[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 86 (Wednesday, May 4, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26389-26391]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-09516]



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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2022-0010]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for 
Comment; Confidential Business Information

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments on a reinstatement, without 
change, of a previously approved collection of information.

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SUMMARY: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 
invites public comments about our intention to request approval from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a reinstatement without 
change of a previously approved information collection. Before a 
Federal agency can collect certain information from the public, it must 
receive approval from OMB. Under procedures established by the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, before seeking OMB approval, Federal 
agencies must solicit public comment on proposed collections of 
information, including extensions and reinstatements of previously 
approved collections. This notice describes one collection of 
information for which NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval, relating to 
confidential business information.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before July 5, 2022.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments to the docket number identified in 
the heading of this document by any of the following methods:
     Electronic Submissions: Go to the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions 
for submitting comments.
     Fax: (202) 493-2251.
     Mail or Hand Delivery: Docket Management, U.S. Department 
of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Room W12-
140, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, except on Federal holidays. To be sure someone is there to help 
you, please call (202) 366-9322 before coming.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and 
docket number for this notice. Note that all comments received will be 
posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any 
personal information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading 
below.
    Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 
comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on 
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit https://www.transportation.gov/privacy.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov or the street 
address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the 
dockets via internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access 
to background documents, contact Dan Rabinovitz in the Office of the 
Chief Counsel, [email protected], National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. Please identify the relevant 
collection of information by referring to its title and OMB Control 
Number (Confidential Business Information, 2127-0025).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), before an agency submits a proposed 
collection of information to OMB for approval, it must first publish a 
document in the Federal Register providing a 60-day comment period and 
otherwise consult with members of the public and affected agencies 
concerning each proposed collection of information. The OMB has 
promulgated regulations describing what must be included in such a 
document. Under OMB's regulation (at 5 CFR 1320.8(d)), an agency must 
ask for public comment on the following: (a) Whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the agency, including whether the information will 
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of 
the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) how to enhance 
the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; 
and (d) how to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses. In compliance with these requirements, NHTSA 
asks for public comments on the following proposed collection of 
information for which the agency is seeking approval from OMB.
    Title: Confidential Business Information
    OMB Control Number: 2127-0025
    Form Number(s): N/A
    Type of Request: Reinstatement without change of a previously 
approved information collection
    Type of Review Requested: Regular
    Requested Expiration Date of Approval: 3 years from date of 
approval

Summary of the Collection of Information

    Persons who submit information to the agency and seek to have the 
agency withhold some or all of that information from public disclosure, 
including under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, 
must provide the agency with sufficient support that justifies the 
confidential treatment of that information. A request for confidential 
treatment must meet the requirements set forth in 49 CFR part 512. For 
example, a request must be submitted to the Office of the Chief Counsel 
and include: (1) A letter to the Chief Counsel that contains supporting 
information to justify a request, per Part 512.8; (2) a certificate in 
support of a request for confidential treatment, per Part 512.4(b) and 
Appendix A; (3) the material claimed to include confidential business 
information--with proper confidential markings, per Part 512.6; and (4) 
a complete copy of the material--with redactions over the portions for 
which confidential treatment is claimed (i.e., so it cannot be seen), 
and the rest of the material unredacted, per Part 512.5(a)(2).
    Part 512 helps ensure that information submitted under a claim of 
confidentiality is properly evaluated under prevailing legal standards 
and, where appropriate, accorded confidential treatment. The 
requirements in Part 512 apply to all information submitted to NHTSA, 
except as provided in section 512.2(b), for which a determination is 
sought that the material is entitled to confidential treatment under 5 
U.S.C. 552(b), most often because it constitutes confidential business 
information as described in 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4), and should be withheld 
from public disclosure. To facilitate the evaluation process, in their 
requests for confidential treatment, submitters of information may make 
reference to certain limited classes of information specified in 
Appendix B that are presumptively treated as confidential, such as 
blueprints and engineering drawings, future specific

[[Page 26390]]

model plans (under limited conditions), and future vehicle production 
or sales figures for specific models (under limited conditions). 
Additionally, Appendix C's class determinations, which are specific to 
early warning reporting (EWR) data, grant presumptive confidentiality 
to certain EWR data, with exceptions including information on death, 
injury, and property damage claims and notices, which would be handled 
on an individual basis according to the procedures of Part 512. 72 FR 
59434 (Oct. 19, 2007).\1\
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    \1\ The collection of EWR data is covered under OMB Control No. 
2127-0616.
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Description of the Need for the Information and the Proposed or Actual 
Use of the Information

    NHTSA receives confidential information for use in its activities, 
which include investigations, rulemaking actions, program planning and 
management, and program evaluation. The information is needed to ensure 
the agency has sufficient relevant information for decision-making in 
connection with these activities. Some of this information is submitted 
voluntarily, as in rulemaking, and some is submitted in response to 
compulsory information requests, as in investigations. If Part 512 were 
not in existence, the agency would still receive this confidential 
information, either through voluntary submissions or through compulsory 
submissions in response to agency requests issued pursuant to its 
information gathering powers. The only difference would be that the 
determinations of whether the information should be accorded 
confidential treatment would be less structured and, ultimately, more 
expensive and time-consuming for both the entities requesting 
confidentiality and the agency.

