[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 193 (Thursday, October 6, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60660-60661]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-21726]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[Docket No. CPSC-2009-0088]


Proposed Extension of Approval of Information Collection; Comment 
Request; Third Party Conformity Assessment Body Registration Form

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the 
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) requests comment on a 
proposed extension of approval of information collection regarding the 
requirements pertaining to a third party conformity assessment bodies 
registration form. CPSC will consider all comments received in response 
to this notice before requesting an extension 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 5, 2022.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2009-
0088, by any of the following methods:
    Electronic Submissions: Submit electronic comments to the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal at: www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for 
submitting comments. CPSC does not accept comments submitted by 
electronic mail (email), except as described below. CPSC encourages you 
to submit electronic comments by using the Federal eRulemaking Portal, 
as described above.
    Mail/hand delivery/courier/confidential Written Submissions: Submit 
comments by mail, hand delivery, or courier to: Office of the 
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, 4330 East West Highway, 
Bethesda, MD 20814; telephone: (301) 504-7479. If you wish to submit 
confidential business information, trade secret information, or other 
sensitive or protected information that you do not want to be available 
to the public, you can submit such material by mail, hand delivery, or 
courier, or you can email it to: [email protected].
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and 
docket number. CPSC may post all comments without change, including any 
personal identifiers, contact information, or other personal 
information provided, to: www.regulations.gov. Do not submit through 
this website: confidential business information, trade secret 
information, or other sensitive or protected information that you do 
not want to be available to the public. If you wish to submit such 
information, please submit it according to the instructions for mail/
hand delivery/courier/confidential written submissions.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to: www.regulations.gov, and insert the docket 
number, CPSC-2009-0088, into the ``Search'' box, and follow the 
prompts.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cynthia Gillham, Consumer Product 
Safety Commission, 4330 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; (301) 
504-7991, 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.
    Estimated Burden: 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............              26               1              26               1              26
Re-Registration.................             303               1             303               1             303
Changes in Information..........               2               1               2            0.25             0.5
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    Total.......................  ..............  ..............  ..............  ..............           329.5
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    These estimates are based on the following information:
     Based on applications received from FY 2013 to date, we 
estimate the number of third party conformity assessment bodies who 
would register each year for the next 3 years would be 26.
     Under 16 CFR part 1112, third party conformity assessment 
bodies are required to resubmit CPSC Form 223 every 2 years. As 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 1 year. As of August 2022, 606 third 
party conformity assessment bodies have registered with CPSC. 
Approximately half (303) 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

[[Page 60661]]

or test methods. Examples of revised information include changes in the 
website URL, name of the laboratory, and name of laboratory point of 
contact.
    The total burden, therefore, is 329.5 hours, which we round up to 
330 hours. We estimate that hourly compensation for the time required 
for recordkeeping is $36.59 per hour (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 
``Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC),'' Table 4: Total 
compensation for private industry workers in sales and office 
occupations within goods-producing industries, June 2022, public news 
release url: www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ecec_09202022.pdf). The 
total cost burden to the respondents is approximately $12,075 ($36.59 x 
330 hours = $12,074.70).
    General Description of Collection: The Consumer Product Safety 
Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) requires third party testing to be 
conducted by a third party conformity assessment body for any 
children's product that is 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. In 
addition, the CPSIA requires that the Commission maintain on its 
website 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, which 
must be approved by Commission order as stated in 16 CFR 1112.13(b), 
the Commission has chosen to accept the accreditation of third party 
conformity assessment bodies that meet accreditation requirements of an 
independent accreditation organization. 16 CFR 1112.13(a).
    To assess a third party conformity assessment bodies' 
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. Commission staff uses this information to assess:
     A third party conformity assessment body's status as 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 website.
    Part 1112 requires the collection of information in CPSC Form 223:
     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.

Request for Comments

    CPSC solicits written comments from all interested persons about 
the proposed collection of information. CPSC specifically solicits 
information relevant to the following topics:
     Whether the collection of information described is 
necessary for the proper performance of CPSC's functions, including 
whether the information would have practical utility;
     Whether the estimated burden of the proposed collection of 
information is accurate;
     Whether the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected could be enhanced; and
     Whether the burden imposed by the collection of 
information could be minimized by use of automated, electronic, or 
other technological collection techniques, or other forms of 
information technology.

Alberta E. Mills,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2022-21726 Filed 10-5-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P