[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 161 (Friday, August 19, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55449-55454]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-19811]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[Docket No. CPSC-2010-0041]


Collection of Information; Proposed Extension of Approval; 
Comment Request--Publicly Available Consumer Product Safety Information 
Database

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (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 the Publicly Available Consumer Product 
Safety Information Database. The Commission will consider all comments 
received in response to this notice before requesting an extension of 
approval of this collection of information from the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB).

DATES: Submit written or electronic comments on the collection of 
information by October 18, 2016.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2010-
0041, by any of the following methods:
    You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2010-0041, 
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

[[Page 55450]]

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-2010-0041, into the ``Search'' box, and follow the 
prompts.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 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:

A. Background

    Section 212 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 
(CPSIA) added section 6A to the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), 
which requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or 
Commission) to establish and maintain a publicly available, searchable 
database on the safety of consumer products and other products or 
substances regulated by the Commission (Database). Among other things, 
section 6A of the CPSA requires the Commission to collect reports of 
harm from the public for potential publication in the publicly 
available Database, and to collect and publish comments about reports 
of harm from manufacturers.
    The Commission announced that a proposed collection of information 
in conjunction with the Database, called the Publicly Available 
Consumer Product Safety Information Database, had been submitted to OMB 
for review and clearance under 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520 in a proposed rule 
published on May 24, 2010 (75 FR 29156). The Commission issued a final 
rule on the Database on December 9, 2010 (75 FR 76832). The final rule 
interprets various statutory requirements in section 6A of the CPSA 
pertaining to the information to be included in the Database and also 
establishes provisions regarding submitting reports of harm; providing 
notice of reports of harm to manufacturers; publishing reports of harm 
and manufacturer comments in the Database; and dealing with 
confidential and materially inaccurate information.
    OMB approved the collection of information for the Database under 
control number 3041-0146. OMB's most recent extension of approval on 
December 2, 2013 will expire on December 31, 2016. Accordingly, the 
Commission now proposes to request an extension of approval of this 
collection of information.

B. Information Collected Through the Database

    The primary purpose of this information collection is to populate 
the publicly searchable Database of consumer product safety information 
mandated by section 6A of the CPSA. The Database information collection 
has four components: Reports of harm, manufacturer comments, branding 
information, and the Small Batch Manufacturer Registry (SBMR).
    Reports of Harm: Reports of harm communicate information regarding 
an injury, illness, or death, or any risk (as determined by CPSC) of 
injury, illness, or death, relating to the use of a consumer product. 
Reports can be submitted to the CPSC by consumers; local, state, or 
federal government agencies; health care professionals; child service 
providers; public safety entities; and others. Reports may be submitted 
in one of three ways: Via the CPSC Web site (www.SaferProducts.gov), by 
telephone via a CPSC call center, or by email, fax, or mail using the 
incident report form (available for download or printing via the CPSC 
Web site). Reports may also originate as a free-form letter or email. 
Submitters must consent to inclusion of their report of harm in the 
publicly searchable Database.
    Manufacturer Comments: A manufacturer or private labeler may submit 
a comment related to a report of harm after the CPSC transmits the 
report to the manufacturer or private labeler identified in the report. 
Manufacturer comments may be submitted through the business portal, by 
email, mail, or fax. The business portal is a feature of the Database 
that allows manufacturers who register on the business portal to 
receive reports of harm and comment on such reports through the 
business portal. Use of the business portal expedites the receipt of 
reports of harm and business response times.
    A manufacturer may request that the Commission designate 
information in a report of harm as confidential. Such a request may be 
made using the business portal, by email, by mail, or by fax. 
Additionally, any person or entity reviewing a report of harm or 
manufacturer comment, either before or after publication in the 
Database, may request that the report or comment, or portions of the 
report or comment, be excluded from the Database because it contains 
materially inaccurate information. Such a request may be made by 
manufacturers using the business portal, by email, mail or fax, and may 
be submitted by anyone else by email, mail, or fax.
    Branding Information: Using the business portal, registered 
businesses may voluntarily submit branding information to assist CPSC 
in correctly and timely routing reports of harm involving their 
products to them. Brand names may be licensed to another entity for use 
in labeling consumer products manufactured by that entity. CPSC's 
understanding of licensing arrangements for consumer products ensures 
that the correct manufacturer is timely notified regarding a report of 
harm.
    Small Batch Manufacturers Registry: The business portal also 
contains the SBMR, which is the online mechanism by which ``small batch 
manufacturers'' (as defined in the CPSA) can identify themselves to 
obtain relief from certain third party testing requirements for 
children's products. To register as a small batch manufacturer, a 
business must attest that the company's income level and the number of 
units of the covered product manufactured for which relief is sought 
both fall within the statutory limits to receive relief from third 
party testing.