Affected Public

    This collection of information applies to entities that submit to 
the agency information that the entities wish to have withheld from 
public disclosure, including under FOIA. Thus, the collection of 
information applies to entities that are subject to laws administered 
by the agency or agency regulations and are under an obligation to 
provide information to the agency. It also includes entities that 
voluntarily submit information to the agency. Such entities would 
include manufacturers of motor vehicles and of motor vehicle equipment. 
Importers are considered to be manufacturers. It may also include other 
entities that are involved with motor vehicles or motor vehicle 
equipment but are not manufacturers.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 165
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 5,575 hours.
    Potential submitters of requests for confidential treatment of 
information include vehicle manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, and 
registered importers. In recent years, NHTSA has received an average of 
approximately 500 requests for confidential treatment of information 
annually from approximately 75 unique requesters. Last year, however, 
NHTSA began receiving more requests for confidential treatment after 
NHTSA issued the Standing General Order 2021-01 (General Order) which 
requires certain named entities to submit reports on crashes involving 
ADS or Level 2 ADAS.\2\ As a result, NHTSA estimates it will receive an 
additional 1,575 requests for confidential treatment each year from an 
estimated 110 unique respondents, for a total of 2,075 requests from 
165 unique respondents (NHTSA estimates that there will be some overlap 
between respondents submitting requests in connection with General 
Order reporting and those submitting non-General Order requests). NHTSA 
estimates that most requests for confidential treatment have come, and 
will continue to come, from large manufacturers.
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    \2\ More information about the General Order is available on 
NHTSA's website at https://www.nhtsa.gov/laws-regulations/standing-general-order-crash-reporting-levels-driving-automation-2-5 and in 
NHTSA's information collection request with OMB control number 2127-
0754.
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    The agency receives requests for confidential treatment that vary 
in size--from requests that ask the agency to withhold as little as a 
portion of one page to voluminous electronic files. An entity 
requesting confidential treatment must provide a written statement in 
support of a request for confidential treatment that explains why the 
submitted information should be withheld from public disclosure, 
including the legal basis for withholding, along with a certification. 
See 49 CFR part 512. In the case of submissions by large manufacturers, 
which often consist of hundreds of pages of information, it takes, on 
average, eight hours to prepare a submission. On the other hand, the 
typical small business that submits a single page document should only 
need about five (5) minutes to fully comply with the regulation. To 
estimate the total burden associated with this information collection, 
NHTSA has used the more conservative estimate that each non-General 
Order submission will take approximately 8 hours. Therefore, the non-
General Order total annual burden is estimated at 4,000 hours (8 hours 
x 500 requests/year). Additionally, NHTSA estimates that each General 
Order submission will take approximately 1 hour.\3\ Therefore, the 
General Order total annual burden is estimated at 1,575 hours (1 hour x 
1,575 requests/year). Finally, the combined total annual burden is 
estimated at 5,575 hours for 49 CFR part 512.
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    \3\ NHTSA estimates that requests for confidential treatment 
pursuant to the General Order will only take 1 hour because NHTSA's 
online portal for General Order submissions helps automate the 
process for requests and the General Order only allows entities to 
request confidential treatment for three (3) fields per incident 
report. Consequently, the limited General Order requests for 
confidential treatment are, on average, remarkably smaller than the 
voluminous non-General Order requests.
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    To calculate the labor cost associated with submitting requests for 
confidential treatment, NHTSA looked at wage estimates for the type of 
personnel involved with compiling and submitting the documents. NHTSA 
estimated the total labor costs associated with these burden hours by 
looking at the average wage for Paralegals and Legal Assistants. The 
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that the average hourly wage 
for Paralegals and Legal Assistants (BLS Occupation code 23-2011) is 
$27.22. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that private industry 
workers' wages represent 70.4% of total labor compensation costs. 
Therefore, NHTSA estimates the hourly labor costs to be $38.67 for BLS 
Occupation code 23-2011. Consequently, NHTSA estimates the total labor 
cost associated with the 5,575 burden hours to be $215,585. This 
estimate was derived by multiplying the estimated annual burden of 
5,575 hours with the mean hourly labor cost estimate for Paralegals and 
Legal Assistants of $38.67 per hour. Table 1 provides a summary of the 
estimated burden hours and labor costs associated with those 
submissions.

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                                            Table 1--Burden Estimates
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                   Estimated  burden
Annual  responses    per  response     Average  hourly     Labor cost  per      Total burden       Total labor
                        (hours)           labor cost          submission            hours             costs
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          2,075              2.687             $38.67              $309.36              5,575          $215,585
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    Since 49 CFR part 512 does not require those persons who request 
confidential treatment to keep copies of records or requests submitted 
to us, there are no associated recordkeeping burdens.\4\
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    \4\ NHTSA has a separate record retention regulation (49 CFR 
part 576) covered by a Paperwork Reduction Act clearance, OMB 
Control No. 2127-0042.
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: $165.
    The only cost to respondents is expected to be postage costs. NHTSA 
estimates that each mailed response costs $8.95 (priority flat rate 
envelope from USPS). Historically, Part 512 requests were submitted by 
mail. However, at the onset of the COVID-19 public health emergency, 
NHTSA began accepting Part 512 submissions electronically and requested 
that submissions not be mailed. NHTSA now estimates that no more than 
1% of submissions are submitted by mail. Accordingly, NHTSA estimates 
the total annual costs for this information collection to be $186 
(2,075 submissions x .01 x $8.95 = $185.71, rounded to $186).
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspects of 
this information collection, including (a) whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the Department, including whether the information will 
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Department's estimate 
of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways to 
enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on respondents, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter 
35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29.

Ann E. Carlson,
Chief Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2022-09516 Filed 5-3-22; 8:45 am]
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