Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for Comment; Confidential Business Information

Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for Comment; Confidential Business Information

Publication: Federal Register
Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Byline: Ann E. Carlson
Date: 4 May 2022
Subject: American Government

, Safety

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 86 (Wednesday, May 4, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26389-26391]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-09516]

[[Page 26389]]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2022-0010]

Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for
Comment; Confidential Business Information

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments on a reinstatement, without
change, of a previously approved collection of information.

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SUMMARY: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
invites public comments about our intention to request approval from
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a reinstatement without
change of a previously approved information collection. Before a
Federal agency can collect certain information from the public, it must
receive approval from 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 reinstatements of previously
approved collections. This notice describes one collection of
information for which NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval, relating to
confidential business information.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before July 5, 2022.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments to the docket number identified in
the heading of this document by any of the following methods:
Electronic Submissions: Go to the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions
for submitting comments.
Fax: (202) 493-2251.
Mail or Hand Delivery: Docket Management, U.S. Department
of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Room W12-
140, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except on Federal holidays. To be sure someone is there to help
you, please call (202) 366-9322 before coming.
Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and
docket number for this notice. 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 https://www.transportation.gov/privacy.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov or the street
address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the
dockets via internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access
to background documents, contact Dan Rabinovitz in the Office of the
Chief Counsel, Daniel.Rabinovitz@dot.gov, National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. Please identify the relevant
collection of information by referring to its title and OMB Control
Number (Confidential Business Information, 2127-0025).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), 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: (a) 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; (b) 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; (c) how to enhance
the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected;
and (d) 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 proposed collection of
information for which the agency is seeking approval from OMB.
Title: Confidential Business Information
OMB Control Number: 2127-0025
Form Number(s): N/A
Type of Request: Reinstatement without change of a previously
approved information collection
Type of Review Requested: Regular
Requested Expiration Date of Approval: 3 years from date of
approval

Summary of the Collection of Information

Persons who submit information to the agency and seek to have the
agency withhold some or all of that information from public disclosure,
including under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552,
must provide the agency with sufficient support that justifies the
confidential treatment of that information. A request for confidential
treatment must meet the requirements set forth in 49 CFR part 512. For
example, a request must be submitted to the Office of the Chief Counsel
and include: (1) A letter to the Chief Counsel that contains supporting
information to justify a request, per Part 512.8; (2) a certificate in
support of a request for confidential treatment, per Part 512.4(b) and
Appendix A; (3) the material claimed to include confidential business
information--with proper confidential markings, per Part 512.6; and (4)
a complete copy of the material--with redactions over the portions for
which confidential treatment is claimed (i.e., so it cannot be seen),
and the rest of the material unredacted, per Part 512.5(a)(2).
Part 512 helps ensure that information submitted under a claim of
confidentiality is properly evaluated under prevailing legal standards
and, where appropriate, accorded confidential treatment. The
requirements in Part 512 apply to all information submitted to NHTSA,
except as provided in section 512.2(b), for which a determination is
sought that the material is entitled to confidential treatment under 5
U.S.C. 552(b), most often because it constitutes confidential business
information as described in 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4), and should be withheld
from public disclosure. To facilitate the evaluation process, in their
requests for confidential treatment, submitters of information may make
reference to certain limited classes of information specified in
Appendix B that are presumptively treated as confidential, such as
blueprints and engineering drawings, future specific

[[Page 26390]]

model plans (under limited conditions), and future vehicle production
or sales figures for specific models (under limited conditions).
Additionally, Appendix C's class determinations, which are specific to
early warning reporting (EWR) data, grant presumptive confidentiality
to certain EWR data, with exceptions including information on death,
injury, and property damage claims and notices, which would be handled
on an individual basis according to the procedures of Part 512. 72 FR
59434 (Oct. 19, 2007).\1\
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\1\ The collection of EWR data is covered under OMB Control No.
2127-0616.
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Description of the Need for the Information and the Proposed or Actual
Use of the Information

NHTSA receives confidential information for use in its activities,
which include investigations, rulemaking actions, program planning and
management, and program evaluation. The information is needed to ensure
the agency has sufficient relevant information for decision-making in
connection with these activities. Some of this information is submitted
voluntarily, as in rulemaking, and some is submitted in response to
compulsory information requests, as in investigations. If Part 512 were
not in existence, the agency would still receive this confidential
information, either through voluntary submissions or through compulsory
submissions in response to agency requests issued pursuant to its
information gathering powers. The only difference would be that the
determinations of whether the information should be accorded
confidential treatment would be less structured and, ultimately, more
expensive and time-consuming for both the entities requesting
confidentiality and the agency.

