[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 238 (Thursday, December 10, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79472-79473]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-27112]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Emergency Beacon Registrations

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the 
general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and 
continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of 
our information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on August 19th, 2020 (85 FR 51021) during a 60-day 
comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public 
comments.
    Agency: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
Commerce.
    Title: Emergency Beacon Registrations.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0295.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission: Extension of a current 
information collection.
    Number of Respondents: 208,762.
    Average Hours per Response: 15 minutes.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 52,191.
    Needs and Uses: The United States, Canada, France, and Russia 
operate the Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking (COSPAS/SARSAT), 
a satellite system with equipment that can detect and locate ships, 
aircraft and individuals in distress if an emergency radio beacon is 
being carried. This system is used to detect digitally encoded signals 
in the 406.000-406.100 MHz range, coming from these emergency beacons. 
The 406.000-406.100 MHz beacons transmit a unique identifier, making 
possible the ability to combine previously collected data associated 
with that beacon and transmit this vital data along with the beacon's 
position to the appropriate rescue coordination center.
    Persons buying 406.000-406.100 MHz emergency radio beacons are 
required to register them with NOAA prior to installation. These 
requirements are contained in Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 
regulations at 47 CFR 80.1061, 47 CFR 87.199 and 47 CFR 95.1402.
    The registration data is used to facilitate a rescue and to 
suppress the costly consequences of false alarms, which if unsuppressed 
would initiate the launch of a rescue mission and thereby deplete 
limited resources and possibly result in the loss of lives. This is 
accomplished through the use of the data provided to the rescue forces 
from the beacon registration database maintained by the NOAA's United 
States Mission Control Center (USMCC) for Search and Rescue, to contact 
the distressed person(s) or alternate party via a phone call or radio 
broadcast. Other data provides rescuers with descriptive material of 
the element in distress. The registration information must be kept up-
to-date.
    Four registration forms are used. The EPIRB (Emergency Position 
Indicating Radio Beacon) form is used for nautical

[[Page 79473]]

beacons. The ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter) form is used for 
aircraft beacons. The PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) is used to register 
portable beacons carried by individuals. Ship Security Alerting System 
(SSAS) beacons are carried aboard ships, are similar to EPIRBs and are 
used in the event of an emergency situation such as piracy or 
terrorism.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit organizations; Not-for-profit institutions; State, Local, or 
Tribal government; Federal government.
    Frequency: As Required.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 
regulations at 47 CFR 80.1061, 47 CFR 87.199 and 47 CFR 95.1402.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently 
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search 
function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB 
Control Number 0648-0295.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2020-27112 Filed 12-9-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-HR-P