[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 205 (Monday, October 24, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65730-65732]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-27389]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

[Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0742]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Registration of Producers of Drugs and Listing of 
Drugs in Commercial Distribution

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing an 
opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of certain 
information by the Agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(the PRA), Federal Agencies are required to publish notice in the 
Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, 
including each proposed extension of an existing collection of 
information, and to allow 60 days for public comment in response to the 
notice. This notice solicits comments on requirements governing the 
registration of producers of drugs and listing of drugs in commercial 
distribution.

DATES: Submit either electronic or written comments on the collection 
of information by December 23, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Submit electronic comments on the collection of information 
to http://www.regulations.gov. Submit written comments on the 
collection of information to the Division of Dockets Management (HFA-
305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 1061, 
Rockville, MD 20852. All comments should be identified with the docket 
number found in brackets in the heading of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Juanmanuel Vilela, Office of 
Information Management, Food and Drug Administration, 1350 Piccard Dr., 
PI50-400B, Rockville, MD 20850, 301-796-7651, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal 
Agencies must obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. 
``Collection of information'' is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 
1320.3(c) and includes Agency requests or requirements that members of 
the public submit reports, keep records, or provide information to a 
third party. Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)) 
requires Federal Agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal 
Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including 
each proposed extension of an existing collection of information, 
before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. To comply with 
this requirement, FDA is publishing notice of the proposed collection 
of information set forth in this document.
    With respect to the following collection of information, FDA 
invites comments on these topics: (1) Whether the proposed collection 
of information is necessary for the proper performance of FDA's 
functions, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (2) the accuracy of FDA's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways 
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques, when 
appropriate, and other forms of information technology.

Registration of Producers of Drugs and Listing of Drugs in Commercial 
Distribution--21 CFR Part 207--(OMB Control Number 0910-0045)--
Extension

    Requirements for drug establishment registration and drug listing 
are set forth in section 510 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic 
Act (the FD&C Act) (21 U.S.C. 360) and section 351 of the Public Health 
Service Act, and part 207 (21 CFR part 207). Fundamental to FDA's 
mission to protect the public health is the collection of this 
information, which is used for important activities such as postmarket 
surveillance for serious adverse drug reactions, inspection of drug 
manufacturing and processing facilities, and monitoring of drug 
products imported into the United States. Comprehensive, accurate, and 
up-to-date information is critical to conducting these activities with 
efficiency and effectiveness.
    Under section 510 of the FD&C Act, FDA is authorized to establish a 
system for registration of producers of drugs and for listing of drugs 
in commercial distribution. To implement section 510 of the FD&C Act, 
FDA issued part 207.\1\ Under current Sec.  207.20, manufacturers, 
repackers, and relabelers that engage in the manufacture, preparation, 
propagation, compounding, or processing of human or veterinary drugs 
and biological products, including bulk drug substances and bulk drug 
substances for prescription compounding, and drug premixes as well as 
finished dosage forms, whether prescription or over-the-counter, are 
required to register their establishment. In addition, manufacturers, 
repackers, and relabelers are required to submit a listing of every 
drug or biological product in commercial distribution. Owners or 
operators of establishments that distribute under their own label or 
trade name a drug product manufactured by a registered establishment 
are not required either to register or list. However, distributors may 
elect to submit drug listing information in lieu of the registered 
establishment that manufactures the drug product. Foreign drug 
establishments must also comply with the establishment registration and 
product listing requirements if they import or offer for import their 
products into the United States.
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    \1\ This document addresses the information collection in 
current part 207. In the Federal Register of August 29, 2006 (71 FR 
51276), FDA proposed to revise part 207. The proposed revisions 
would reorganize, consolidate, clarify, and modify current 
regulations concerning who must register establishments and list, 
and describes when and how to register and list, and what 
information must be submitted for registration and listing. In 
addition, the proposal would make certain changes to the National 
Drug Code (NDC) system and would require the appropriate NDC number 
to appear on the labels for drugs subject to the listing 
requirements. The proposed regulations generally also require the 
electronic submission of all registration and most listing 
information. The August 29, 2006, proposed rule requested comments 
on the information collection for revised part 207. When the 
proposal is finalized, the information collection for revised part 
207 will replace the information collection in this document.
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    Under current Sec.  207.21, establishments, both domestic and 
foreign, must register with FDA within 5 days after beginning the 
manufacture of drugs or biologicals, or within 5 days after the 
submission of a drug application or biological license application. In 
addition, establishments must register annually. Changes in individual 
ownership, corporate or partnership structure, location, or drug-
handling activity must be submitted as amendments to registration under 
current Sec.  207.26 within 5 days of such changes. Under Sec.  
207.20(b), private label distributors may request their own labeler 
code and elect to submit drug listing information to FDA. In such 
instances, at the time of submitting or

