[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 176 (Monday, September 12, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62733-62734]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-21826]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[Docket No. CPSC-2009-0088]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request--Third Party Conformity Assessment Body 
Registration Form

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 under the requirements pertaining to a third party 
conformity assessment body registration form, approved previously under 
OMB Control No. 3041-0143. In the Federal Register of June 30, 2016 (81 
FR 42669), 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 that was out of scope. 
Therefore, 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: Written comments on this request for extension of approval of 
information collection requirements should be submitted by October 12, 
2016.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments about this request by email: 
[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-
2009-0088.

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 Conformity Assessment Body Registration Form.
    OMB Number: 3041-0143.
    Type of Review: Renewal of collection.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion.
    Affected Public: Third party conformity assessment bodies seeking 
acceptance of accreditation or continuing accreditation.

General Description of Collection

    The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (``CPSIA'') 
requires third party testing be conducted by a third party conformity 
assessment body for any children's product subject to a children's 
product safety rule, before importing for consumption or warehousing or 
distributing in commerce. The CPSIA allows accreditation of third party 
conformity assessment bodies to be conducted, either by the Commission, 
or by an independent accreditation organization designated by the 
Commission, and furthermore, requires that the Commission maintain on 
its Web site an up-to-date list of entities that have been accredited 
to assess conformity with children's product safety rules. With the 
exception of firewalled third party conformity assessment bodies, the 
Commission has chosen to accept the accreditation of third party 
conformity assessment bodies that meet accreditation requirements of an 
independent accreditation organization.
    To assess a third party conformity assessment body's qualifications 
for acceptance by CPSC, information related to location, accreditation, 
and ownership must be collected from third party conformity assessment 
bodies. The CPSC uses an online collection form, CPSC Form 223, to 
gather information from third party conformity assessment bodies 
voluntarily seeking acceptance by CPSC. The information collected 
relates to location, accreditation, and ownership. The Commission staff 
uses this information to assess:
     A third party conformity assessment body's status as 
either an independent third party conformity assessment body, a 
government-owned or government-controlled conformity assessment body, 
or a firewalled conformity assessment body;
     Qualifications for acceptance by CPSC to test for 
compliance to specified children's product safety rules; and
     Eligibility for acceptance on the CPSC Web site.
    Part 1112 requires the collection of information in CPSC Form 223:

[[Page 62734]]

     Upon initial application by the third party conformity 
assessment body for acceptance by CPSC;
     Whenever there is a change to accreditation or ownership 
information; and
     At least every 2 years as part of a regular audit process.

Burden Estimates

    The CPSC estimates the burden of the collection of information in 
CPSC Form 223 is as follows:

                                        Estimated Annual Reporting Burden
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                                     Number of     Frequency  of   Total annual      Hours per
            Activity                respondents      responses       responses       response       Total hours
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Initial Registration............              40               1              40               1              40
Re-Registration.................             243               1             243               1             243
Changes in Information..........               2               1               2            0.25             0.5
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    Total.......................  ..............  ..............  ..............  ..............           283.5
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    These estimates are based on the following information:
     From March 23, 2015 to March 23, 2016, 39 new third party 
conformity assessment bodies have registered with the CPSC; 36 
registered during the previous 12 months. Therefore, we estimate the 
number of third party conformity assessment bodies who would register 
initially each year for the next 3 years would be 40.
     Under 16 CFR part 1112, third party conformity assessment 
bodies are required to resubmit CPSC Form 223 every 2 years. Because 
all third party conformity assessment bodies have not submitted their 
first CPSC Form 223s at the same time, only about half would be 
expected to resubmit a CPSC Form 223 in any one year. As of March 2016, 
487 third party conformity assessment bodies have registered with CPSC. 
Approximately half (243) of these firms would be required to re-
register with CPSC each year.
     Under 16 CFR part 1112, third party conformity assessment 
bodies are required to ensure that the information submitted on CPSC 
Form 223 is current and must submit a new CPSC Form 223 whenever the 
information changes. Based on current experience with third party 
conformity assessment bodies, we estimate that two third party 
conformity assessment bodies will make revisions per year to update 
their information. A change in information is a change that does not 
require review of laboratory accreditation documents, such as scope or 
test methods. Examples of revised information include changes in the 
Web site URL, name of the laboratory, and name of point of contact.
    The total burden, therefore, is 283.5 hours, which we will round up 
to 284 hours. We estimate that hourly compensation for the time 
required for recordkeeping is $32.82 per hour (U.S. Bureau of Labor 
Statistics, ``Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,'' Table 9, 
total compensation for sales, office, and related workers in goods-
producing industries, December 2015: http://www.bls.gov/ncs). The total 
cost burden to the respondents is approximately $9,321 ($32.82 x 284 
hours = $9,321.88).
    We received one comment on the announcement of the agency's 
intention to seek extension of approval of this collection of 
information. The comment is out of scope because it addresses 
collecting and tracking safety information about children's products. 
The commenter asserts that without some type of registration or 
monitoring devise in place, proper problem identification will continue 
to be an issue. That is not the purpose of Form 223. Form 223, which is 
the subject of this PRA renewal request, addresses the application 
process for third party conformity assessment bodies that desire to be 
accepted by the CPSC for third party testing.

    Dated: September 7, 2016.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2016-21826 Filed 9-9-16; 8:45 am]
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