[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 30 (Tuesday, February 14, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9496-9500]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03080]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[Docket No. CPSC-2010-0041]


Collection of Information; Proposed Extension of Approval; 
Comment Request--Publicly Available Consumer Product Safety Information 
Database

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the 
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announces that the CPSC has 
submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for 
extension of approval of a collection of information for the Publicly 
Available Consumer Product Safety Information Database, previously 
under OMB Control No. 3041-0146. On December 8, 2022, the CPSC 
published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the agency's 
intent to seek this extension. CPSC received one comment in support of 
the collection of information in response to that notice. By 
publication of this notice, the Commission announces that CPSC has 
submitted to the OMB a request for extension of approval of that 
collection of information, without change.

DATES: Written comments on this request for extension of approval of 
information collection requirements should be submitted by March 16, 
2023.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments about this request by email: 
OIRA[email protected] or fax: 202-395-6881. Comments by mail 
should be sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, 
Attn: OMB Desk Officer for the CPSC, Office of Management and Budget, 
Room 10235, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503. In addition, 
written comments that are sent to OMB, also should be submitted 
electronically at: http://www.regulations.gov, under Docket No. CPSC-
2010-0041.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, or a copy of 
the supporting statement, contact: Cynthia Gillham, Consumer Product 
Safety Commission, 4330 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; (301) 
504-7791, or by email to: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Background

    Section 212 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 
(CPSIA) added to the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) a new section 
6A, which requires the CPSC to establish and maintain a publicly 
available, searchable database (Database) on the safety of consumer 
products and other products or substances regulated by the CPSC. Among 
other things, section 6A requires the CPSC to collect reports of harm 
from the public for potential publication in the publicly available 
Database, and to collect and publish comments from manufacturers about 
reports of harm.
    In a proposed rule published on May 24, 2010 (75 FR 29156), the 
CPSC announced that a proposed collection of information in conjunction 
with the Database, called the Publicly Available Consumer Product 
Safety Information Database, had been submitted to OMB for review and 
clearance under 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520. The CPSC issued a final rule on 
the Database on December 9, 2010 (75 FR 76832). The final rule 
interprets various statutory requirements in section 6A of the CPSA 
pertaining to the information to be included in the Database. The final 
rule also establishes provisions regarding submitting reports of harm; 
providing notice of reports of harm to manufacturers; publishing 
reports of harm and manufacturer comments in the Database; and dealing 
with confidential and materially inaccurate information.
    OMB approved the collection of information for the Database under 
control number 3041-0146. OMB's most recent extension of approval, 
issued on March 31, 2020, will expire on March 31, 2023. Accordingly, 
the CPSC is seeking an extension of approval of this collection of 
information.

B. Response To Comment

    One individual commenter stated that this collection of information 
is necessary for general consumer safety, but that the public lacks 
knowledge of the Database. The commenter states that CPSC should 
prioritize a campaign regarding the existence and purpose of the 
Database to benefit consumers. The commenter states that the burden 
estimates could be reduced through automated and electronic collection 
techniques, and that these options should be explored, but that CPSC 
must maintain data quality. CPSC appreciates the commenter's feedback 
and generally agrees with the commenter's statements. CPSC is not 
making any changes to the burden estimates for this information 
collection based on this comment.