Affected Public

This collection of information applies to entities that submit to
the agency information that the entities wish to have withheld from
public disclosure, including under FOIA. Thus, the collection of
information applies to entities that are subject to laws administered
by the agency or agency regulations and are under an obligation to
provide information to the agency. It also includes entities that
voluntarily submit information to the agency. Such entities would
include manufacturers of motor vehicles and of motor vehicle equipment.
Importers are considered to be manufacturers. It may also include other
entities that are involved with motor vehicles or motor vehicle
equipment but are not manufacturers.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 165
Frequency: On occasion.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 5,575 hours.
Potential submitters of requests for confidential treatment of
information include vehicle manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, and
registered importers. In recent years, NHTSA has received an average of
approximately 500 requests for confidential treatment of information
annually from approximately 75 unique requesters. Last year, however,
NHTSA began receiving more requests for confidential treatment after
NHTSA issued the Standing General Order 2021-01 (General Order) which
requires certain named entities to submit reports on crashes involving
ADS or Level 2 ADAS.\2\ As a result, NHTSA estimates it will receive an
additional 1,575 requests for confidential treatment each year from an
estimated 110 unique respondents, for a total of 2,075 requests from
165 unique respondents (NHTSA estimates that there will be some overlap
between respondents submitting requests in connection with General
Order reporting and those submitting non-General Order requests). NHTSA
estimates that most requests for confidential treatment have come, and
will continue to come, from large manufacturers.
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\2\ More information about the General Order is available on
NHTSA's website at https://www.nhtsa.gov/laws-regulations/standing-general-order-crash-reporting-levels-driving-automation-2-5 and in
NHTSA's information collection request with OMB control number 2127-
0754.
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The agency receives requests for confidential treatment that vary
in size--from requests that ask the agency to withhold as little as a
portion of one page to voluminous electronic files. An entity
requesting confidential treatment must provide a written statement in
support of a request for confidential treatment that explains why the
submitted information should be withheld from public disclosure,
including the legal basis for withholding, along with a certification.
See 49 CFR part 512. In the case of submissions by large manufacturers,
which often consist of hundreds of pages of information, it takes, on
average, eight hours to prepare a submission. On the other hand, the
typical small business that submits a single page document should only
need about five (5) minutes to fully comply with the regulation. To
estimate the total burden associated with this information collection,
NHTSA has used the more conservative estimate that each non-General
Order submission will take approximately 8 hours. Therefore, the non-
General Order total annual burden is estimated at 4,000 hours (8 hours
x 500 requests/year). Additionally, NHTSA estimates that each General
Order submission will take approximately 1 hour.\3\ Therefore, the
General Order total annual burden is estimated at 1,575 hours (1 hour x
1,575 requests/year). Finally, the combined total annual burden is
estimated at 5,575 hours for 49 CFR part 512.
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\3\ NHTSA estimates that requests for confidential treatment
pursuant to the General Order will only take 1 hour because NHTSA's
online portal for General Order submissions helps automate the
process for requests and the General Order only allows entities to
request confidential treatment for three (3) fields per incident
report. Consequently, the limited General Order requests for
confidential treatment are, on average, remarkably smaller than the
voluminous non-General Order requests.
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To calculate the labor cost associated with submitting requests for
confidential treatment, NHTSA looked at wage estimates for the type of
personnel involved with compiling and submitting the documents. NHTSA
estimated the total labor costs associated with these burden hours by
looking at the average wage for Paralegals and Legal Assistants. The
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that the average hourly wage
for Paralegals and Legal Assistants (BLS Occupation code 23-2011) is
$27.22. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that private industry
workers' wages represent 70.4% of total labor compensation costs.
Therefore, NHTSA estimates the hourly labor costs to be $38.67 for BLS
Occupation code 23-2011. Consequently, NHTSA estimates the total labor
cost associated with the 5,575 burden hours to be $215,585. This
estimate was derived by multiplying the estimated annual burden of
5,575 hours with the mean hourly labor cost estimate for Paralegals and
Legal Assistants of $38.67 per hour. Table 1 provides a summary of the
estimated burden hours and labor costs associated with those
submissions.

[[Page 26391]]

Table 1--Burden Estimates
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Estimated burden
Annual responses per response Average hourly Labor cost per Total burden Total labor
(hours) labor cost submission hours costs
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2,075 2.687 $38.67 $309.36 5,575 $215,585
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Since 49 CFR part 512 does not require those persons who request
confidential treatment to keep copies of records or requests submitted
to us, there are no associated recordkeeping burdens.\4\
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\4\ NHTSA has a separate record retention regulation (49 CFR
part 576) covered by a Paperwork Reduction Act clearance, OMB
Control No. 2127-0042.
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Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: $165.
The only cost to respondents is expected to be postage costs. NHTSA
estimates that each mailed response costs $8.95 (priority flat rate
envelope from USPS). Historically, Part 512 requests were submitted by
mail. However, at the onset of the COVID-19 public health emergency,
NHTSA began accepting Part 512 submissions electronically and requested
that submissions not be mailed. NHTSA now estimates that no more than
1% of submissions are submitted by mail. Accordingly, NHTSA estimates
the total annual costs for this information collection to be $186
(2,075 submissions x .01 x $8.95 = $185.71, rounded to $186).
Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspects of
this information collection, including (a) 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; (b) the accuracy of the Department's estimate
of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways to
enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) 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.
Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter
35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29.

Ann E. Carlson,
Chief Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2022-09516 Filed 5-3-22; 8:45 am]
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