[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 126 (Thursday, July 1, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38173-38175]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-16036]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[U.S. DOT Docket Number NHTSA-2010-0086]
Reports, Forms, and Recordkeeping Requirements
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.
ACTION: Request for public comment on extension of a currently approved
collection of information.
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SUMMARY: Before a Federal agency can collect certain information from
the public, it must receive approval from the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB). Under procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995, before seeking OMB approval, Federal agencies must solicit
public comment on proposed collections of information, including
extensions and reinstatement of previously approved collections. This
document describes an existing collection of information for an
existing regulation for the aftermarket modification of vehicles to
accommodate people with disabilities, for which NHTSA intends to seek
renewed OMB approval.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 30, 2010.
ADDRESSES: Comments must refer to the docket number cited at the
beginning of this notice, and may be submitted by any of the following
methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
Mail: Docket Management Facility, M-30, U.S. Department of
Transportation, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590.
Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building, Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. Telephone: 1-800-
647-2251.
Instructions: All submissions must include the docket
number for this document. Please identify the collection of information
for which a comment is provided by referencing the OMB Control Number,
2127-0635. Note that all comments received will be posted without
change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal
information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading below.
Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all
comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit http://DocketsInfo.dot.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Gayle Dalrymple, NHTSA, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue, SE., Room W45-333, NVS-123, Washington, DC 20590. Mrs.
Dalrymple's telephone number is (202) 366-5559.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,
before an agency submits a proposed collection of information to OMB
for approval, it must first publish a document in the Federal Register
providing a 60-day comment period and otherwise consult with members of
the public and affected agencies concerning each proposed collection of
information. The OMB has promulgated regulations describing what must
be included in such a document. Under OMB's regulation (at 5 CFR
1320.8(d)), an agency must ask for public comment on the following:
(1) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for
the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including
whether the information will have practical utility;
(2) The accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
(3) How to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected;
(4) How to minimize the burden of the collection of information on
those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic
submission of responses.
In compliance with these requirements, NHTSA asks for public
comments on the following collection of information:
Title: Exemption for the Make Inoperative Prohibition.
OMB Control Number: 2127-0635.
Form Number: This collection of information uses no standard form.
Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection of
information.
Abstract: On February 27, 2001 NHTSA published a final rule (66 FR
12638) to facilitate the modification of motor vehicles so that persons
with disabilities can drive or ride in them as passengers. In that
final rule, the agency issued a limited exemption from a statutory
provision that prohibits specified types of commercial entities from
either removing safety equipment or features installed on motor
vehicles pursuant to the Federal motor vehicle safety standards or
altering the equipment or features so as to adversely affect their
performance. The exemption
[[Page 38174]]
is limited in that it allows repair businesses to modify only certain
types of Federally-required safety equipment and features, under
specified circumstances. The regulation is found at 49 CFR Part 595
Subpart C--``Vehicle Modifications to Accommodate People with
Disabilities''.
This final rule included two new ``collections of information,'' as
that term is defined in 5 CFR Part 1320 ``Controlling Paperwork Burdens
on the Public'': Modifier identification and a document to be provided
to the owner of the modified vehicle stating the exemptions used for
that vehicle and any reduction in load carrying capacity of the vehicle
of more than 100 kg (220 lbs).
Modifiers who take advantage of the exemption created by this rule
are required to furnish NHTSA with a written document providing the
modifier's name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that
the modifier is availing itself of the exemption. The rule requires:
``S595.6 Modifier Identification.
(a) Any motor vehicle repair business that modifies a motor vehicle
to enable a person with a disability to operate, or ride as a passenger
in, the motor vehicle and intends to avail itself of the exemption
provided in 49 CFR 595.7 shall furnish the information specified in
paragraphs (a)(1) through (3) of this section to: Administrator,
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh Street,
SW., Washington, DC 20590.
(1) Full individual, partnership, or corporate name of the motor
vehicle repair business.
(2) Residence address of the motor vehicle repair business and
State of incorporation if applicable.
(3) A statement that the motor vehicle repair business modifies a
motor vehicle to enable a person with a disability to operate, or ride
as a passenger in, the motor vehicle and intends to avail itself of the
exemption provided in 49 CFR 595.7.
(b) Each motor vehicle repair business required to submit
information under paragraph (a) of this section shall submit the
information not later than August 27, 2001. After that date, each motor
vehicle repair business that modifies a motor vehicle to enable a
person with a disability to operate, or ride as a passenger in, the
motor vehicle and intends to avail itself of the exemption provided in
49 CFR 595.7 shall submit the information required under paragraph (a)
not later than 30 days after it first modifies a motor vehicle to
enable a person with a disability to operate, or ride as a passenger
in, the motor vehicle. Each motor vehicle repair business who has
submitted required information shall keep its entry current, accurate
and compete by submitting revised information not later than 30 days
after the relevant changes in the business occur.''
