[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 21 (Thursday, January 31, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4866-4867]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-2563]



[[Page 4865]]

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Part VI





Department of Transportation





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Transportation Security Administration



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Reports, Forms and Record Keeping Requirements Agency Information 
Collection Activity Under OMB Review; Notice

  Federal Register / Vol. 67, No. 21 / Thursday, January 31, 2002 / 
Notices  

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Transportation Security Administration

[Docket No. TSA 2001-11120]


Reports, Forms and Record Keeping Requirements Agency Information 
Collection Activity Under OMB Review

AGENCY: Transportation Security Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Emergency Federal Register notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Transportation, Transportation Security 
Administration, has submitted the following request for emergency 
processing of a public information collection to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. chapter 35.) 
This notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) 
abstracted below has been forwarded to OMB for review and comment. The 
ICR describes the nature of the information collections and their 
expected burden.
    Comments: Comments should be directed to the Office of Information 
and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 725 
Seventeenth Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503, Attention: Desk Officer 
for the Transportation Security Administration.
    Type of Request: New.
    Form Number: This proposed collection of information would not use 
any standard forms.

DATES: OMB approval has been requested by January 31, 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rita Maristch, Office of the General 
Counsel, Office of Environmental, Civil Rights, and General Law, 
Department of Transportation (C-10), 400 Seventh Street, SW., Room 
10102, Washington, DC 20590, (202) 366-9161 (voice), (202) 366-9170 
(fax). You may also contact Steven Cohen, Office of the General Counsel 
(C-10), at (202) 366-4684.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Transportation Security Administration

    Title: Imposition and Collection of Passenger Civil Aviation 
Security Service Fees.
    OMB Control Number: None assigned.
    Frequency: On December 31, 2001, the Transportation Security 
Administration published an interim final rule imposing a security 
service fee (September 11th Security Fee) on page 67698 of volume 66 of 
the Federal Register. Imposition of this fee begins February 1, 2002. 
Approximately 195 air carriers and foreign air carriers are expected to 
collect and remit the September 11th Security Fee. Each of these 
carriers would then be responsible for (1) establishing and maintaining 
an accounting system to account for the September 11th Security Fees 
that are imposed, collected, refunded and remitted and (2) reporting 
this information to the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. 
Department of Transportation, on a quarterly basis. We further estimate 
that approximately 133 air carriers and foreign air carriers will also 
have to conduct an annual audit of their September 11th Security Fee 
activities and accounts.
    Affected Public: The first information collection requirement 
applies to any direct air carrier or foreign air carrier providing air 
transportation, foreign air transportation, and intrastate air 
transportation, originating at airports in the United States, on either 
(1) a scheduled passenger or public charter passenger operation with an 
aircraft having passenger seating configuration of more than 60 seats 
or (2) a scheduled passenger or public charter passenger operation with 
an aircraft having a passenger seating configuration of less than 61 
seats when passengers are enplaned from or deplaned into a sterile 
area. The further requirement to conduct an audit only applies to air 
carriers and foreign air carriers that collect September 11th Security 
Fees from more than 50,000 passengers annually.
    Abstract: To pay for the costs of providing civil aviation security 
services as described in 49 U.S.C. 44940, a uniform fee is imposed on 
passengers of air carriers and foreign air carriers providing air 
transportation, foreign air transportation, and intrastate air 
transportation originating at airports in the United States.
    Estimated Annual Burden: Using the above estimate of 195 carriers a 
year who may have to submit quarterly reports, with an estimated 1 hour 
of preparation to collect and provide the information, at an assumed 
rate of $20 an hour, the annual estimated cost of collecting and 
preparing the information necessary for 780 quarterly reports is 
$15,600. Adding in a postage cost of $265.20 (780 reports at a cost of 
34 cents to mail each one), we estimate that it will cost $15,865.20 a 
year to prepare and submit the information necessary to satisfy the 
general information collection requirement.
    Air carriers and foreign air carriers who will also have to conduct 
audits of their September 11th Security Fee activities and accounts 
will have an additional record-keeping burden. Using the above estimate 
of 133 carriers a year who may have to conduct audits, with an 
estimated 20 hours of preparation per audit, at an assumed rate of $30 
an hour, the estimated cost of these audits is about $79,800 annually.
    The total estimated cost of preparing and submitting quarterly 
reports and conducting audits is $95,665.20 and the total estimated 
burden hours are 3,440. However, we believe the actual burden will be 
lower because the Transportation Security Administration will provide a 
mechanism for the electronic submission of quarterly reports, which 
will reduce costs.
    Number of Respondents: We estimate that there will be 195 
respondents per year for the general information collection and 133 
respondents for the audit-related collection.
    Summary of the Collection of Information: For purposes of 
collecting funds to pay for the costs of providing civil aviation 
security services as described in 49 U.S.C. 44940, air carriers and 
foreign air carriers will be required to track passenger emplanements 
for air transportation, foreign air transportation, and intrastate air 
transportation originating at airports in the United States if the 
enplanement is on either (1) a scheduled passenger or public charter 
passenger operation with an aircraft having passenger seating 
configuration of more than 60 seats or (2) a scheduled passenger or 
public charter passenger operation with an aircraft having a passenger 
seating configuration of less than 61 seats when passengers are 
enplaned from or deplaned into a sterile area. These air carriers must 
submit quarterly reports on the total September 11th Security Fees 
imposed, collected, refunded and remitted, the number of enplanements 
for which a fee was collected, the total number of frequent flyer and 
nonrevenue passengers enplaned, and the total number of enplanements 
for which the fee was not collected. The reports must also explain why 
any September 11th Security Fee that should have been collected under 
49 CFR part 1510 was not collected.
    Additionally, each air carrier and foreign air carrier that 
collects September 11th Security Fees from more than 50,000 passengers 
annually must provide for an audit at least annually of its September 
11th Security Fee activities and accounts. The accountant conducting 
such an audit must include in it an opinion on whether (1) the direct 
air carrier's or foreign air carrier's procedures for collecting, 
holding, and remitting the

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fees are fair and reasonable; and (2) whether the quarterly reports 
fairly represent the net transactions in the security service fee 
accounts.

    Issued on: January 29, 2002.
Donna R. McLean,
Assistant Secretary for Budget and Programs, Chief Financial Officer, 
Department of Transportation.
[FR Doc. 02-2563 Filed 1-30-02; 10:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-62-P