C. Information Collected Through the Database

    The primary purpose of this information collection is to populate 
the publicly searchable Database of consumer product safety information 
mandated by section 6A of the CPSA. The Database information collection 
has four components: reports of harm, manufacturer comments, branding 
information, and the Small Batch Manufacturer Registry (SBMR).
    Reports of Harm: Reports of harm communicate information regarding 
an injury, illness, or death, or any risk (as determined by CPSC) of 
injury, illness, or death, relating to the use of a consumer product or 
other product or substance regulated by the CPSC. Reports can be 
submitted to the CPSC by consumers; local, state, or federal government 
agencies; healthcare professionals; child service providers; public 
safety entities; and others. Reports may be submitted via the CPSC 
website (www.SaferProducts.gov), by telephone via a CPSC call center, 
or by email, fax, or mail using the incident report form (available for 
download or printing via the CPSC website). Reports may also originate 
as a free-form letter or email. Submitters must consent to including 
their report of harm in the publicly searchable Database.
    Manufacturer Comments: Pursuant to the CPSIA, CPSC transmits a 
report of harm to the manufacturer or private labeler identified in the 
report, and the manufacturer or private labeler may then submit a 
comment to CPSC related to the report of harm (hereinafter 
``manufacturer comment''). Manufacturer comments may be submitted 
through the business portal, by email, mail, or fax. The business 
portal is a feature of the Database that allows manufacturers and 
private labelers who register on the business portal to receive reports 
of harm and comment on such reports through the business portal. Use of 
the business portal expedites the receipt of reports of harm and 
business response times.
    A manufacturer or private labeler may request that the CPSC 
designate information in a report of harm as confidential. Such a 
request may be made using the business portal, by email, by mail, or by 
fax. Additionally, any person or entity reviewing a report of harm or 
comment from a manufacturer or private labeler, either before or after 
publication in the Database, may request that the report or comment, or 
portions of the report or comment, be excluded from the

[[Page 9497]]

Database because it contains materially inaccurate information. Such a 
request may be made by manufacturers or private labelers using the 
business portal, by email, mail, or fax, and may be submitted by anyone 
else by email, mail, or fax.
    Branding Information: Using the business portal, registered 
businesses may voluntarily submit branding information to assist CPSC 
in correctly and timely routing to them reports of harm involving their 
products. Brand names may be licensed to another entity for use in 
labeling consumer products manufactured by that entity. CPSC's 
understanding of licensing arrangements for consumer products helps to 
ensure that the correct manufacturer or private labeler is timely 
notified regarding a report of harm.
    Small Batch Manufacturers Registry: The business portal also 
contains the SBMR, which is the online mechanism by which ``small batch 
manufacturers'' (as defined in the CPSA) can identify themselves to 
obtain relief from certain third-party testing requirements for 
children's products. To register as a small batch manufacturer, a 
business must attest that the company's income level, and the number of 
units of the covered product manufactured for which relief is sought, 
both fall within the statutory limits to receive relief from third 
party testing.

D. Estimated Burden

1. Estimated Annual Burden for Respondents

    We estimate the burden of this collection of information as 
follows:

                         Table 1--Estimated Annual Reporting Burden for Reports of Harm
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                                     Number of       Response      Total annual    Minutes  per    Total burden,
         Collection type            respondents    frequency \1\     responses       response      in hours \2\
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Reports of Harm--submitted                 4,498            1.45           6,522              12           1,304
 through website................
Reports of Harm --submitted by             1,032            1.33           1,373              10             229
 phone..........................
Reports of Harm--submitted by                296            3.71           1,098              20             366
 mail, e-mail, fax..............
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    Total.......................           5,826  ..............           8,993  ..............           1,899
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                     Table 2--Estimated Annual Reporting Burden for Manufacturer Submissions
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                                     Number of       Response      Total annual     Minutes per    Total burden,
         Collection type            respondents    frequency \1\     responses       response      in hours \2\
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Manufacturer Comments--submitted             437            4.53           1,980             117           3,861
 through website................
Manufacturer Comments--submitted             115            1.44             166             147             407
 by mail, email, fax............
Requests to Treat Information as               1            1.00               1              42               1
 Confidential--submitted through
 website........................
Requests to Treat Information as               0             N/A               0              72               0
 Confidential--submitted by
 mail, email, fax...............
Requests to Treat Information as              97            1.46             142             165             391
 Materially Inaccurate--
 submitted through website......
Requests to Treat Information as              22            1.23              27             195              88
 Materially Inaccurate--
 submitted by mail, email, fax..
Voluntary Brand Identification..             513            1.00             513              10              86
Small Batch Manufacturer                   1,747            1.00           1,747              10             291
 Identification.................
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    Total.......................           2,932  ..............           4,576  ..............           5,125
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    Based 1 2 on the data set forth in Tables 1 and 2 above, 
the annual reporting cost is estimated to be $443,089. This estimate is 
based on the sum of two estimated total figures for reports of harm and 
manufacturer or private labeler submissions. The estimated number of 
respondents and responses are based on the actual responses received in 
FY 2022. We assume that the number of responses and respondents will be 
similar in future years.
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    \1\ Frequency of responses is calculated by dividing the number 
of responses by the number of respondents.
    \2\ Numbers have been rounded.
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    Reports of Harm: Table 1 sets forth the data used to estimate the 
burden associated with submitting reports of harm. Since the previous 
renewal of the collection, the number of annual reports of harm 
submitted by mail, email or fax decreased from 15,314 to 1,098; reports 
of harm submitted by phone decreased from 1,418 to 1,373; and reports 
of harm submitted through the website increased from 6,023 to 6,522.
    We had previously estimated the time associated with the electronic 
and telephone submission of reports of harm at 12 and 10 minutes, 
respectively; and because we have had no indication that these 
estimates are not appropriate or accurate, we used those figures for 
present purposes as well. We estimate that the time associated with a 
paper or PDF form would be 20 minutes, on average.
    To estimate the costs for submitting reports of harm, we multiplied 
the estimated total burden hours associated with reports of harm (1,304 
hours + 229 hours + 366 hours = 1,899 hours) by an estimated total 
compensation for all workers in private industry of $38.61 per hour,\3\ 
which results in an estimated cost of $73,320 (1,899 hours x $38.61 per 
hour = $73,320 FY22).
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    \3\ U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table 
4 of the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC), Private 
Industry workers, by occupational group, Mar 2022 (data extracted on 
10/3/2022 from: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ecec_06162022.pdf).
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    Manufacturer Submissions: Tables 2 and 3 set forth the data used to 
estimate the burden associated with manufacturer and private labeler 
submissions to the Database. We observed that a large percentage of the 
general comments come from a few businesses, and we assumed that the 
experience of a business that submits many comments each year would be 
different from one that submits only a few. Accordingly, previously, we 
divided all responding businesses into three groups based on the number 
of

