[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 11, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21652-21655]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-07487]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[CPSC Docket No. 2023-0004]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Testing and Labeling of Non-Children's Products 
Containing or Designed To Use Button Cell or Coin Batteries and 
Labeling of Button Cell or Coin Battery Packaging

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: On February 9, 2023, the Consumer Product Safety Commission 
(CPSC or Commission) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) to 
establish testing and labeling requirements for consumer products that 
contain or are designed to use button cell or coin batteries, and for 
the labeling of button cell or coin battery packaging. The NPR 
estimated the burden associated with these requirements for children's 
products, but did not include an estimated burden for testing and 
labeling of non-children's products or for labeling button cell or coin 
battery packaging. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 
the CPSC requests comments on a proposed collection of information for 
Testing and Labeling of Non-Children's Products Containing or Designed 
to Use Button Cell or Coin Batteries and Labeling of Button Cell or 
Battery Packaging. CPSC will consider all comments received in response 
to this notice before requesting a control number for this collection 
of information from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

DATES: Submit written or electronic comments on the collection of 
information by June 12, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You can submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2023-
0004, by any of the following methods:
    Electronic Submissions: CPSC encourages you to submit electronic 
comments to the Federal eRulemaking Portal at: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments. 
CPSC typically does not accept comments submitted by electronic mail 
(email), except as described below.
    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

[[Page 21653]]

confidential business information, trade secret information, or other 
sensitive or protected information that you do not want to be available 
to the public, you may submit such comments by mail, hand delivery, or 
courier, or you may email them 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: https://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: https://www.regulations.gov; insert the 
docket number, CPSC-2023-0004, 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) 
504-7791, or by email to: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed rule to establish a Safety 
Standard and Notification Requirements for Button Cell or Coin 
Batteries and Consumer Products Containing Such Batteries (88 FR 8692 
(Feb. 9, 2023)), to be codified at 16 CFR part 1263, contains 
information collection requirements that are subject to public comment 
and review by OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA; 44 
U.S.C. 3501-3521). The NPR proposed to expand the collection of 
information for Testing and Certification of Children's Products (OMB 
Control No. 3041-0159) to include testing and labeling of children's 
products containing button cell or coin batteries (88 FR at 8717-19), 
but did not include burden estimates for a new collection of 
information for non-children's products. In this notice we provide the 
estimated burden associated with the testing and labeling of non-
children's products, and for labeling of button cell and coin battery 
packaging.\1\ Under the PRA, an agency must publish the following 
information:
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    \1\ On April 4, 2023, the Commission voted (4-0) to publish this 
notice.
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    [ssquf] A title for the collection of information;
    [ssquf] A summary of the collection of information;
    [ssquf] A brief description of the need for the information and the 
proposed use of the information;
    [ssquf] A description of the likely respondents and proposed 
frequency of response to the collection of information;
    [ssquf] An estimate of the burden that will result from the 
collection of information; and
    [ssquf] Notice that comments may be submitted to OMB.

44 U.S.C. 3507(a)(1)(D). In accordance with this requirement, the 
Commission provides the following information:
    Title: Testing and Labeling of Non-Children's Products Containing 
or Designed to Use Button Cell or Coin Batteries and Labeling of Button 
Cell or Coin Battery Packaging.
    Type of Review: New collection of information for testing and 
labeling of non-children's products containing or designed to use 
button cell or coin batteries and labeling of button cell or coin 
battery packaging, as provided in the NPR to establish 16 CFR part 
1263, which includes: (1) testing of non-children's products containing 
or designed to use button cell or coin batteries, including creating a 
general certificate of conformity (GCC); (2) labeling requirements for 
non-children's products and for button cell or coin battery packaging, 
including, as applicable, warnings on battery compartments, product 
packaging, accompanying written materials (i.e., instructions, manuals, 
hangtags, or inserts)) and websites; and (3) recordkeeping 
requirements.

