[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 220 (Monday, November 16, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70762-70765]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-28845]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[Docket No. CPSC-2010-0038]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Third Party Testing of Children's Products

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 extension of approval 
of a collection of information for Third Party Testing of Children's 
Products, approved previously under OMB Control No. 3041-0159. The 
Commission will consider all comments received in response to this 
notice before requesting an extension of this collection of information 
from the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'').

[[Page 70763]]


DATES: Submit written or electronic comments on the collection of 
information by January 15, 2016.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2010-
0038, by any of the following methods:
    Electronic Submissions: Submit electronic comments to the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal at: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments. The Commission does not accept 
comments submitted by electronic mail (email), except through 
www.regulations.gov. The Commission encourages you to submit electronic 
comments by using the Federal eRulemaking Portal, as described above.
    Written Submissions: Submit written submissions by mail/hand 
delivery/courier to: Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety 
Commission, Room 820, 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 notice. 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 
that you do not want to be available to the public. If furnished at 
all, 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, and insert the 
docket number CPSC-2010-0038, into the ``Search'' box, and follow the 
prompts.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert H. Squibb, Consumer Product 
Safety Commission, 4330 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; (301) 
504-7815, or by email to: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: CPSC seeks to renew the following currently 
approved collection of information:
    Title: Third Party Testing of Children's Products.
    OMB Number: 3041-0159.
    Type of Review: Renewal of collection for third party testing of 
children's products and inclusion of the previously approved burden for 
marking and labeling of durable infant and toddler products into this 
collection of information.
General Description of Collection
    Testing and Certification: On November 8, 2011, the Commission 
issued two rules for implementing third party testing and certification 
of children's products, as required by section 14 of the Consumer 
Product Safety Act (``CPSA''):
     Testing and Labeling Pertaining to Product Certification 
(76 FR 69482, codified at 16 CFR part 1107; ``the testing rule''); and
     Conditions and Requirements for Relying on Component Part 
Testing or Certification, or Another Party's Finished Product Testing 
or Certification to Meet Testing and Certification Requirements (76 FR 
69547, codified at 16 CFR part 1109; ``the component part rule'').
    The testing rule establishes requirements for manufacturers to 
conduct initial third party testing and certification of children's 
products, testing when there has been a material change in the product, 
continuing testing (periodic testing), and guarding against undue 
influence. A final rule on Representative Samples for Periodic Testing 
of Children's Products (77 FR 72205, Dec. 5, 2012) amended the testing 
rule to require that representative samples be selected for periodic 
testing of children's products.
    The component part rule is a companion to the testing rule that is 
intended to reduce third party testing burdens by providing all parties 
involved in the required testing and certifying of children's products 
the flexibility to conduct or rely upon testing where it is the easiest 
and least expensive. Certification of a children's product can be based 
upon one or more of the following: (a) Component part testing; (b) 
component part certification; (c) another party's finished product 
testing; or (d) another party's finished product certification.
    Records required by the testing rule and the rule on selecting 
representative samples appear in 16 CFR 1107.26. Required records 
include a certificate, and records documenting third party testing and 
related sampling plans. These requirements largely overlap the 
recordkeeping requirements in the component part rule, codified at 16 
CFR 1109.5(g). Duplicate recordkeeping is not required; records need to 
be created and maintained only once to meet the applicable 
recordkeeping requirements. The component part rule also requires 
records that enable tracing a product or component back to the entity 
that had a product tested for compliance, and also requires 
attestations of due care to ensure test result integrity.
    Section 104 Rules: The Commission has issued 14 rules for durable 
infant and toddler products under section 104 of the Consumer Product 
Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (``CPSIA'') (``section 104 rules''). 
Section 104 rules issued to date appear in Table 1. Each section 104 
rule contains requirements for marking, labeling, and instructional 
literature:
     Each product and the shipping container must have a 
permanent label or marking that identifies the name and address (city, 
state, and zip code) of the manufacturer, distributor, or seller.
     A permanent code mark or other product identification 
shall be provided on the infant carrier and its package or shipping 
container, if multiple packaging is used. The code will identify the 
date (month and year) of manufacture and permit future identification 
of any given model.