[[Page 9498]]

general comments submitted, and then we selected several businesses to 
contact from each group. The first group contacted consisted of 
businesses that submitted 50 or more comments, accounting for 31 
percent of all general comments received. The second group contacted 
included businesses that submitted 6 to 49 comments, accounting for 39 
percent of all general comments received. The last group contacted 
included businesses that submitted no more than 5 comments, accounting 
for 30 percent of all general comments received. We asked each company 
how long it typically takes to research, compose, and enter a comment 
or a claim of materially inaccurate information.
    To estimate the burden associated with submitting a general comment 
regarding a report of harm through the business portal, we averaged the 
burden provided by each company within each group, and then we 
calculated a weighted average from the three groups, weighting each 
group by the proportion of comments received from that group. We found 
that the average time to submit a general comment regarding a report of 
harm is 117 minutes, based on the data in Table 3 (((15 minutes + 45 
minutes + 30 minutes + 15 minutes)/4 companies)*.31 + ((105 minutes + 
45 minutes + 150 minutes + 15 minutes)/4 companies)*.39 + ((240 minutes 
+ 60 minutes + 480 minutes)/3 companies)*.30 = 117 minutes).

                      Table 3--Estimated Burden To Enter a General Comment in the Database
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                                                                                             General comments
                     Group                                       Company                        (minutes)
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Group 1 (>=50 comments)........................  Company A.............................                       15
                                                 Company B.............................                       45
                                                 Company C.............................                       30
                                                 Company D.............................                       15
Group 2 (6-49 comments)........................  Company A.............................                      105
                                                 Company B.............................                       45
                                                 Company C.............................                      150
                                                 Company D.............................                       15
Group 3 (<=5 comments).........................  Company A.............................                      240
                                                 Company B.............................                       60
                                                 Company C.............................                      480
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    Registered businesses generally submit comments through the CPSC 
website. Unregistered businesses submit comments by mail, email, or 
fax. We estimate that submitting comments via mail, email, or fax takes 
a little longer because often, we must ask businesses to amend their 
submissions to include the required certifications. Thus, we estimated 
that, on average, comments submitted by mail, email, or fax take 30 
minutes longer than comments submitted through the CPSC website (117 
minutes + 30 minutes = 147 minutes).
    The submission of a claim of materially inaccurate information is a 
relatively rare event for all respondents, so we averaged all responses 
together. Eight of the businesses contacted had submitted claims of 
materially inaccurate information. We found that the average time to 
submit a claim that a report of harm contains a material inaccuracy is 
165 minutes ((30 minutes + 90 minutes + 45 minutes + 90 minutes + 60 
minutes + 660 minutes + 45 minutes + 300 minutes)/8 companies = 165 
minutes).
    Registered businesses generally submit claims of materially 
inaccurate information through the business portal. Unregistered 
businesses submit such claims by mail, email, or fax. We estimate that 
submitting claims via mail, email, or fax takes a little longer because 
we often must ask businesses to amend their submission to include the 
required certifications. Thus, we estimate that, on average, claims 
submitted by mail, email, or fax take 30 minutes longer than those 
submitted through the CPSC website (165 minutes + 30 minutes = 195 
minutes).
    The submission of a claim of confidential information is another 
relatively rare event for all respondents, so we averaged all responses 
together. Five of the businesses contacted had submitted claims of 
confidential information. We found that the average time to submit a 