C. Estimated Burden

1. Estimated Annual Burden for Respondents

    We estimate the burden of this collection of information as 
follows:

                         Table 1--Estimated Annual Reporting Burden for Reports of Harm
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                                     Number of       Response      Total annual     Minutes per    Total burden,
         Collection type            respondents    frequency \1\     responses       response      in hours \2\
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Reports of Harm--submitted                 6,582            1.03           6,790              12           1,358
 through website................
Reports of Harm--submitted by              2,632            1.01           2,643              10             441
 phone..........................
Reports of Harm--submitted by                780            6.67           5,206              20           1,735
 mail, email, fax...............
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[[Page 55451]]

 
    Total.......................           9,994  ..............          14,639  ..............           3,534
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\1\ Frequency of responses is calculated by dividing the number of responses by the number of respondents.
\2\ Numbers have been rounded.


                     Table 2--Estimated Annual Reporting Burden for Manufacturer Submissions
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                                     Number of       Response      Total annual     Minutes per    Total burden,
         Collection type            respondents    frequency \1\     responses       response      in hours \2\
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Manufacturer Comments--submitted             532            6.23           3,317             117           6,468
 through Web site...............
Manufacturer Comments--submitted             283            1.22             346             147             848
 by mail, email, fax............
Requests to Treat Information as              12            1.08              13              42               9
 Confidential--submitted through
 Web site.......................
Requests to Treat Information as               0             n/a               0              72               0
 Confidential--submitted by
 mail, email, fax...............
Requests to Treat Information as             131            1.82             238             165             655
 Materially Inaccurate--
 submitted through Web site.....
Requests to Treat Information as              79            1.06              84             195             273
 Materially Inaccurate--
 submitted by mail, email, fax..
Voluntary Brand Identification..             829            1.48           1,228              10             205
Small Batch Manufacturer                   2,208               1           2,208              10             368
 Identification.................
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    Total.......................           4,074  ..............           7,434  ..............           8,826
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    Based on the data set forth in Tables 1 and 2 above, the annual 
reporting cost is estimated to be $719,381. This estimate is based on 
the sum of two estimated total figures for reports of harm and 
manufacturer submissions. The estimated number of respondents and 
responses are based on the actual responses received in FY 2015. We 
assume that the number of responses and respondents will be similar in 
future years.
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    \1\ Frequency of response is calculated by dividing the number 
of responses by the number of respondents.
    \2\ Numbers have been rounded.
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    Reports of Harm: Table 1 sets forth the data used to estimate the 
burden associated with submitting reports of harm. We had previously 
estimated the time associated with the electronic and telephone 
submission of reports of harm at 12 and 10 minutes, respectively, and 
because we have had no indication that these estimates are not 
appropriate or accurate, we used those figures for present purposes as 
well. We estimate that the time associated with a paper or PDF form 
would be 20 minutes, on average.
    To estimate the costs for submitting reports of harm, we multiplied 
the estimated total burden hours associated with reports of harm (1,358 
hours + 441 hours + 1,735 hours = 3,534 hours) by an estimated total 
compensation for all workers in private industry of $32.06 per hour,\3\ 
which results in an estimated cost of $113,300 (3,534 hours x $32.06 
per hour = $113,300).
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    \3\ U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table 
9 of the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC), Private 
Industry, goods-producing and service-providing industries, by 
occupational group, June 2016 (data extracted on 06/23/2016 from 
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.t09.htm.
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    Manufacturer Submissions: Table 2 sets forth the data used to 
estimate the burden associated with manufacturers' submissions to the 
Database. We observed that a large percentage of the general comments 
come from a few businesses and assumed that the experience of a 
business that submits many comments each year would be different from 
one that submits only a few. Accordingly, we divided all responding 
businesses into three groups, based on the number of general comments 
submitted in FY 2015; and then we selected several businesses from each 
group to contact. The first group we contacted consisted of businesses 
that submitted 50 or more comments in FY 2015, accounting for 31 
percent of all general comments received. The second group we contacted 
included businesses that submitted six to 49 comments, accounting for 
39 percent of all general comments received. The last group contacted 
included businesses that submitted no more than five comments, 
accounting for 30 percent of all general comments received.\4\ We asked 
each company contacted how long it typically takes to research, 
compose, and enter a comment, a claim of materially inaccurate 
information, or a confidential information claim.
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    \4\ In the last group one company was excluded as an outlier.
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    To estimate the burden associated with submitting a general comment 
through the business portal regarding a report of harm, we averaged the 
burden provided by each company within each group and then calculated a 
weighted average from the three groups, weighting each group by the 
proportion of comments received from that group. We found that the 
average time to submit a general comment regarding a report of harm is 
117 minutes based on the data in Table 3 (((15 minutes + 45 minutes + 
30 minutes + 15 minutes)/4 companies) * .31 + ((105 minutes + 45 
minutes + 150 minutes + 15 minutes)/4 companies) * .39 + ((240 minutes 
+ 60 minutes + 480 minutes)/3 companies) * .30 = 117 minutes).

