[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 19 (Friday, January 29, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5010-5013]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-01699]



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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: In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act (``PRA'') of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the Consumer Product 
Safety Commission (``Commission'' or ``CPSC'') announces that the 
Commission has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget 
(``OMB'') a request for extension of approval of a collection of 
information for Third Party Testing of Children's Products, approved 
previously under OMB Control No. 3041-0159. In the Federal Register of 
November 16, 2015 (80 FR 70762), the CPSC published a notice to 
announce the agency's intention to seek extension of approval of the 
collection of information. The Commission received one comment, which 
is addressed in this notice. By publication of this notice, the 
Commission announces that CPSC has submitted to the OMB a request for 
extension of approval of that collection of information, without 
change.

DATES: Submit written or electronic comments on the collection of 
information by February 29, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments about this request by email: 
OIRA[email protected] or fax: 202-395-6881. Comments by mail 
should be sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, 
Attn: OMB Desk Officer for the CPSC, Office of Management and Budget, 
Room 10235, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503. In addition, 
written comments that are sent to OMB also should be submitted 
electronically at: http://www.regulations.gov, under Docket No. CPSC-
2010-0038.

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: 
    Comment on the Proposed Extension: CPSC received one comment from 
the government of India that raised several issues on the proposed 
extension of approval of the collection of information related to 
moving the marking and labeling burden requirements for section 104 
rules into the collection of information for Third Party Testing of 
Children's Products. A summary of the issues raised and our responses 
appear below. For the reasons discussed below, CPSC has not made any 
amendments to the proposed renewal as a result of the comment.
    Issue 1: The commenter stated that the ``proposed rule'' would 
require ``manufacturers of children's products . . . to follow all the 
paperwork requirements associated with the section 104 rules.'' The 
commenter objected to the proposed paperwork requirements, stating that 
the requirements would ``significantly increase the burden on the 
manufacturers and importers of children's products.'' The commenter 
described the types of increased burden anticipated, and asked the CPSC 
``whether there was any injury or risk attached or reported from the 
listed products which lead to the proposed regulation.''
    Response 1: The commenter appears to misunderstand the intent of 
CPSC's Federal Register notice. CPSC did not issue a proposed rule that 
would change the paperwork requirements for children's products 
generally, or for rules on durable infant and toddler products issued 
pursuant to section 104 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act 
of 2008 (``CPSIA'') (``section 104 rules''). Rather, CPSC's notice was 
intended to make stakeholders aware that CPSC is seeking approval from 
OMB of a renewal of an existing collection of information, which is a 
process required by the PRA. For information collection renewals, the 
PRA requires agencies to estimate the burden to stakeholders and the 
burden to the U.S. government to meet existing paperwork requirements. 
Addressing the renewal of an existing collection of information, CPSC's 
notice does not require any manufacturer or importer to increase, 
alter, amend, or decrease a paperwork burden associated with any rule 
issued by the CPSC, including section 104 rules.
    CPSC's Federal Register notice fulfilled CPSC's obligation under 
the PRA to notify the public about the estimated burden calculation for 
the information collection for Third Party Testing of Children's 
Products and to seek approval of the renewal from OMB. To increase 
CPSC's administrative efficiency, CPSC proposed to consolidate the 
existing paperwork burden estimate for 14 rules that were created 
pursuant to section 104 into one OMB control number for Third Party 
Testing of Children's Products. The marking and labeling requirements 
for each of the 14 section 104 rules, set forth in Table 1, were 
established in separate prior rulemaking proceedings, which were all 
subject to notice and comment rulemaking. Moving the estimated burden 
for meeting marking and labeling requirements for these 14 section 104 
rules does not change the existing paperwork burden for manufacturers 
and importers. If OMB approves the renewal of the collection of 
information for Third Party Testing of Children's Products, including 
existing paperwork requirements for marking and labeling of products 
subject to a section 104 rule, CPSC will account for the burden of 
testing and labeling of children's products under one OMB control 
number, 3041-0159, instead of using the 15 separate OMB control numbers 
in use today. To avoid confusion, and as shown in Table 1, CPSC will 
discontinue use of the 14 OMB control numbers currently in use for 
section 104 rules.
    Issue 2: The commenter highlighted Article 5.1.2 of the World Trade 
Organization Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade regarding 
unnecessary obstacles to international trade. Article 5.1.2 states:

conformity assessment procedures are not prepared, adopted or 
applied with a view to or with the effect of creating unnecessary 
obstacles to international trade. This means, inter alia, that 
conformity assessment procedures shall not be more strict or be 
applied more strictly than is necessary to give the importing Member 
adequate confidence that products conform with the applicable 
technical regulations or standards, taking account of the risks non-
conformity would create.

    Response 2: After reviewing Article 5.1.2, CPSC does not believe 
that the Article is applicable to the CPSC's proposed renewal of the 
collection of information for Third Party Testing of Children's 
Products or the proposed reallocation of the paperwork burden for 
section 104 rules. CPSC's notice does not alter or amend any existing 
technical regulation or paperwork requirement for children's products. 
Rather, for administrative purposes, CPSC is consolidating existing 
collections of information.
    Issue 3: The commenter stated that the ``quality, utility and 
clarity'' of the products could be derived from general marking 
procedures provided for ``in the infant products,'' and the commenter 
asked about the necessity of adding marking and labeling requirements 
for section 104 rules, and also inquired about how the proposed 
requirement would be implemented.

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    Response 3: CPSC will not implement changes to marking and labeling 
requirements faced by industry because CPSC is not changing or adding 
any marking or labeling requirements for children's products or for 
section 104 rules. The marking and labeling requirements for each of 
the 14 section 104 rules were established in separate prior rulemaking 
proceedings, which were all subject to notice and comment rulemaking.
    Issue 4: The commenter stated that implementation of the proposed 
requirement ``may lead to unnecessary delay and escalate the cost'' for 
export of children's products to the United States. The commenter 
stated that because the ``proposed regulation'' could create ``a huge 
cost for Indian exports of children's products, India may like to seek 
bilateral consultation with USA to sort out the issue.''
    Response 4: Discontinuing use of 14 existing OMB control numbers 
for section 104 rules and moving the burden allocation into one OMB 
control number for Third Party Testing of Children's Products will not 
create any new requirements for manufacturers or importers, and 
therefore, will not cause delay or increased costs. Going forward, 
CPSC's use of a single OMB control number should reduce burden and 
costs for CPSC to meet PRA renewal requirements, which must be updated 
every 3 years.
    Description of the Collection: CPSC has submitted the following 
currently approved collection of information to OMB for extension:
    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 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 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.

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


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    Dated: January 26, 2016.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2016-01699 Filed 1-28-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6355-01-P