[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 57 (Thursday, March 25, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14429-14431]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-6551]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[Docket No. CPSC-2009-0088]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for Office 
of Management and Budget Review; Comment Request; Consumer Product 
Safety Improvement Act; Consumer Product Conformity Assessment Body 
Registration Form

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is announcing 
that a proposed new collection of information has been submitted to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: Fax written comments on the collection of information by April 
26, 2010.

ADDRESSES: To ensure that comments on the information collection are 
received, OMB recommends that written comments be faxed to the Office 
of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Attn: CPSC Desk Officer, 
FAX: 202-395-6974, or e-mailed to [email protected]. All 
comments should be identified with the title ``Consumer Product Safety 
Improvement Act; Consumer Product Conformity Assessment Body 
Registration Form.'' Also include the CPSC docket number found in 
brackets in the heading of this document.

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, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In compliance with 44 U.S.C. 3507, the CPSC 
has submitted the following proposed collection of information to OMB 
for review and clearance: Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act; 
Consumer Product Conformity Assessment Body Registration Form--New 
Proposed Collection

[[Page 14430]]

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 requires third party testing 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 the 
children's product 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. The Commission staff will use 
this information 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: 
(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'').
    In the Federal Register of October 29, 2009 (74 FR 55817) the CPSC 
published a 60-day notice requesting public comment on the proposed 
collection of information. One comment was received which addresses 
several issues. A summary of each issue identified in the comment 
(identified by ``Comment'') and a response (identified by ``Response'') 
to each appears below.
    Comment 1: Form 223 needs better explanation to help companies, 
manufacturers, or laboratories complete the form.
    Response: The current instructions for the form provide sufficient 
clarity for the relatively narrow group of intended users of the form, 
which is third party conformity assessment bodies (also known commonly 
as testing laboratories or third party laboratories). In general, 
neither manufacturers nor companies complete the form (other than for 
firewalled conformity assessment bodies). Based on CPSC staff 
experience with the laboratory applications submitted through Form 223, 
the vast majority of applicants appear to have a good understanding of 
the form's purpose and how to complete the form. An applicant who has 
questions regarding the form can submit them to a CPSC email address, 
and CPSC staff monitors and responds to these emails. If applicants 
raise issues for which changes to the form's instructions would 
increase clarity, the CPSC will make these adjustments.
    Comment 2: Information on total time in business and formal 
complaints against the company or manufacturer and laboratory would be 
beneficial.
    Response: The information sought by the comment is beyond the scope 
and purpose of Form 223. The form's primary purpose is to receive 
applications from testing laboratories for staff evaluation with the 
CPSC-established criteria for acceptance of third party testing 
laboratories for purposes of testing children's products to certain 
safety rules enforced by the Commission. Section 14(a)(3)(E) of the 
Consumer Product Safety Act, as amended, requires the Commission to 
``maintain on its Internet Web site an up-to-date list of entities that 
have been accredited to assess conformity with children's product 
safety rules.'' The CPSC has other mechanisms for collecting product 
safety-related complaints through the agency's Web site, hotline, or by 
mail.
    Comment 3: Form 223 should incorporate filter and blocking 
software, and the CPSC should install safeguards to prevent identity 
theft or corporate espionage from occurring.
    Response: CPSC computer systems receive regular security audits and 
have been certified for operation. The CPSC observes all industry and 
Federal government best practices for network security. CPSC staff 
regularly analyzes its systems for vulnerabilities and malware, and 
monitor the network for real-time intrusion attempts.

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 section 
14(a)(3)(B)(vi) of the CPSA.
    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 as part of the audit process required by section 
14(d)(1) of the

[[Page 14431]]

CPSA. Because not all third party conformity assessment bodies will 
first submit CPSC Form 223 at the same time, only some 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 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).

    Dated: March 18, 2010.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2010-6551 Filed 3-24-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P