claim that a report of harm contains confidential information through 
the CPSC website is 42 minutes ((45 minutes + 15 minutes + 60 minutes + 
30 minutes + 60 minutes)/5 companies = 42 minutes).
    Registered businesses generally submit confidential information 
claims through the business portal. Unregistered businesses submit 
confidential information claims by mail, email, or fax. We estimate 
that submitting claims by mail, email, or fax takes a little longer 
because often, we must ask businesses to amend their submission to 
include the required certifications. Thus, we estimate that a 
confidential information claim submitted by mail, email, or fax would 
take 30 minutes longer than those submitted through the CPSC website 
(42 minutes + 30 minutes = 72 minutes).
    For voluntary brand identification, we estimate that a response 
would take 10 minutes, on average. Most responses consist only of the 
brand name and a product description. In many cases, a business will 
submit multiple entries in a brief period of time, and we can see from 
the date and time stamps on these records that an entry often takes 
less than 2 minutes. CPSC staff enters the same data in a similar form, 
based on our own research, and that experience was also factored into 
our estimate.
    For small batch manufacturer identification, we estimate that a 
response would take 10 minutes, on average. The form consists of three 
check boxes and the information should be readily accessible to the 
respondent.
    The responses summarized in Table 2 are generally submitted by 
manufacturers. To avoid underestimating the cost associated with the 
collection of this data, we assigned the higher hourly wage associated 
with a manager or professional in goods-producing industries to these 
tasks. To estimate the cost of manufacturer submissions, we multiplied 
the estimated total burden hours in Table 2 (5,125 hours), by an 
estimated total compensation for a manager or professional in goods-
producing industries of $72.15 per hour,\4\ which results in an 
estimated

[[Page 9499]]

cost of $ 369,769 (5,125 hours x $72.15 per hour = $369,769).
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    \4\ U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table 
4 of the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC), Private 
Industry workers, by occupational group, Mar 2022 (data extracted on 
8/2/2022 from: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.t04.htm).
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    Therefore, the total estimated annual cost to respondents is 
$443,089 ($73,320 burden for reports of harm + $369,769 burden for 
manufacturer submissions = $443,089).

2. Estimated Annual Burden on Government

    We estimate the annualized cost to the CPSC to be $981,516. This 
figure is based on the costs for four categories of work for the 
Database: Reports of Harm, Materially Inaccurate Information Claims, 
Manufacturer Comments, and Small Batch Identification. Each category is 
described below. No government cost is associated with firms' voluntary 
brand identification because this information is entered directly into 
the Database by the manufacturer with no processing required by the 
government. The information assists the government in directing reports 
of harm to the correct manufacturer. Because we only have one request 
to treat information as confidential in FY 2022, we included the 
government's time to process this claim with the claims of materially 
inaccurate information.
    Reports of Harm: The Reports of Harm category includes many 
different tasks. Some costs related to this category are from two data 
entry contracts. Tasks related to these contracts include clerical 
coding of the report, such as identifying the type of consumer product 
reported and the appropriate associated hazard, as well as performing 
quality control on the data in the report. Contractor A spends an 
estimated 4,940 hours per year performing these tasks. With an hourly 
rate of $34.53 for contractor services, the annual cost to the 
government of contract A is $170,578.
    The Reports of Harm category also includes sending consent requests 
for reports when necessary, processing that consent when received, 
determining whether a product is out of CPSC's jurisdiction, and 
confirming that pictures and attachments do not have any personally 
identifiable information. The Reports of Harm category also entails 
notifying manufacturers or private labelers when one of their products 
is reported, completing a risk of harm determination form for every 
report eligible for publication, referring some reports to a subject 
matter expert within the CPSC for a determination whether the reports 
meet the requirement of having a risk of harm, and determining whether 
a report meets all the statutory and regulatory requirements for 
publication. Detailed costs are:

