[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 216 (Tuesday, November 8, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78570-78574]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-26963]


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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), 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 December 8, 2016.

ADDRESSES: OMB recommends that written comments be faxed to the Office 
of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Attn: CPSC Desk Officer, 
FAX: 202-395-6974, or emailed to [email protected]. All 
comments should be identified by Docket No. CPSC-2010-0041. In 
addition, written comments also should be submitted at http://www.regulations.gov, under Docket No. CPSC-2010-0041, or by mail/hand 
delivery/courier (for paper, disk, or CD-ROM submissions), preferably 
in five copies, to: Office of the Secretary, U.S. Consumer Product 
Safety Commission, Room 820, 4330 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 
20814; telephone (301) 504-7923. For access to the docket to read 
background documents or comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov.

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: In the Federal Register of August 19, 2016 
(81 FR 55449), the CPSC published a notice in accordance with 
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 
35). This notice announced CPSC's intention to seek extension of 
approval of a collection of information for a database on the safety of 
consumer products and other products and substances regulated by the 
Commission (Database), as required by section 212 of the Consumer 
Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). We received one general 
comment in support of the Database in response to the August 19 notice. 
The commenter noted that the existence of the Database may reduce FOIA 
requests. Nothing in the comment addressed CPSC's burden analysis. 
Accordingly, by publication of this notice, the Commission announces 
that it has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a 
request for extension of approval of the collection of information for 
the Database without change.

A. Background

    Section 212 of the CPSIA added section 6A to the Consumer Product 
Safety Act (CPSA), which requires the 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. 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. As explained 
in the August 19, 2016 Federal Register notice (81 FR 55449), the 
Commission sought, and 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. Details about the 
information collected through the Database are provided in the August 
19, 2016 notice.

B. Estimated Burden

1. Estimated Annual Burden for Respondents

    We estimate the burden of this collection of information as 
follows:
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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 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 Web site...............
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...............
                                 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................           9,994  ..............          14,639  ..............           3,534
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[[Page 78571]]


                     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\
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.................
                                 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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.
    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 6 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).

  Table 3--Estimated Burden To Enter a General Comment in the Database
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                                                              General
               Group                       Company           comments
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Group 1 (>=50 comments)...........  Company A...........              15
                                    Company B...........              45
                                     Company C..........              30
                                    Company D...........              15
Group 2 (6-49 comments)...........  Company A...........             105
                                    Company B...........              45
                                    Company C...........             150
                                    Company D...........              15

[[Page 78572]]

 
Group 3 (<== 5 comments)..........  Company A...........             240
                                    Company B...........              60
                                    Company 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, based on the 
date and time stamps on these records, 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 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

[[Page 78573]]

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.

                                  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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[[Page 78574]]

    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.

    Dated: November 3, 2016.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2016-26963 Filed 11-7-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6355-01-P