[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 208 (Thursday, October 29, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55817-55819]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-26070]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[CPSC Docket No. CPSC-2009-0088]


Proposed Collection; Comment Request--Consumer Product Safety 
Improvement Act; Consumer Product Conformity Assessment Body 
Registration Form

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (``CPSC'' or 
``Commission'') requests comments on a proposed collection of 
information regarding a form that will be used to identify third party 
conformity assessment bodies that meet the requirements to test for 
compliance to specified children's product safety rules. Third party 
conformity assessment bodies found to meet the requirements will be 
listed on the CPSC Web site. The Commission will consider all comments 
received in response to this notice before requesting approval of this 
collection of information from the Office of Management and Budget.

DATES: Written comments must be received by the Office of the Secretary 
not later than December 28, 2009.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2009-
0088, by any of the following methods:

Electronic Submissions

    Submit electronic comments in the following way:
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.

[[Page 55818]]

To ensure timely processing of comments, the Commission is no longer 
accepting comments submitted by electronic mail (e-mail) except through 
http://www.regulations.gov.

Written Submissions

    Submit written submissions in the following way:
    Mail/Hand delivery/Courier (for paper, disk, or CD-ROM 
submissions), preferably in five copies, to: Office of the Secretary, 
Consumer Product Safety Commission, Room 502, 4330 East West Highway, 
Bethesda, MD 20814; telephone (301) 504-7923.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and docket number for this proposed collection of information. All 
comments received may be posted without change, including any personal 
identifiers, contact information, or other personal information 
provided to http://www.regulations.gov. Do not submit confidential 
business information, trade secret information, or other sensitive or 
protected information electronically. Such information should be 
submitted in writing.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Linda Glatz, Division of Policy and 
Planning, Office of Information Technology and Technology Services, 
Consumer Product Safety Commission, 4330 East West Highway, Bethesda, 
MD 20814; (301) 504-7671; e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Background

    The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (``CPSIA'' or 
``Act'') was signed into law on August 14, 2008 (Pub. L. 110-314). 
Section 102 of the CPSIA mandates that third party testing be conducted 
for any children's product that is subject to a children's product 
safety rule. Such third party testing of children's products must be 
completed before importing for consumption or warehousing or 
distributing in commerce. Every manufacturer of such children's 
products (and the private labeler of such children's product if the 
product bears a private label) must submit samples for testing to a 
third party conformity assessment body which is accredited under 
requirements established by the Commission. The third party conformity 
assessment body will test such samples for compliance with applicable 
children's product safety rules. Based on this testing, the 
manufacturer or private labeler must issue a certificate that certifies 
that the children's product complies with all applicable children's 
product safety rules.
    Section 14(f)(2)(A) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (as amended 
by section 102(b) of the CPSIA) defines a third party conformity 
assessment body as one that is not owned, managed, or controlled by the 
manufacturer or private labeler of a product to be assessed by such 
conformity assessment body. A conformity assessment body that is owned, 
managed, or controlled by a manufacturer or a private labeler may, in 
certain specified circumstances, be accredited as a third party 
conformity assessment body. The CPSIA also refers to such entities as 
``firewalled conformity assessment bodies.'' Additionally, the CPSIA 
specifies that, under certain conditions, a third party conformity 
assessment body may include a government-owned or government-controlled 
entity.
    The CPSIA provides that accreditation of third party conformity 
assessment bodies may be conducted either by the Commission or by an 
independent accreditation organization designated by the Commission. 
The Commission must maintain an up-to-date list of entities that have 
been accredited to assess compliance with children's product safety 
rules on its Web site.
    The CPSC uses an online collection form, CPSC Form 223, to gather 
information from third party conformity assessment bodies voluntarily 
seeking recognition by CPSC. The information collected relates to 
location, accreditation, and ownership. This information will be used 
by the Commission to assess:
     A third party conformity assessment body's status as 
either an independent third party conformity assessment body, a 
government-owned or government-controlled conformity assessment body, 
or a firewalled conformity assessment body;
     Qualifications for recognition by CPSC to test for 
compliance to specified children's product safety rules; and
     Eligibility for recognition on the CPSC Web site.
    The collection of this information on CPSC Form 223 is required in 
three separate circumstances: (1) Upon initial application by the third 
party conformity assessment body for recognition by CPSC (``initial 
registrations''); (2) at least every 2 years as part of a regular audit 
process (``re-registrations''); and (3) whenever a change to 
accreditation or ownership information occurs (``information 
changes'').

