[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 15 (Friday, January 23, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3425-3427]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-1399]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[U.S. DOT Docket Number NHTSA-2004-16876]


Reports, Forms, and Recordkeeping Requirements

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 
Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Request for public comment on proposed collection of 
information.

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SUMMARY: Before a Federal agency can collect certain information from 
the public, it must receive approval from the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB). Under procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, before seeking OMB approval, Federal agencies must solicit 
public comment on proposed collections of information, including 
extensions and reinstatement of previously approved collections.
    This document describes one collection of information for which 
NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 23, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Comments must refer to the docket notice numbers cited at 
the beginning of this notice and be submitted to Docket Management, 
Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590. Please 
identify the proposed collection of information for which a comment is 
provided, by referencing its OMB Clearance Number. It is requested, but 
not required, that 2 copies of the comment be provided. The Docket 
Section is open on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

[[Page 3426]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Complete copies of each request for 
collection of information may be obtained at no charge from Gayle 
Dalrymple, NHTSA, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Room 5309, NVS-123, 
Washington, DC 20590. Ms. Dalrymple's telephone number is (202) 366-
5559. Please identify the relevant collection of information by 
referring to its OMB Control Number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 
before an agency submits a proposed collection of information to OMB 
for approval, it must first publish a document in the Federal Register 
providing a 60-day comment period and otherwise consult with members of 
the public and affected agencies concerning each proposed collection of 
information. The OMB has promulgated regulations describing what must 
be included in such a document. Under OMB's regulation (at 5CFR 
1320.8(d)), an agency must ask for public comment on the following:
    (i) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including 
whether the information will have practical utility;
    (ii) The accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    (iii) How to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected;
    (iv) How to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g. permitting electronic 
submission of responses.
    In compliance with these requirements, NHTSA asks for public 
comments on the following proposed collections of information:
    Title: Exemption for the Make Inoperative Prohibition.
    OMB Control Number: 2127-0635.
    Affected Public: Businesses that modify vehicles so that the 
vehicles may be used by persons with disabilities.
    Form Number: None.
    Abstract: 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).
    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 complete 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 471 businesses making modifications to motor 
vehicles to accommodate persons with disabilities. Of those 471, we 
estimate 85 percent will need to use the exemptions provided by 49 CFR 
595.7 (400 businesses). The initial registration of modifiers wishing 
to use the exemptions occurred in 2001. Now, we assume that five 
percent of the 400 businesses currently modifying vehicles will need to 
change their information or new registrants will elect to use the 
exemptions. We estimate registrations from 20 businesses each year of: 
20 businesses x 10 minutes/business = 3.33 hours.
    We estimate the material cost associated with each submission to be 
47 cents per responding business, or $9.40 nationwide annually.
    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 471 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 
471 businesses, or 400 businesses, will need to use the exemptions 
provided by 49 CFR 595.7?

[[Page 3427]]

    3. Are our estimates of the burden hours and material cost of 
compliance with 49 CFR 595.6 reasonable?
    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 2,700 vehicles modified for persons with 
disabilities per year by 471 businesses,
    2. If 85 percent of the 471 businesses use the exemptions provided 
by 49 CFR 595.7, those 400 businesses will modify 2300 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 767 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: 2300 vehicles x 20 minutes/
vehicle = 766.7 hours.
    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 rule is the 
calculation of the reduction in load 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 2300 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.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 770 hours, and $9.40.
    Number of Respondents: 400.
    Comments are invited on: Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the Department, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; the accuracy of the Department's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed information collection; ways to enhance the quality, utility 
and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways to minimize 
the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including 
the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology.

    Issued on: January 16, 2004.
Stephen R. Kratzke,
Associate Administrator for Rulemaking.
[FR Doc. 04-1399 Filed 1-22-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P