Each standard also requires products to include easy-to-read and 
understand instructions regarding assembly, maintenance, cleaning, use, 
and adjustments, where applicable.
    OMB has assigned control numbers for the estimated burden to comply 
with marking and labeling requirements in each section 104 rule. With 
this renewal, CPSC is moving the marking and labeling burden 
requirements for section 104 rules into the collection of information 
for Third Party Testing of Children's Products. The paperwork burdens 
associated with the section 104 rules are appropriately included in the 
collection for Third Party Testing of Children's Products because all 
of the section 104 products are also required to be third party tested. 
Having all of the burden hours under one collection for children's 
products provides one OMB control number and eases the administrative 
burden of renewing multiple collections. CPSC will discontinue using 
the OMB control numbers currently assigned to individual section 104 
rules. The discontinued OMB control numbers are listed in Table 1.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion.
    Affected Public: Manufacturers and importers of children's products 
subject to a children's product safety rule.

Estimated Number of Respondents

    Testing and Certification: CPSC reviewed every category in the 
NAICS and selected categories that included firms that could 
manufacture or sell any consumer product that could be covered by a 
consumer product safety rule. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 
we determined that there were approximately 34,000 manufacturers, about 
77,000 wholesalers, and about

[[Page 70764]]

133,000 retailers in these categories. However, these categories also 
include many non-children's products, which are not covered by any 
children's product safety rules. Therefore, these numbers would 
constitute an overestimate of the number of firms that are subject to 
the recordkeeping requirements.
    Section 104 Rules: Table 1 summarizes the durable infant and 
toddler products subject to the marking and labeling requirements being 
moved into OMB control number 3041-0159.

                     Table 1--Estimated Burden for Marking and Labeling in Section 104 Rules
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                       Total
 Discontinued OMB Control No.     16 CFR part      Description         Mfrs.          Models        respondent
                                                                                                       hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3041-0145.....................            1215  Safety Standard                7               2              14
                                                 for Infant Bath
                                                 Seats.
3041-0141.....................            1216  Safety Standard               16               4              64
                                                 for Infant
                                                 Walkers.
3041-0150.....................            1217  Safety Standard               78              10             780
                                                 for Toddler
                                                 Beds.
3041-0157.....................            1218  Safety Standard               62               5             310
                                                 for Bassinets
                                                 and Cradles.
3041-0147.....................            1219  Safety Standard               78              11             858
                                                 for Full-Size
                                                 Cribs.
3041-0147.....................            1220  Safety Standard               24               4              96
                                                 for Non-Full-
                                                 Size Cribs.
3041-0152.....................            1221  Safety Standard               31               4             124
                                                 for Play Yards.
3041-0160.....................            1222  Safety Standard                5               2              10
                                                 for Infant
                                                 Bedside
                                                 Sleepers.
3041-0155.....................            1223  Safety Standard               10              11             110
                                                 for Swings.
3041-0149.....................            1224  Safety Standard               17               2              34
                                                 for Portable
                                                 Bedrails.
3041-0158.....................            1225  Safety Standard               71               2             142
                                                 for Hand-Held
                                                 Infant Carriers.
3041-0162.....................            1226  Safety Standard               54               2             108
                                                 for Soft Infant
                                                 and Toddler
                                                 Carriers.
3041-0164.....................            1227  Safety Standard               85               8             680
                                                 for Carriages
                                                 and Strollers.
3041-0166.....................            1230  Safety Standard               16               3              48
                                                 for Frame Child
                                                 Carriers (not
                                                 effective until
                                                 9/2016).
                                                                                 -------------------------------
    Total Burden Hours........  ..............  ................  ..............  ..............           3,378
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Estimated Time per Response

    Testing and Certification: Based on comments received during 
rulemaking for the testing rule, we estimate recordkeeping for 
approximately 300,000 non-apparel children's products per year, with an 
average of 5 hours of recordkeeping burden associated with each 
product. We also estimate recordkeeping for approximately 1.3 million 
children's apparel and footwear products per year, with an average of 3 
hours of recordkeeping burden associated with each product. 
Manufacturers that are required to conduct periodic testing have an 
additional recordkeeping burden estimated at 4 hours per representative 
sampling plan.
    Section 104 Rules: Each section 104 rule contains a similar 
analysis for marking and labeling that estimates the time to make any 
necessary changes to marking and labeling requirements at one hour per 
model.