B. Estimated Burden

    The CPSC staff estimates a total reporting burden of approximately 
451 hours. This reporting burden is broken down into the categories of 
submissions as follows: (1) Initial registrations--300 hours, (2) re-
registrations--150 hours, and (3) information changes--.75 hours, for a 
total of 450.75 hours, which the Commission will round up to 451 hours.
    Initial Registrations--The Commission tentatively estimates that 
300 third party conformity assessment bodies will register initially, 
with each response taking 1 hour for a total of 300 reporting hours 
(300 third party conformity assessment bodies x 1 hour = 300 hours). 
The 300 entity estimate is based on the fact that by June 5, 2009, 153 
third party conformity assessment bodies had already registered with 
the CPSC. The Commission expects to receive additional registrations, 
which will be further increased by a notice of requirement for ``all 
other children's product safety rules'' pursuant to CPSA section 
14(a)(3)(B)(vi).
    Re-Registrations--Under a separate proposed rule issued by the 
Commission on August 13, 2009 (74 FR 40784), third party conformity 
assessment bodies would be required to re-register using CPSC Form 223 
every two years. Because not all third party conformity assessment 
bodies will first submit CPSC Form 223 at the same time, only some of 
these entities will re-register using CPSC Form 223 in any given year. 
Because the Commission does not know how many entities will re-register 
in any given year, for the purposes of this analysis, the Commission 
estimates that half of the third party conformity assessment bodies 
will re-register using CPSC Form 223 in any given year, for a total of 
150 Re-Registrations per year (300 total third party conformity 
assessment bodies x 0.5 = 150 re-registrations per year). The reporting 
burden for each re-registration is estimated to be one hour, making the 
total reporting burden for all re-registrations per year 150 hours (150 
re-registrations x 1 hour per re-registration = 150 hours).
    Information Changes--Finally, under the same separate proposed rule 
noted above, third party conformity assessment bodies would be required 
to ensure that the information submitted on CPSC Form 223 remains 
current. Any changes in information must be submitted on a new CPSC 
Form 223. Based on current experience, the Commission estimates that 
only one percent of third party conformity assessment bodies will 
revise or update their information yearly, so the

[[Page 55819]]

estimated number of respondents is 3 (300 third party conformity 
assessment bodies x 0.01 = 3 information changes per year). Because 
information changes in most cases will likely only involve updating a 
phone number or contact person, the estimated reporting burden is 15 
minutes per update, for a total reporting burden of 45 minutes per year 
(3 information changes x 0.25 hours = 0.75 hours per year).
    Estimated Total Cost Burden on Respondents--Assuming that CPSC Form 
223 will be submitted by someone at the level of a general or 
operations manager at each third party conformity assessment body, at a 
median compensation (wages and benefits) of $68 per hour, the total 
cost burden to the respondents is estimated to be $30,668 ($68 x 451 
hours).
    Estimated Annualized Cost Burden to the Federal Government--The 
Commission estimates 150 re-registrations per year. Re-registrations 
will require review by a CPSC staff member with an average rate of pay 
of $67/hour (the approximate hourly compensation (wages and benefits) 
of a GS-13 step 5 employee). Re-registration review involves a thorough 
review of the accreditation certificate and scope documents provided by 
the third party conformity assessment body to ensure, among other 
things, that the accreditations are current, are to the ISO Standard 
ISO/IEC 17025:2005, ``General Requirements for the Competence of 
Testing and Calibration Laboratories,'' and include the appropriate 
test methods. The review is estimated to take an average of 1.75 hours 
per submission. Thus, the annualized cost to the Federal government is 
estimated to be approximately $17,588 (150 re-registrations x 1.75 
hours x $67 = $17,587.50 per year).
    Additional costs to the Federal government associated with 
information changes submitted on CPSC Form 223 will be negligible. The 
Commission estimates that 15 minutes will be spent reviewing each 
update. The annualized cost to the federal government is estimated to 
be approximately $50 (3 information changes x 0.25 hours x $67 = $50.25 
per year).

C. Request for Comments

    The Commission invites written comments from all interested persons 
about the proposed collection of information. The Commission 
specifically invites information relevant to the following topics:
     Whether the collection of information described above is 
necessary for the proper performance of the Commission's functions, 
including whether the information would have practical utility;
     Whether the estimated burden of the proposed collection of 
information is accurate;
     Whether the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected could be enhanced; and
     Whether the burden imposed by the collection of 
information could be minimized by use of automated, electronic or other 
technological collection techniques, or other forms of information 
technology.

    Dated: October 23, 2009.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. E9-26070 Filed 10-28-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P