[[Page 55452]]



  Table 3--Estimated Burden To Enter a General Comment in the Database
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                                                              General
                 Group                       Company         comments
                                                             (minutes)
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Group 1................................               A               15
    (>=50 comments)....................               B               45
                                                       C              30
                                                      D               15
Group 2................................               A              105
    (6-49 comments)....................               B               45
                                                       C             150
                                                      D               15
Group 3................................               A              240
    (>=5 comments).....................               B               60
                                                       C             480
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    Registered businesses generally submit comments through our Web 
site. Unregistered businesses submit comments by mail, email, or fax. 
We estimate that for unregistered businesses, submitting comments takes 
a little longer because we often must ask the businesses to amend their 
submissions to include the required certifications. Thus, we estimated 
that on average, comments submitted by mail, email, or fax take 30 
minutes longer than those submitted through our Web site (117 minutes + 
30 minutes = 147 minutes).
    The submission of a claim of materially inaccurate information is a 
relatively rare event for all respondents. Accordingly, we averaged all 
responses together. Eight of the businesses contacted had submitted 
claims of materially inaccurate information. We found that the average 
time to submit a claim that a report of harm contains a material 
inaccuracy is 165 minutes ((30 minutes + 90 minutes + 45 minutes + 90 
minutes + 60 minutes + 660 minutes + 45 minutes + 300 minutes)/8 
companies = 165 minutes).
    Registered businesses generally submit claims through the business 
portal. Unregistered businesses submit claims by mail, email, or fax. 
We estimate that submitting claims by mail, email, or fax takes a 
little longer because we often must ask the businesses to amend their 
submission to include the required certifications. Thus, we estimated 
that on average, claims submitted by mail, email, or fax take 30 
minutes longer than those submitted through our Web site (165 minutes + 
30 minutes = 195 minutes).
    The submission of a claim of confidential information is a 
relatively rare event for all respondents; accordingly, we averaged all 
responses together. Five of the businesses contacted had submitted 
claims of confidential information. We found that the average time to 
submit a claim that a report of harm contains confidential information 
is 42 minutes ((45 minutes + 15 minutes + 60 minutes + 30 minutes + 60 
minutes)/5 companies = 42 minutes).
    Registered businesses generally submit confidential information 
claims through the business portal. Unregistered businesses submit 
confidential information claims by mail, email, or fax. We estimate 
that submitting claims in this way takes a little longer because we 
often must ask the businesses to amend their submission to include the 
required certifications. Thus, we estimate that a confidential 
information claim submitted by mail, email, or fax would take 30 
minutes longer than those submitted through our Web site (42 minutes + 
30 minutes = 72 minutes).
    For voluntary brand identification, we estimate that a response 
would take 10 minutes on average. Most responses consist only of the 
brand name and a product description. In many cases a business will 
submit multiple entries in a brief period of time and we can see from 
the date and time stamps on these records that an entry often takes 
less than two minutes. CPSC staff enters the same data in a similar 
form based on our own research, and that experience was also factored 
into our estimate.
    For small batch manufacturer identification, we estimate that a 
response would take 10 minutes on average. The form consists of three 
check boxes and the information should be readily accessible to the 
respondent.
    The responses summarized in Table 2 are generally submitted by 
manufacturers. To avoid underestimating the cost associated with the 
collection of this data, we assigned the higher hourly wage associated 
with a manager or professional in goods-producing industries to these 
tasks. To estimate the cost of manufacturer submissions we multiplied 
the estimated total burden hours in Table 2 (8,826 hours) by an 
estimated total compensation for a manager or professional in goods-
producing industries of $68.67 per hour,\5\ which results in an 
estimated cost of $606,081 (8,826 hours x $68.67 per hour = $606,081).
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    \5\ U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table 
9 of the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC), Private 
Industry, goods-producing and service-providing industries, by 
occupational group, June 2016 (data extracted on 06/23/2016 from 
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.t09.htm.
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    Therefore, the total estimated annual cost to respondents is 
$719,381 ($113,300 burden for reports of harm + $606,081 burden for 
manufacturer submissions = $719,381).