Total Estimated Annual Burden

    Testing and Certification: The total estimated annual burden for 
recordkeeping associated with the testing rule is 5.4 million hours 
(300,000 non-apparel children's products x 5 hours per non-apparel 
children's product + 1,300,000 children's apparel products x 3 hours 
per children's apparel product = 1.5 million hours + 3.9 million hours, 
or a total of 5.4 million hours).
    Representative Sampling Plans for Periodic Testing: We estimate 
that if each product line averages 50 individual models or styles, then 
a total of 32,000 individual representative sampling plans (1.6 million 
children's products / 50 models or styles) would need to be developed 
and documented. This would require 128,000 hours (32,000 plans x 4 
hours per plan). If each product line averages 10 individual models or 
styles, then a total of 160,000 different representative sampling plans 
(1.6 million children's products / 10 models or styles) would need to 
be documented. This would require 640,000 hours (160,000 plans x 4 
hours per plan). Accordingly, the requirement to document the basis for 
selecting representative samples could increase the estimated annual 
burden by up to 640,000 hours.
    Component Part Testing: The component part rule shifts some testing 
costs and some recordkeeping costs to component part and finished 
product suppliers because some testing will be performed by these 
parties rather than by the finished product certifiers (manufacturers 
and importers). Even if a finished product certifier can rely entirely 
on component part and finished product suppliers for all required 
testing, however, the finished product supplier will still have some 
recordkeeping burden to create and maintain a finished product 
certificate. Therefore, although the component part testing rule may 
reduce the total cost of the testing required by the testing and 
certification rule, the rule increases the estimated annual 
recordkeeping burden for those who choose to use component part 
testing.
    Because we do not know how many companies participate in component 
part testing and supply test reports or certifications to other 
certifiers in the supply chain, we have no concrete data to estimate 
the recordkeeping and third party disclosure requirements in the 
component part rule. Likewise, no clear method exists for estimating 
the number of finished product certifiers who conduct their own 
component part testing. In the component part rulemaking, we suggested 
that the recordkeeping burden for the

[[Page 70765]]

component part testing rule could amount to 10 percent of the burden 
estimated for the testing and labeling rule. 76 FR 69546, 69579 (Nov. 
8, 2011). Currently, we have no basis to change this estimate.
    In addition to recordkeeping, the component part rule requires 
third party disclosure of test reports and certificates, if any, to a 
certifier who intends to rely on such documents to issue its own 
certificate. Without data, allocation of burden estimation between the 
recordkeeping and third party disclosure requirements is difficult. 
However, based on our previous analysis, we continue to estimate that 
creating and maintaining records accounts for approximately 90 percent 
of the burden, while the third party disclosure burden is much less, 
perhaps approximately 10 percent. Therefore, if we continue to use the 
estimate that component part testing will amount to about 10 percent of 
the burden estimated for the testing rule, then the hour burden of the 
component part rule is estimated to be about 540,000 hours total 
annually (10% of 5.4 million hours); allocating 486,000 hours for 
recordkeeping and 54,000 hours for third party disclosure.
    Section 104 Rules: The burden for marking and labeling for each 
section 104 rule is provided in Table 1. The estimated total number of 
respondent hours is 3,378.

Request for Comments

    The Commission solicits written comments from all interested 
persons about the proposed renewal of this collection of information. 
The Commission specifically solicits 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: November 9, 2015.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2015-28845 Filed 11-13-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P