                                Table 4--Estimated Costs for Reports of Harm Task
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                                                                                  Total
                      Grade level                         Number of hours   compensation  per     Total annual
                                                              (annual)             hour               cost
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Contract A.............................................              4,940             $34.53           $170,578
7......................................................              2,912              40.44            117,761
9......................................................              1,456              49.47             72,028
12.....................................................              3,328              71.74            238,751
13.....................................................              1,248              85.31            106,467
14.....................................................                832             100.81             83,874
                                                        --------------------------------------------------------
    Total..............................................             14,716  .................            789,459
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    Materially Inaccurate Information (MII) Claims: The MII claims 
category includes reviewing and responding to claims, participating in 
meetings where the claims are discussed, and completing a risk of harm 
determination on reports when a company alleges that a report does not 
describe a risk of harm.

                                  Table 5--Estimated Costs for MII Claims Task
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                                                                                  Total
                      Grade level                         Number of hours   compensation  per     Total annual
                                                              (annual)             hour               cost
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12.....................................................                312             $71.74            $22,383
13.....................................................                208              85.31             17,744
14.....................................................                312             100.81             31,453
15.....................................................                 21             118.57              2,490
SES....................................................                 42             132.43              5,562
                                                        --------------------------------------------------------
    Total..............................................                895  .................             79,632
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    Manufacturer Comments: The Comments category includes reviewing and 
accepting or rejecting comments.

                             Table 6--Estimated Costs for Manufacturer Comments Task
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                                                                                  Total
                      Grade level                         Number of hours   compensation  per     Total annual
                                                              (annual)             hour               cost
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12.....................................................                 62             $71.74             $4,448

[[Page 9500]]

 
13.....................................................                104              85.31              8,872
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    Total..............................................                166  .................             13,320
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    Small Batch Manufacturer Identification: The Small Batch 
Manufacturer Identification category includes time spent posting the 
list of small batch registrations, as well as answering companies' 
questions on registering as a Small Batch Manufacturer and the 
implications of small batch registration.

                                  Table 7--Estimated Costs for Small Batch Task
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                                                                                  Total
                      Grade level                         Number of hours   compensation  per  Total annual cost
                                                              (annual)             hour
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15.....................................................                642            $118.57            $76,122
                                                        --------------------------------------------------------
    Total..............................................                642  .................             76,122
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    We estimate the annualized cost to the CPSC of $958,533, by adding 
the four categories of work related to the Database summarized in 
Tables 4 through 7 (Reports of Harm ($789,459) + MII Claims ($79,632) + 
Manufacturer Comments ($13,320) + Small Batch Identification ($76,122) 
= $958,533).
    This information collection renewal request is based on an 
estimated 7,024 burden hours per year for the Database, which 
represents a decrease of 6,319 hours since this collection of 
information was last approved by OMB in 2019. Total burden from reports 
of harm decreased by 4,647 hours (from 6,546 to 1,899), and total 
burden for manufacturer's submission decreased by 1,672 hours, from 
6,797 to 5,125.
    Declines in total burden hours are attributed primarily to a 
decline in the number of reports of harm submitted by mail, email, and 
fax. In addition, CPSC staff has identified an error in the 2019 update 
for this control number that increased the estimated burden; the error 
involved inclusion of death certificates collected by CPSC staff in the 
number of reports of harm submitted for the Database by mail, email, 
and fax. Finally, for this update there was a decrease in small batch 
manufacturer activity.

Alberta E. Mills,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2023-03080 Filed 2-13-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P