[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 210 (Wednesday, November 3, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60614-60615]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-23995]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; 2022 Commodity Flow Survey

    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 July 23, 2021 during a 60-day comment period. This 
notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce.
    Title: 2022 Commodity Flow Survey.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0932.
    Form Number(s): CFS-1000.
    Type of Request: Regular submission, Request for a Reinstatement, 
with Change, of a Previously Approved Collection.
    Number of Respondents: 160,000.
    Average Hours per Response: Quarters 1 and 4-2.5 hours; Quarters 2 
and 3-1.5 hours.
    Burden Hours: 1,280,000.
    Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census Bureau plans to conduct the 2022 
Commodity Flow Survey (CFS), a component of the 2022 Economic Census, 
as it is the only comprehensive source of multi-modal, system-wide data 
on the volume and pattern of goods movement in the United States. The 
CFS is conducted in partnership with the Bureau of Transportation 
Statistics (BTS), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and 
Technology, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Pipeline 
and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), U.S. Department 
of Transportation.
    The survey provides a crucial set of statistics on the value, 
weight, mode, and distance of commodities shipped by mining, 
manufacturing, wholesale, and selected retail and services 
establishments, as well as auxiliary establishments that support these 
industries. The Census Bureau will publish these shipment 
characteristics for the nation, census regions and divisions, states, 
and CFS defined geographic areas. As with the 2017 Commodity Flow 
Survey, this survey also identifies export, hazardous material, and 
temperature-controlled shipments.
    BTS is mandated by Congress under Title 49 to collect economic data 
on transportation mode choice and goods movement. This information 
informs freight flows and is critical to understanding the use, 
performance, and condition of the nation's transportation system, as 
well as informing transportation investments. Data on the movement of 
freight also are important for effective analyses of changes in 
regional and local economic development, safety issues, and 
environmental concerns. They also provide the private sector with 
valuable data needed for critical decision-making on a variety of 
issues including market trends, analysis, and segmentation. Each day, 
governments, businesses, and consumers make countless decisions about 
where to go, how to get there, what to ship and which transportation 
modes to use. Transportation constantly responds to external forces 
such as shifting markets, changing demographics, safety concerns, 
weather conditions, energy and environmental constraints, and national 
defense requirements. Good decisions require having the right 
information in the right form at the right time.
    The CFS provides critical data to federal, state and local 
government agencies to make a wide range of transportation investment 
decisions for developing and maintaining an efficient transportation 
infrastructure that supports economic growth and competitiveness.
    Transportation planners require the periodic benchmarks provided by 
a continuing CFS to evaluate and respond to ongoing geographic shifts 
in production and distribution centers, as well as policies such as 
``just in time delivery.''
    The 2022 CFS will be an electronic reporting sample survey of 
approximately 160,000 business establishments in the mining, 
manufacturing, wholesale, and selected retail and services industries, 
as well as auxiliary establishments that support these industries. 
Respondents will report online for all four quarters of 2022, including 
the CFS expanded hazardous materials supplement in quarters 1 and 4.
    The CFS is the primary source of information about freight movement 
in the United States. Estimates of shipment characteristics are 
published at different levels of aggregation. The CFS produces summary 
statistics and a public use data file. The survey covers shipments from 
establishments in the mining, manufacturing, wholesale, and selected 
retail industries, as well as auxiliary establishments that support 
these industries. Federal agencies, state and local transportation 
planners and policy makers, and private sector transportation managers, 
analysts, and researchers strongly support the conduct of the CFS.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations.
    Frequency: The survey will be conducted quarterly over the course 
of one year.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C., Sections 8(b), 131 and, 193. 
Title 13, U.S.C. 224 and 225 require response. The BTS also has 
authority to collect these data based on its enabling legislation, 49 
U.S.C. 6302.
    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/

[[Page 60615]]

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 0607-0932.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2021-23995 Filed 11-2-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P