[[Page 65731]]

updating drug listing information, private label distributors must 
certify to the registered establishment that manufactured, prepared, 
propagated, compounded, or processed (which includes, among other 
things, repackaging and relabeling) the listed drug that the drug 
listing submission was made. Establishments must, within 5 days of 
beginning the manufacture of drugs or biologicals, submit to FDA a 
listing for every drug or biological product in commercial distribution 
at that time. Private label distributors may elect to submit to FDA a 
listing of every drug product they place in commercial distribution. 
Registered establishments must submit to FDA drug product listing for 
those private label distributors who do not elect to submit listing 
information.
    Under Sec.  207.25, product listing information submitted to FDA by 
domestic and foreign manufacturers must, depending on the type of 
product being listed, include any new drug application number or 
biological establishment license number, copies of current labeling and 
a sampling of advertisements, a quantitative listing of the active 
ingredient for each drug or biological product not subject to an 
approved application or license, the NDC number, and any drug 
imprinting information.
    In addition to the product listing information required, FDA may 
also require, under Sec.  207.31, a copy of all advertisements and a 
quantitative listing of all ingredients for each listed drug or 
biological product not subject to an approved application or license; 
the basis for a determination, by the establishment, that a listed drug 
or biological product is not subject to marketing or licensing approval 
requirements; and a list of certain drugs or biological products 
containing a particular ingredient. FDA may also request, but not 
require, the submission of a qualitative listing of the inactive 
ingredients for all listed drugs or biological products, and a 
quantitative listing of the active ingredients for all listed drugs or 
biological products subject to an approved application or license.
    Under Sec.  207.30, establishments must update their product 
listing information every June and December or, at the discretion of 
the establishment, when any change occurs. These updates must include 
the following information: (1) A listing of all drug or biological 
products introduced for commercial distribution that have not been 
included in any previously submitted list; (2) all drug or biological 
products formerly listed for which commercial distribution has been 
discontinued; (3) all drug or biological products for which a notice of 
discontinuance was submitted and for which commercial distribution has 
been resumed; and (4) any material change in any information previously 
submitted. No update is required if no changes have occurred since the 
previously submitted list.
    Historically, drug establishment registration and drug listing 
information have been submitted in paper form using FDA Form 2656 
(Registration of Drug Establishment/Labeler Code Assignment), FDA Form 
2657 (Drug Product Listing), and FDA Form 2658 (Registered 
Establishments' Report of Private Label Distributors) (collectively 
referred to as FDA Forms).
    Changes in the FD&C Act resulting from enactment of the Food and 
Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110-85) (FDAAA) 
require that drug establishment registration and drug listing 
information be submitted electronically unless a waiver is granted. 
Before the enactment of FDAAA, section 510(p) of the FD&C Act expressly 
provided for electronic submission of drug establishment registration 
information upon a finding that electronic receipt was feasible, and 
section 510(j) of the FD&C Act provided that drug listing information 
be submitted in the form and manner prescribed by FDA. Section 224 of 
FDAAA, which amends section 510(p) of the FD&C Act, now expressly 
requires electronic drug listing in addition to drug establishment 
registration.
    In certain cases, if it is unreasonable to expect a person to 
submit registration and listing information electronically, FDA may 
grant a waiver from the electronic format requirement.
    In the Federal Register of June 1, 2009 (74 FR 26248), FDA 
announced the availability of a guidance for industry entitled 
``Providing Regulatory Submissions in Electronic Format--Drug 
Establishment Registration and Drug Listing.'' The document provides 
guidance to industry on the statutory requirement to submit 
electronically drug establishment registration and drug listing 
information. The guidance describes the types of information to include 
for purposes of drug establishment registration and drug listing and 
how to prepare and submit the information in an electronic format 
(Structured Product Labeling (SPL) files) that FDA can process, review, 
and archive.
    In addition to the information that previously was collected by the 
FDA Forms, the guidance addresses electronic submission of other 
required information as follows:
     For registered foreign drug establishments, the name, 
address, and telephone number of its U.S. agent (Sec.  207.40(c));
     The name of each importer that is known to the 
establishment (the U.S. company or individual in the United States that 
is an owner, consignee, or recipient of the foreign establishment's 
drug that is imported into the United States. An importer does not 
include the consumer or patient who ultimately purchases, receives, or 
is administered the drug, unless the foreign establishment ships the 
drug directly to the consumer or the patient) (section 510(i)(1)(A) of 
the FD&C Act); and
     The name of each person who imports or offers for import 
(the name of each agent, broker, or other entity, other than a carrier, 
that the foreign drug establishment uses to facilitate the import of 
their drug into the United States) (section 510(i)(1)(A) of the FD&C 
Act).
    FDA also recommends the voluntary submission of the following 
additional information, when applicable:
     To facilitate correspondence between foreign 
establishments and FDA, the email address for the U.S. agent, and the 
telephone number(s) and email address for the importer and person who 
imports or offers for import their drug;
     A site-specific Data Universal Numbering System number for 
each entity (e.g., the registrant, establishments, U.S. agent, 
importer);
     The NDC product code for the source drug that is repacked 
or relabeled;
     Distinctive characteristics of certain listed drugs, i.e., 
the flavor, the color, and image of the actual solid dosage form; and
     Registrants may indicate that they view as confidential 
the registrant's business relationship with an establishment, or an 
inactive ingredient.
    In addition to the collection of information, there is additional 
burden for the following activities:
     Preparing a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the 
electronic submission of drug establishment registration and drug 
listing information;
     Creating the SPL file, including accessing and reviewing 
the technical specifications and instructional documents provided by 
FDA (accessible at http://www.fda.gov/ForIndustry/DataStandards/StructuredProductLabeling/default.htm);
     Reviewing and selecting appropriate terms and codes used 
to create the SPL file (accessible at http://