2. Estimated Annual Burden on Government

    We estimate the annualized cost to the CPSC to be $954,531. This 
figure is based on the costs for four categories of work for the 
Database: Reports of Harm, Materially Inaccurate Information Claims, 
Manufacturer Comments, and Small Batch Identification. Each category is 
described below. No government cost is associated with Voluntary Brand 
Identification because this information is entered directly into the 
Database by the manufacturer with no processing required by the 
government. The information assists the government in directing reports 
of harm to the correct manufacturer. We did not attempt to calculate 
separately the government cost for claims of confidential information 
because the number of claims is so small. The time to process these 
claims is included with claims of materially inaccurate information.
    Reports of Harm: The Reports of Harm category includes many 
different tasks. Some costs related to this category are from two data 
entry contracts. Tasks related to these contracts include clerical 
coding of the report, such as

[[Page 55453]]

identifying the type of consumer product reported and the appropriate 
associated hazard, as well as performing quality control on the data in 
the report. Contractor A spends an estimated 5,267 hours per year 
performing these tasks. With an hourly rate of $33.31 for contractor 
services, the annual cost to the government of contract A is $175,444. 
Contractor B spends an estimated 2,539 hours per year performing these 
tasks. With an hourly rate of $58.09 for contractor services, the 
annual cost to the government of contract B is $147,491.
    The Reports of Harm category also includes sending consent requests 
for reports when necessary, processing that consent when received, 
determining whether a product is out of CPSC's jurisdiction, and 
confirming that pictures and attachments do not have any personally 
identifiable information. The Reports category also entails notifying 
manufacturers when one of their products is reported, completing a risk 
of harm determination form for every report eligible for publication, 
referring some reports to a Subject Matter Expert (SME) within the CPSC 
for a determination on whether the reports meet the requirement of 
having a risk of harm, and determining whether a report meets all the 
statutory and regulatory requirements for publication. Detailed costs 
are:

                                Table 4--Estimated Costs for Reports of Harm Task
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                                                                     Number of         Total
                           Grade level                                 hours       compensation    Total annual
                                                                     (annual)        per hour          cost
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Contract A......................................................           5,267          $33.31        $175,444
Contract B......................................................           2,539           58.09         147,491
7...............................................................             200           34.78           6,956
9...............................................................             300           42.69          12,807
12..............................................................           5,528           61.91         342,238
13..............................................................             428           73.37          31,402
14..............................................................           1,068           86.99          92,905
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................................          15,330  ..............         809,243
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    Materially Inaccurate Information (MII) Claims: The MII claims 
category includes reviewing and responding to claims, participating in 
meetings where the claims are discussed, and completing a risk of harm 
determination on reports when a company alleges that a report does not 
describe a risk of harm.

                                  Table 5--Estimated Costs for MII Claims Task
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                                                                     Number of         Total
                           Grade level                                 hours       compensation    Total annual
                                                                     (annual)        per hour          cost
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12..............................................................             275          $61.91         $17,025
13..............................................................             167           73.37          12,253
14..............................................................             323           86.99          28,098
15..............................................................              50          101.99           5,100
SES.............................................................              50          109.97           5,499
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................................             865  ..............       67,975.00
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    Manufacturer Comments: The Comments category includes reviewing and 
accepting or rejecting comments.

                             Table 6--Estimated Costs for Manufacturer Comments Task
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                                                                     Number of         Total
                           Grade level                                 hours       compensation    Total annual
                                                                     (annual)        per hour          cost
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12..............................................................              62          $61.91          $3,838
13..............................................................             109           73.37           7,997
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................................             171  ..............          11,835
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    Small Batch Manufacturer Identification: The Small Batch 
Manufacturer Identification category includes time spent posting the 
list of small batch registrations, as well as answering manufacturers' 
questions on registering as a Small Batch company and what the 
implications to that company of small batch registration.

[[Page 55454]]



                                  Table 7--Estimated Costs for Small Batch Task
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                                                                     Number of         Total
                           Grade level                                 hours       compensation    Total annual
                                                                     (annual)        per hour          cost
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15..............................................................             642         $101.99         $65,478
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................................             642  ..............         $65,478
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    We estimate the annualized cost to the CPSC of $954,531 by adding 
the four categories of work related to the Database summarized in 
Tables 4 through 7 (Reports of Harm ($809,243) + MII Claims ($67,975) + 
Manufacturer Comments ($11,835) + Small Batch Identification ($65,478) 
= $954,531).
    This information collection renewal request based on an estimated 
12,360 burden hours per year for the Database is a decrease of 7,485 
hours since this collection of information was last approved by OMB in 
2013. The decrease in burden is due primarily to the fact that the 
number of incoming reports of harm has decreased, and the number of 
claims based on those reports has decreased as well. While comments did 
not decline significantly, they did shift to the more efficient online 
submissions. We note a large increase in small batch manufacturer 
activity, which has been rising steadily for years. However, this 
increase was not large enough to offset the decreases in other areas.

D. Request for Comments

    The Commission solicits written comments from all interested 
persons about the proposed 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: February 16, 2016.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2016-19811 Filed 8-18-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6355-01-P