This requirement is a one-time submission unless changes are made
to the business as described in paragraph (b). NHTSA estimates that
there are currently 471 businesses making modifications to motor
vehicles to accommodate persons with disabilities. Of those 471, we
estimate 85 percent will need to use the exemptions provided by 49 CFR
595.7 (400 businesses). The initial registration of modifiers wishing
to use the exemptions occurred in 2001. Now, we assume that five
percent of the 400 businesses currently modifying vehicles will need to
change their information or new registrants will elect to use the
exemptions. We estimate registrations from 20 businesses each year of:
20 businesses x 10 minutes/business = 3.33 hours.
We estimate the material cost associated with each submission to be
54 cents per responding business, or $10.80 nationwide annually.
Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources
expended by a person to generate, maintain, retain, disclose or provide
information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time needed
to review instruction; develop, acquire, install, and utilize
technology and systems for the purposes of collecting, validating, and
verifying information, processing and maintaining information and
disclosing and providing information; adjust the existing ways to
comply with any previously applicable instructions and requirements;
train personnel to be able to respond to a collection of information;
and transmit or otherwise disclose the information.
We seek comment on:
1. Is our estimate of 471 businesses engaged in vehicle
modification to accommodate people with disabilities correct?
2. Are we correct in assuming that a maximum of 85 percent of those
471 businesses, or 400 businesses, will need to use the exemptions
provided by 49 CFR 595.7?
3. Are our estimates of the burden hours and material cost of
compliance with 49 CFR 595.6 reasonable?
Modifiers who avail themselves of the exemptions in 49 CFR 595.7
are required to keep a record, for each applicable vehicle, listing
which standards, or portions thereof, no longer comply with the Federal
motor vehicle safety standards and to provide a copy to the owner of
the vehicle modified (see 49 CFR 595.7 (b) and (e) as published in the
final rule).
We estimate that:
1. There are approximately 2,700 vehicles modified for persons with
disabilities per year by 471 businesses;
2. If 85 percent of the 471 businesses use the exemptions provided
by 49 CFR 595.7, those 400 businesses will modify 2300 vehicles
annually; and
3. The burden for producing the record required by 49 CFR 595.7 in
accordance with paragraph (e) for those vehicles will be 767 hours per
year nationwide.
In the final rule we anticipated that the least costly way for a
repair business to comply with this portion of the new rule would be to
annotate the vehicle modification invoice as to the exemption, if any,
involved with each item on the invoice. The cost of preparing the
invoice is not a portion of our burden calculation, as that preparation
would be done in the normal course of business. The time needed to
annotate the invoice, we estimate, is 20 minutes. Therefore, the burden
hours for a full year are calculated as:
2300 vehicles x 20 minutes/vehicle = 766.7 hours.
This burden includes the calculation required by 49 CFR 595.7(e)5,
but not the gathering of the information required for the calculation.
That information would be gathered in the normal course of the vehicle
modification. The only extra burden required by the rule is the
calculation of the reduction in loading carrying capacity and conveying
this information to the vehicle owner. Again we are assuming that
annotation on the invoice is the least burdensome way to accomplish
this customer notification.
There will be no additional material cost associated with
compliance with this requirement since no additional materials need be
used above those used to prepare the invoice in the normal course of
business. We are assuming it is normal and customary in the course of
vehicle modification business to prepare an invoice, to provide a copy
of the invoice to the vehicle owner, and to keep a copy of the invoice
for five years after the vehicle is delivered to the owner in finished
form.
We seek comment on whether our assumptions about the following are
reasonable:
1. The document required by 49 CFR 595.7(b) and specified in
paragraph (e) will need to be prepared for
[[Page 38175]]
approximately 2300 vehicles modified nationwide per year,
2. Annotation of each vehicle modification invoice as to which
exemptions were used will take an average of 20 minutes, and
3. It is normal in the course of vehicle modification business to
prepare an invoice, to provide a copy of the invoice to the vehicle
owner, and to keep a copy of the invoice for five years after the
vehicle is delivered to the owner in finished form.
Affected Public: Business or other for profit.
Estimated Annual Burden: 770 hours, and $10.80.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 400.
Comments are invited on: Whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
the Department, including whether the information will have practical
utility; the accuracy of the Department's estimate of the burden of the
proposed information collection; ways to enhance the quality, utility
and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways to minimize
the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including
the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of
information technology.
Issued on: June 25, 2010.
Nathaniel M. Beuse,
Office of Crash Avoidance Standards, Director.
[FR Doc. 2010-16036 Filed 6-30-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P