information, processing and maintaining information and 
disclosing and providing information; adjust the existing ways to 
comply with any previously applicable instructions and requirements; 
train personnel to be able to respond to a collection of information; 
and transmit or otherwise disclose the information.
    We seek comment on:
    1. Is our estimate of 400 businesses engaged in vehicle 
modification to accommodate people with disabilities correct?
    2. Are we correct in assuming that a maximum of 85 percent of those 
400 businesses, or 340 businesses, will need to use the exemptions 
provided by 49 CFR 595.7?
    3. Are our estimates of the burden hours and material cost of 
compliance with 49 CFR 595.6 reasonable?

III. Identification of Which Portions of the Exemption Are Being 
Used

    Modifiers who avail themselves of the exemptions in 49 CFR 595.7 
are required to keep a record, for each applicable vehicle, listing 
which standards, or portions thereof, no longer comply with the Federal 
motor vehicle safety standards and to provide a copy to the owner of 
the vehicle modified (see 49 CFR 595.7 (b) and (e) as published in the 
final rule).
    We estimate that:
    1. There are approximately 2,300 vehicles modified for persons with 
disabilities per year by 400 businesses,
    2. If 85 percent of the 400 businesses use the exemptions provided 
by 49 CFR 595.7, those 340 businesses will modify 1955 vehicles 
annually, and
    3. The burden for producing the record required by 49 CFR 595.7 in 
accordance with paragraph (e) for those vehicles will be 652 hours per 
year nationwide.
    In the final rule we anticipated that the least costly way for a 
repair business to comply with this portion of the new rule would be to 
annotate the vehicle modification invoice as to the exemption, if any, 
involved with each item on the invoice. The cost of preparing the 
invoice is not a portion of our burden calculation, as that preparation 
would be done in the normal course of business. The time needed to 
annotate the invoice, we estimate, is 20 minutes. Therefore, the burden 
hours for a full year are calculated as:

1,955 vehicles  x  20 minutes/vehicle = 651.7 hours.
For 2001 the burden will be reduced because the rule did not become 
effective until April 30. Therefore, the annual burden will be reduced 
by 4/12 to 217.2 hours for 2001.

    This burden includes the calculation required by 49 CFR 595.7(e)5, 
but not the gathering of the information required for the calculation. 
That information would be gathered in the normal course of the vehicle 
modification. The only extra burden required by the new rule is the 
calculation of the reduction in loading carrying capacity and conveying 
this information to the vehicle owner. Again we are assuming that 
annotation on the invoice is the least burdensome way to accomplish 
this customer notification.
    There will be no additional material cost associated with 
compliance with this requirement since no additional materials need be 
used above those used to prepare the invoice in the normal course of 
business. We are assuming it is normal and customary in the course of 
vehicle modification business to prepare an invoice, to provide a copy 
of the invoice to the vehicle owner, and to keep a copy of the invoice 
for five years after the vehicle is delivered to the owner in finished 
form.
    We seek comment on whether our assumptions about the following are 
reasonable:
    1. The document required by 49 CFR 595.7(b) and specified in 
paragraph (e) will need to be prepared for approximately 1,955 vehicles 
modified nationwide per year,
    2. Annotation of each vehicle modification invoice as to which 
exemptions were used will take an average of 20 minutes, and
    3. It is normal in the course of vehicle modification business to 
prepare an invoice, to provide a copy of the invoice to the vehicle 
owner, and to keep a copy of the invoice for five years after the 
vehicle is delivered to the owner in finished form.

IV. Summary

    The estimated burden for modifiers wishing to use the new make 
inoperative exemptions allowed by 49 CFR 595.7 to identify themselves 
to NHTSA according to 49 CFR 595.6 was calculated as follows:

2001

Respondents 340.0
Responses  x  1.0
Hrs/response  x  0.167
2001 burden = 56.8 hours
    and
$/response  x  0.44 = $149.60

Years after 2001

Respondents 17.0
Responses  x  1.0
Hrs/response  x  0.167
2001 burden = 2.8 hours
    and
$/response  x  0.44 = $7.48

    The estimated burden for preparing the document required by 49 CFR 
595.7(b) and specified in paragraph (e) was calculated as follows:

2001

Respondents 340.0
Av. # Responses  x  1.92
Hrs/response  x  0.333
2001 burden = 217.2 hours

Years after 2001

Respondents 340.0
Av. # Responses  x  5.75
Hrs/response  x  0.167
Annual burden = 2.8 hours

Total reporting burden for 2001 is: 57 + 217 = 274 hours, and $149.60.
Total reporting burden for years after 2001 is: 3 + 652 = 655 hours, 
and $7.48.

    Issued on: October 31, 2001.
Stephen R. Kratzke,
Associate Administrator for Safety Performance Standards.
[FR Doc. 01-27735 Filed 11-2-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P