[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 223 (Tuesday, November 18, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68495-68497]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-27320]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[U.S. DOT Docket Number NHTSA-2008-0171]


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 a collection of phase-in information on the 
Appendix A-1 phase-in requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety 
Standard (FMVSS) No. 208, ``Occupant crash protection'' for which NHTSA 
intends to seek OMB approval.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 20, 2009.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments (identified by the DOT Docket ID 
Number above) by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building Ground 
Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room 
W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. 
and 5 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Fax: 202-493-2251
    Instructions: For detailed instructions on submitting comments and 
additional information on the rulemaking process, see the Public 
Participation heading of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this 
document. It is requested, but not required, that two copies of the 
comment be provided. Note that all comments received will be posted 
without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading below.
    Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 
comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on 
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Complete copies of each request for 
collection of information may be obtained at no charge from Mrs. Carla 
Cuentas, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. 
Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West 
Building, Room W43-417, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    Mrs. Cuentas' telephone number is (202) 366-4583. Please identify 
the relevant collection of information by referring to this Docket 
Number (Docket Number NHTSA-2008-0171).

[[Page 68496]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 
before a proposed collection of information is submitted to OMB for 
approval, Federal agencies 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 5 CFR 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; and
    (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: Appendix A-1 of FMVSS No. 208 Phase-in Reporting 
Requirements.
    OMB Control Number: 2127-NEW.
    Form Number: This collection of information uses no standard form.
    Requested Expiration Date of Approval: Three years from the 
approval date.
    Type of Request: New collection.
    Summary of the Collection of Information: 49 U.S.C. 30111 
authorizes the issuance of FMVSSs and regulations. The agency, in 
prescribing a FMVSS or regulation, considers available relevant motor 
vehicle safety data, and consults with other agencies, as it deems 
appropriate. Further, the statute mandates that in issuing any FMVSS or 
regulation, the agency considers whether the standard or regulation is 
``reasonable, practicable and appropriate for the particular type of 
motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment for which it is 
prescribed,'' and whether such a standard will contribute to carrying 
out the purpose of the Act. The Secretary is authorized to invoke such 
rules and regulations as deemed necessary to carry out these 
requirements. Using this authority, the agency issued FMVSS No. 208, 
``Occupant crash protection,'' to aid the agency in achieving many of 
its safety goals. This notice requests comments on the collection of 
information for the phase-in reporting requirements related to the 
implementation of Appendix A-1 of this standard. Under the phase-in, 50 
percent of vehicles manufactured on or after September 1, 2009 must be 
certified as meeting FMVSS No. 208 when tested with the child restraint 
systems in Appendix A-1, and all vehicles manufactured on or after 
September 1, 2010 must be so certified.
    Description of the need for the information and proposed use of the 
information: NHTSA needs this information to ensure that vehicle 
manufacturers are certifying their applicable vehicles as meeting FMVSS 
No. 208 when tested with the child restraint systems in Appendix A-1. 
NHTSA will use this information to determine whether a manufacturer has 
complied with the requirements during the phase-in period.
    Description of the Likely Respondents (Including Estimated Number 
and Proposed Frequency of Response to the Collection of Information): 
NHTSA estimates that 22 vehicle manufacturers will submit the required 
information. For each report, the manufacturer will provide, in 
addition to its identity, address, etc., several numerical items of 
information. The information includes, but is not limited to, the 
following items:
    (a) The number of vehicles manufactured in the current production 
year, or, at the manufacturer's option, in each of the three previous 
production years. A new manufacturer that is, for the first time, 
manufacturing passenger cars for sale in the United States must report 
the number of passenger cars manufactured during the current production 
year.
    (b) The number of vehicles that meet the requirements of Standard 
No. 208 when using the child restraint systems specified in Appendix A-
1 of that standard.
    Each manufacturer shall maintain records of the Vehicle 
Identification Number for each vehicle for which information is 
reported under Sec.  585.36 until December 31, 2013.
    Estimate of the Total Annual Reporting and Record Keeping Burden 
Resulting from the Collection of Information: NHTSA estimates that it 
will annually take each of the 22 affected manufacturers an average of 
one hour to comply with these requirements. Using a cost estimate of 
$35 per hour, this results in a total annual cost of $770 (22 
manufacturers x 1 hour per manufacturer x $35 per hour).
    Comments are invited on: Whether the proposed collections of 
information are 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.

Public Participation

How Do I Prepare and Submit Comments?

    Your comments must be written and in English. To ensure that your 
comments are correctly filed in the Docket, please include the docket 
number of this document in your comments. Your comments must not be 
more than 15 pages long.\1\ We established this limit to encourage you 
to write your primary comments in a concise fashion. However, you may 
attach necessary additional documents to your comments. There is no 
limit on the length of the attachments. If you are submitting comments 
electronically as a PDF (Adobe) file, we ask that the documents 
submitted be scanned using the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) 
process, thus allowing the agency to search and copy certain portions 
of your submissions.\2\ Please note that pursuant to the Data Quality 
Act, in order for substantive data to be relied upon and used by the 
agency, it must meet the information quality standards set forth in the 
OMB and DOT Data Quality Act guidelines.
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    \1\ See 49 CFR 553.21.
    \2\ Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is the process of 
converting an image of text, such as a scanned paper document or 
electronic fax file, into computer-editable text.
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    Accordingly, we encourage you to consult the guidelines in 
preparing your comments. OMB's guidelines may be accessed at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg/reproducible.html. DOT's guidelines may 
be accessed at http://dmses.dot.gov/submit/DataQualityGuidelines.pdf.

[[Page 68497]]

How Can I Be Sure That My Comments Were Received?

    If you submit your comments by mail and wish Docket Management to 
notify you upon its receipt of your comments, enclose a self-addressed, 
stamped postcard in the envelope containing your comments. Upon 
receiving your comments, Docket Management will return the postcard by 
mail.

How Do I Submit Confidential Business Information?

    If you wish to submit any information under a claim of 
confidentiality, you should submit three copies of your complete 
submission, including the information you claim to be confidential 
business information, to the Chief Counsel, NHTSA, at the address given 
above under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. When you send a comment 
containing information claimed to be confidential business information, 
you should include a cover letter setting forth the information 
specified in our confidential business information regulation.\3\ In 
addition, you should submit a copy, from which you have deleted the 
claimed confidential business information, to the Docket by one of the 
methods set forth above.
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    \3\ See 49 CFR 512.
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Will the Agency Consider Late Comments?

    We will consider all comments received before the close of business 
on the comment closing date indicated above under DATES. To the extent 
possible, we will also consider comments received after that date.

How Can I Read the Comments Submitted by Other People?

    You may read the materials placed in the docket for this document 
(e.g., the comments submitted in response to this document by other 
interested persons) at any time by going to http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the online instructions for accessing the dockets. You may also 
read the materials at the Docket Management Facility by going to the 
street address given above under ADDRESSES. The Docket Management 
Facility is open between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through 
Friday, except Federal holidays.

    Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3506(c); delegation of authority at 49 CFR 
1.50.

    Issued on: November 13, 2008.
Stephen R. Kratzke,
Associate Administrator for Rulemaking.
[FR Doc. E8-27320 Filed 11-17-08; 8:45 am]
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