General Description of Collection

    Summary, Need, and Use of Information: Based on the requirements in 
Reese's Law, 15 U.S.C. 2056e(a) and (b), and section 27(e) of the 
Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), 15 U.S.C. 2076(e), the proposed 
rule prescribes performance requirements for child-resistant battery 
compartments on children's and non-children's consumer products that 
contain or are designed to use button cell or coin batteries, and 
warning requirements for button cell and coin battery packaging, 
consumer product packaging, consumer products, accompanying written 
materials such as instructions, manuals, inserts, or hangtags, and 
sales websites. These performance and labeling requirements are 
intended to reduce or eliminate injuries and deaths associated with 
children 6 years old and younger ingesting button cell or coin 
batteries. This collection of information is solely for non-children's 
consumer products, meaning (1) products that contain or are designed to 
use button cell or coin batteries and are not designed or intended 
primarily for children 12 years old or younger, and (2) labeling of 
packages of button cell or coin batteries. 15 U.S.C. 2052(a)(2); 16 CFR 
part 1200.
    In addition to the testing and labeling requirements in the 
proposed rule, section 14(a) of the CPSA requires that manufacturers 
(including importers) of non-children's products subject to a rule 
issue a general certificate of conformity. GCCs certify the products as 
being compliant with applicable regulations and must be based on a test 
of each product or a reasonable testing program. Unlike children's 
products, products that have GCCs are not required to undergo third 
party testing. Section 14(g) and 16 CFR part 1110 state the 
requirements for GCCs. Among other requirements, each certificate must 
identify the manufacturer issuing the certificate, any laboratory 
conducting testing on which the certificate depends, the date and place 
of manufacture, the date and place where the product was tested, each 
party's name, full mailing address, and telephone number, and contact 
information for the individual responsible for maintaining records of 
test results. The certificates must be in English. The certificates 
must be furnished to each distributor or retailer of the product and to 
the CPSC, if requested.
    Respondents and Frequency: Respondents include manufacturers and 
importers of non-children's products that contain or are designed to 
use button cell or coin batteries, and manufacturers and importers of 
packages of button cell or coin batteries. Manufacturers and importers 
must comply with the information collection requirements when non-
children's products that contain or use button cell or coin batteries, 
and packages of button cell or coin batteries, are manufactured or 
imported after the effective date of the proposed 16 CFR part 1263.
    Estimated Burden: CPSC has estimated the respondents' burden in 
hours, and the estimated labor costs to the respondents.
    Estimate of Respondent Burden: The hourly reporting burden imposed 
on firms that manufacture or import non-children's products that 
contain button cell or coin batteries, and firms that manufacture or 
import button cell or coin batteries, includes the time and cost to 
create and maintain records related to testing of consumer products 
(including issuing a GCC); product labeling, including required warning 
labels on, as applicable: consumer product battery compartments, 
product

[[Page 21654]]

packaging, accompanying written materials (i.e., instructions, manuals, 
inserts, or hangtags), and point of sale notices including for websites 
offering the sale of button cell or coin batteries.

