[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 239 (Wednesday, December 14, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76465-76466]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-27100]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[Docket No. CPSC-2009-0088]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request; Third Party Conformity Assessment Body 
Registration Form

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or Commission) announces that 
it has submitted a request for extension of approval for information 
collection requirements to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). 
The request concerns notification requirements applicable to third 
party conformity assessment bodies. OMB previously approved the 
collection of information under OMB Control No. 3041-0143. On October 
6, 2022, CPSC published a notice in the Federal Register to announce 
the agency's intention to seek extension of approval of the collection 
of information. The Commission received no comments. Therefore, by 
publication of this notice, the Commission announces that CPSC has 
submitted to the OMB a request for extension of approval of this 
collection of information.

DATES: Submit written or electronic comments on the collection of 
information by January 13, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to OMB at: 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. In 
addition, written comments that are sent to OMB also should be 
submitted electronically at: http://www.regulations.gov, under Docket 
No. CPSC-2009-0088.

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: On October 6, 2022, CPSC published a notice 
in the Federal Register to announce the agency's intention to seek 
extension of approval of the collection of information. 87 FR 60660. 
The Commission received no comments. Accordingly, CPSC seeks renewal 
approval for the following collection of information:
    Title: Third party conformity assessment bodies seeking acceptance 
of accreditation or continuing accreditation.
    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 the Consumer Product Conformity Assessment Body

[[Page 76466]]

Registration Form (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 that 
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. 
Therefore, approximately 303 of these firms would be expected to 
reregister 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 each year 2 third party 
conformity assessment bodies will make revisions to update their 
information. A change in information is a change that does not require 
review of laboratory accreditation documents, such as scope 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 body's 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.

Alberta E. Mills,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2022-27100 Filed 12-13-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P