[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 9 (Monday, January 14, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2662-2664]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-00522]
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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION
[Docket No. CPSC-2009-0044]
Proposed Extension of Approval of Information Collection; Comment
Request: Safety Standard for Cigarette Lighters
AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
Chapter 35), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or
Commission) requests comments on a proposed request for an extension of
approval of a collection of information from manufacturers and
importers of disposable and novelty cigarette lighters. This collection
of information consists of testing and recordkeeping requirements in
certification regulations implementing the Safety Standard for
Cigarette Lighters (16 CFR part 1210). The Commission will consider all
comments received in response to this notice before requesting an
extension of approval of this collection of information from the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB).
DATES: The Office of the Secretary must receive comments not later than
March 15, 2013.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2009-
0044, by any of the following methods:
Electronic Submissions
Submit electronic comments in the following way:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
To ensure timely processing of comments, the Commission is no
longer accepting comments submitted by electronic mail (email), except
through www.regulations.gov.
Written Submissions
Submit written submissions in the following way:
Mail/Hand delivery/Courier (for paper, disk, or CD-ROM
submissions), preferably in five copies, to: Office of the Secretary,
Consumer Product Safety Commission, Room 820, 4330 East West Highway,
Bethesda, MD 20814; telephone (301) 504-7923.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and docket number for this notice. All comments received may be posted
without change, including any personal identifiers, contact
information, or other
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personal information provided, to http://www.regulations.gov. Do not
submit confidential business information, trade secret information, or
other sensitive or protected information electronically. Such
information should be submitted in writing.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information contact:
Robert H. Squibb, Consumer Product Safety Commission, 4330 East West
Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814; (301) 504-7815, or by email to:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 1993, the Commission issued the Safety
Standard for Cigarette Lighters (16 CFR part 1210) under provisions of
the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) (15 U.S.C. 2051 et seq.) to
eliminate or reduce risks of death and burn injury from fires
accidentally started by children playing with cigarette lighters. The
standard contains performance requirements for disposable and novelty
lighters that are intended to make cigarette lighters that are subject
to the standard resist operation by children younger than 5 years of
age.
A. Certification Requirements
Section 14(a) of the CPSA (15 U.S.C. 2063(a)) requires
manufacturers, importers, and private labelers of a consumer product
subject to a consumer product safety standard under the CPSA or similar
rule, ban, standard, or regulation under any other act enforced by the
Commission to issue a certificate stating that the product complies
with all applicable rules, bans, standards, or regulations. Section
14(a) of the CPSA also requires that the certificate of compliance must
be based on a test of each product or upon a reasonable testing program
and specify each such rule, ban, standard or regulation applicable to
the product.
Section 14(b) of the CPSA (15 U.S.C. 2063(b)) authorizes the
Commission to issue regulations to prescribe a reasonable testing
program to support certificates of compliance with a consumer product
safety standard under the CPSA or similar rule, ban, standard, or
regulation under any other act enforced by the Commission. Section
16(b) of the CPSA (15 U.S.C 2065(b)) authorizes the Commission to issue
rules to require that firms ``establish and maintain'' records to
permit the Commission to determine compliance with rules issued under
the authority of the CPSA.
The Commission has issued regulations prescribing requirements for
a reasonable testing program to support certificates of compliance with
the standard for cigarette lighters. These regulations require
manufacturers and importers to submit a description of each model of
lighter, results of surrogate qualification tests for compliance with
the standard, and other information before the introduction of each
model of lighter in commerce. These regulations also require
manufacturers, importers, and private labelers of disposable and
novelty lighters to establish and maintain records to demonstrate
successful completion of all required tests to support the certificates
of compliance that they issue. 16 CFR part 1210, Subpart B.
The Commission uses the information compiled and maintained by
manufacturers, importers, and private labelers of disposable and
novelty lighters to protect consumers from risks of accidental deaths
and burn injuries associated with those lighters. More specifically,
the Commission uses this information to determine whether lighters
comply with the standard by resisting operation by young children. The
Commission also uses this information to obtain corrective actions if
disposable or novelty lighters fail to comply with the standard in a
manner that creates a substantial risk of injury to the public.