                                   Table 1--Estimated Annual Respondent Burden
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                                                  Frequency of      Hours per     Annual burden   Annual burden
          Burden type              Respondents      response        response         (hours)         (costs)
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Labeling.......................          15,363               2               1          30,726    $1,332,586.62
Testing........................          15,363               2               3          92,178     3,997,759.86
Recordkeeping..................          15,363               2               1          30,726     1,332,586.62
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    Total Burden...............  ..............  ..............  ..............         153,630     6,662,933.10
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    Based on available data from the U.S. Census Bureau, CPSC estimates 
that there are 15,363 firms supplying non-children's consumer products 
to the United States that contain or are designed to use button cell or 
coin batteries, or that manufacture or import button cell or coin 
batteries.\2\ Staff assumes that, on average, each manufacturer or 
importer has two product models that must be tested, labeled, and 
certified, annually. We estimate 3 hours per product to conduct 
required testing of battery compartments and to issue a GCC, and 1 hour 
to create and maintain records. Note that for button cell or battery 
packaging that requires only labeling pursuant to the NPR, and not 
product testing, this is an over-estimate.\3\ We estimate that the 
burden to update required product labeling is about 1 hour per product. 
Accordingly, as shown in Table 1, the total annual burden is 153,630 
hours. Using the total compensation for all sales and office workers in 
goods-producing private industries of $43.37 per hour,\4\ the total 
estimated annual burden on firms supplying non-children's products to 
comply with the rule is $6.67 million annually (153,630 hours x $43.37 
= $6,662,933.10).
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    \2\ These estimates include data available for NAICS subsector 
335912--primary battery manufacturing, though not all battery 
manufacturers would be impacted by the proposed rule.
    \3\ Testing of button cell or coin battery packaging is not 
required by the proposed rule, but is required by section 3 of 
Reese's Law. Notes to 15 U.S.C. 2056e. This burden estimate is an 
over-estimate likely large enough to also encompass testing of 
battery packaging, but such testing is a statutory requirement not 
included in the rulemaking.
    \4\ U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``Employer Costs for 
Employee Compensation,'' total compensation for private industry 
workers in goods producing industries, Sept. 2022: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ecec_12152022.pdf.
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    The product labeling burden estimate is the largest reasonably 
possible, assuming every manufacturer (including importer) of consumer 
products containing or designed to use button cell or coin batteries, 
and every manufacturer (including importer) of button cell or coin 
batteries, has to modify four product labels (battery compartment, 
packaging, accompanying written materials, and websites) per product. 
This is likely an over-estimate. Based on staff's review of non-
children's products that contain or are designed to use button cell or 
coin batteries, and battery packaging, many of these products already 
contain some type of warning on the product labels. Accordingly, CPSC 
staff believes it possible that the burden to modify product labels 
could be very low.
    Under the OMB's regulations (5 CFR 1320.3(b)(2)), the time, effort, 
and financial resources necessary to comply with a collection of 
information that would be incurred by persons in the ``normal course of 
their activities'' are excluded from the burden estimate where the 
disclosure activities required to comply are ``usual and customary.'' 
If warning statements on battery compartments, product packaging, and 
instructions/manuals is usual and customary for non-children's products 
that contain or are designed to use button cell or coin batteries, then 
any burden associated with warning labels would be ``usual and 
customary'' and not within the definition of ``burden'' under the OMB's 
regulations. We request comments on this potential estimate of no 
burden for product labeling, including the preliminary analysis that 
the largest possible burden estimate for the proposed standard to 
require product labeling is 30,726 hours at a cost of $1,332,586.62 
annually.
    Labor Cost of Respondent Burden. According to the U.S. Bureau of 
Labor Statistics (BLS), Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, the 
total compensation cost per hour worked for all private industry 
workers was $43.37 (September 2022, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ecec_12152022.pdf). Based on this analysis, CPSC estimates 
that the labor required to respond would impose a cost to industry of 
approximately $6,662,933.10 annually (153,630 hours x $43.37 = 
$6,662,933.10).
    Cost to the Federal Government. The estimated annual cost of the 
information collection requirements to the Federal Government is 
approximately $4,448, which includes 60 staff hours to examine and 
evaluate the information, as needed, for CPSC's compliance activities. 
This is based on a GS-12, step 5 level salaried employee. The average 
hourly wage rate for a mid-level salaried GS-12 employee in the 
Washington, DC metropolitan area (effective as of January 2023) is 
$51.15 (GS-12, step 5). This represents 69.0 percent of total 
compensation (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``Employer Costs for 
Employee Compensation,'' September 2022, Table 2., percentage of wages 
and salaries for all civilian management, professional, and related 
employees: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ecec_12152022.pdf). Adding an additional 31.0 percent for benefits 
brings average annual compensation for a mid-level salaried GS-12 
employee to $74.13 per hour. Assuming that approximately 60 hours will 
be required annually, this results in an annual cost of $4,448 ($74.13 
per hour x 60 hours = $4,447.8).
    Comments. CPSC requests that interested parties submit comments 
regarding this proposed information collection (see the ADDRESSES 
section at the beginning of this notice). Pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2)(A), the Commission specifically invites comments on:
     whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of CPSC's functions, including 
whether the information will have practical utility;
    [ssquf] the accuracy of CPSC's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    [ssquf] ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information the Commission proposes to collect;
    [ssquf] ways to reduce the burden of the collection of information 
on

[[Page 21655]]

respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques when 
appropriate, and other forms of information technology;
    [ssquf] the estimated burden hours associated with labels and hang 
tags, including any alternative estimates; and
    [ssquf] the estimated respondent cost other than burden hour cost.

Alberta E. Mills,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2023-07487 Filed 4-10-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P