[[Page 65732]]

www.fda.gov/ForIndustry/DataStandards/StructuredProductLabeling/
default.htm);
     Obtaining the digital certificate used with FDA's 
electronic submission gateway and uploading the SPL file for submission 
(accessible at http://www.fda.gov/ForIndustry/ElectronicSubmissionsGateway/default.htm); and
     Requests for waivers from the electronic submission 
process as described in the draft guidance.
    When FDA published the 2009 guidance on submitting establishment 
registration and drug listing information in electronic format, the 
Agency also amended its burden estimates for OMB control number 0910-
0045 to include the additional burden for collection of information 
that had not been submitted using the FDA Forms, and to create and 
upload the SPL file. The amended burden estimates included the one-time 
preparation of an SOP for creating and uploading the SPL file. Although 
most firms will already have prepared an SOP for the electronic 
submission of drug establishment registration and drug listing 
information, each year additional firms will need to create an SOP. As 
provided in table 2 of this document, FDA estimates that approximately 
1,000 firms will have to expend a one-time burden to prepare, review, 
and approve an SOP, and the Agency estimates that it will take 40 hours 
per recordkeeper to create 1,000 new SOPs for a total of 40,000 hours.
    The information collection requirements of the drug listing and 
establishment registration regulations have been grouped according to 
the information collection areas of the regulations.
    FDA estimates the burden of this collection of information as 
follows:

                                  Table 1--Estimated Annual Reporting Burden\1\
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                                                     Number of
            Activity                 Number of     responses per   Total annual   Average burden    Total hours
                                    respondents     respondent       responses     per response
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New registrations, including new              39           14.72             574             4.5           2,583
 labeler codes requests.........
Annual updates of registration             3,256            2.99           9,735             4.5          43,808
 information....................
New drug listings...............           1,567            6.57          10,295             4.5          46,328
New listings for private label               146           10.06           1,469             4.5           6,611
 distributor....................
June and December updates of all           1,677           11.21          18,799             4.5          84,596
 drug listing information.......
Waiver requests.................               1               1               1               1               1
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    Total.......................  ..............  ..............  ..............  ..............         183,927
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\1\ There are no capital costs or operating and maintenance costs associated with this collection of
  information.


                                Table 2--Estimated Annual Recordkeeping Burden\1\
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    Activity resulting from                          Number of                    Average burden
section 510(p) of the FD&C act      Number of       records per    Total annual         per         Total hours
      as amended by FDAAA         recordkeepers    recordkeeper       records      recordkeeping
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One-time preparation of SOP...             1,000               1           1,000              40          40,000
SOP maintenance...............             3,295               1           3,295               1           3,295
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    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............          43,295
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\1\ There are no capital costs or operating and maintenance costs associated with this collection of
  information.


    Dated: October 18, 2011.
Leslie Kux,
Acting Assistant Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2011-27389 Filed 10-21-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-01-P