OMB approved the collection of information in the certification
regulations for cigarette lighters under control number 3041-0116.
OMB's most recent extension of approval will expire on February 28,
2013. The Commission proposes to request an extension of approval for
this collection of information requirements.
B. Estimated Burden
The cost of the rule's testing requirement is the cost of testing,
either by the firm or by outside contractors. In fiscal year 2012, 30
firms submitted new lighter models. The total number of models that
were child-tested (new models) was 13, and the number of lighters that
were comparable to previously tested models (comparable models) was
132. If tested through outside contractors, CPSC staff estimates the
cost per test to be between $15,000 and $25,000, and $20,000 on
average. If 13 total tests are done annually by outside contractors,
the cost would be approximately $260,000. If tests are conducted in-
house, CPSC staff estimates that testing a new model is expected to
take about 90 hours per model. The total testing time for 13 models, if
conducted in-house, would be 1,170 hours. Based on an hourly
compensation for the time required for testing is $61.75 per hour (U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``Employer Costs for Employee
Compensation,'' June 2012, Table 9, total compensation for management,
professional, and related workers in goods-producing industries: http://www.bls.gov/ncs), the in-house testing cost would be approximately
72,245. The total industry cost of the testing component for this
regulation would be in the range of $72,248 to $260,000 per year,
depending on the method chosen.
The cost of the recordkeeping requirement is composed of two
separate components: recordkeeping for new models and recordkeeping for
comparable models. The time consumed in recordkeeping for new models
has been estimated at 20 hours per model. Thus, the total time consumed
for recordkeeping of new models would be 260 hours (20 hours x 13
models). We estimate the hourly compensation for the time required for
recordkeeping is $27.64 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``Employer
Costs for Employee Compensation,'' June 2012, Table 9, total
compensation for all sales and office workers in goods-producing,
private industries: http://www.bls.gov/ncs). The estimated annual cost
of recordkeeping for new models is about $7,186 (260 hours x $27.64).
In fiscal year 2012, 132 comparable models were submitted to the
CPSC. While firms would bear no testing costs for the comparable
models, the time for recordkeeping is estimated at 3 hours per model.
Thus, an estimated 396 hours (132 models x 3 hours). We estimate the
hourly compensation for the time required for record keeping is $27.64
(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``Employer Costs for Employee
Compensation,'' June 2012, Table 9, total compensation for all sales
and office workers in goods-producing, private industries: http://www.bls.gov/ncs). The estimated annual cost of recordkeeping for
comparable models is about $10,945 (396 hours x $27.64). The estimated
total recordkeeping costs for new models and comparable models would be
approximately $18,131 ($7,186 + $10,945).
Because the number of responses to the CPSC includes paperwork
associated with the testing for new models, as well as comparable
models, we expect that the total number of responses will be 145 per
year (13 tested + 132 comparisons). The total number of hours consumed
for these responses would be 1,826 hours per year, including new model
tests (1,170 hours
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if done in-house), new model recordkeeping (260 hours), and
recordkeeping for comparable models (396 hours). The Commission
estimates the total cost for firms to test, and prepare, maintain, and
submit records to the CPSC in compliance with the lighter regulation
would be in the range of $90,379 to $278,132, depending upon the test
method chosen.
The estimated total cost of this collection to the federal
government is $344,618. This represents two full-time employees
annually for compliance activities. This estimate uses an annual total
compensation of $119,238 (the equivalent of a GS-14 Step 5 employee)
with an additional 30.8 percent added for benefits (U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics, ``Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,''
September 2012, Table 1, percentage of wages and salaries for all
civilian management, professional, and related employees), for a total
annual compensation per full-time employee of $172,309.
C. Request for Comments
The Commission solicits written comments from all interested
persons about the proposed collection of information. The Commission
specifically solicits information relevant to the following topics:
Whether the collection of information described above is
necessary for the proper performance of the Commission'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.
Dated: January 9, 2013.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2013-00522 Filed 1-11-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P