New_ Infant Walkers _ Supporting Statement

Information Collection Request (ICR)

Safety Standard for Infant Walkers (RIN 3041-AC59)

Supporting Statement

1. Justification

1. Information to be collected and circumstances that make the collection of information necessary

Section 104(B) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (“CPSIA”), Public Law 110-314, 122 Stat. 3016 (August 14, 2008), requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission (Commission or CPSC) to promulgate consumer product safety standards for durable infant or toddler products. These standards are to be “substantially the same as” applicable voluntary standards or more stringent than the voluntary standard if the Commission concludes that more stringent requirements would further reduce the risk of injury associated with the product. As directed by this statutory requirement, the Commission is issuing a safety standard for infant walkers that incorporates by reference the voluntary standard for infant bath seats issued by ASTM International, ASTM F 977-07, with some modifications to further reduce the risk of injury associated with infant walkers. The modifications to ASTM F 977-07 that are being incorporated by the Commission do not involve any collections of information.

Sections 8.1.1, 8.1.2 and 9.1 of the voluntary standard ASTM F 977-07, which is being issued by the Commission as a mandatory standard, contain requirements for marking and instructional literature that are disclosure requirements thus falling within the definition of “collections of information” under the Paperwork Reduction Act. Sections 8.1.1 and 8.1.2 of ASTM F 977-07 require information to be placed on both the product and the retail package. The information is intended to identify the manufacturer/importer and production date. Section 9.1of ASTM F 977-07 requires infant walkers to be provided with instruction. Authorizing Statute: Section 104 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, Pub. L. 110-314, 122 Stat. 3016 (August 14, 2008) (“CPSIA”).

2. Use and sharing of collected information

Purchasers and owners of infant walkers will be provided with essential safety information and will be able to determine how to contact the manufacturer of the walker should there be safety or quality issues. CPSC will use the information obtained from the marking and instructional literature to identify products if the firm or its product(s) fail to comply with the provisions of the standard.

3. Use of information technology (IT) in information collection

Information technology will not be used in these requirements.

4. Efforts to identify duplication

To the extent that firms do not already comply with the voluntary standard, information provided by these requirements is not available through any other agency, organization, or individual.

5. Impact on small businesses

Marking and instructional literature activities associated with the standard for infant walkers may include a number of small firms. Particularly since most manufacturers of infant walkers are small firms, the statute requiring this action does not contemplate exempting small firms. Further, previous experience has shown a higher level of noncompliance at small firms. However, the length of time required for a firm to respond to the requirements depends on (1) the number of models handled by the firm and the complexity of a firm’s day-to-day operations. Consequently, less time will be expended by small firms.

6. Consequences to Federal program or policy activities if collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently

Without the marking and instructional literature requirements, the level of noncompliance could significantly increase, resulting in an increase in the number of product-related deaths and injuries. The lack of marking could require an increase in Federal government efforts to locate and recall non complying products and result in an increase in the number of product-related deaths and injuries.

6. Special circumstances requiring respondents to report information more often than quarterly or to prepare responses in fewer than 30 days

There may be special circumstances in which respondents will be requested to prepare a written response involving the collection of information within fewer than 30 days after receipt of the request. These circumstances apply when the CPSC Compliance staff is trying to determine preliminarily whether a defect is present in an infant walker, and whether that defect rises to the level of a substantial product hazard under Section 15 of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), 15 U.S.C. 2064. Firms are typically given 10 working days to respond to our request for information.

6. Agency’s Federal Register Notice and related information

A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published in the Federal Register on September 3, 2009. A Final Rule and notice of proporsed collection activities was published in the Federal Register on June 21, 2010.

6. Decision to provide payment or gift

Not applicable.

6. Assurance of confidentiality

All records cited as being confidential remain confidential according to the Commission’s procedures under the Freedom of Information Act. These procedures are provided in 15 U.S.C. 1015.

6. Questions of a sensitive nature

Not applicable. There are no questions of a sensitive nature.

6. Estimate of hour burden to respondents

There are seven known firms supplying infant walkers to the U.S. market. All of these companies’ walkers are expected to require modifications to meet the standard. Four firms are known to already produce labels that comply with sections 8.1.1 and 8.1.2 of ASTM F 977-07, and there would be no additional burden on this firm for these requirements. The remaining three firms probably already use labels on both their products and their packaging, but may need to make some modifications to their existing labels. The estimated time required to make these modifications is about 30 minutes per model. Assuming that each of these firms supplies approximately 3 models of infant walkers, the annual burden hours associated with the labels would be 30 minutes x 3 firms x 3 models per firm = 270 minutes or 4.5 hours.

Section 9.1 of ASTM F 977-07 requires instructions to be supplied with the product. These are products that generally require some installation and maintenance instructions, and any products sold without such information would not be able to successfully compete with products that provide this information. This is a practice that is usual and customary with infant walkers. Therefore, because the CPSC is unaware of infant walkers that: (a) generally require some installation, but (b) lack any instructions ot the user about such installation, there are no burden hours associated with the instruction requirement in section 9.1 because any burden associated withsupplying instructions with a walker would be “usual and customary” and not within the definition of “burden” under OMB’s regulations.

6. Estimate of total annual cost burden to respondents

The CPSC staff estimates that the hourly compensation for the time required to create and update labels and modify instruction manuals is $27.78 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2009, all workers, goods-producing industries, Sales and office, Table 9.) Therefore, the estimated annual cost associated with the proposed labeling requirements is approximately $125. (4.5 hours x $27.78 = $125.) Based on this analysis, the Commission concludes that the requirements of the proposed walker rule would impose a PRA burden of not more than $125 annually.

6. Estimate of annualized costs to the federal government

The estimated annual cost of the information collection requirements to the federal government is approximately $4,907, which includes 60 staff hours to examine and evaluate the information as needed for Compliance activities. This is based on a GS-14 level employee. The average hourly wage rate for a mid-level GS-14 employee in the Washington, DC metropolitan area (effective as of January 2010) is $57.33 (GS-14, step 5). This represents 70.1 percent of total compensation (Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2009, percentage wages and salaries for all civilian management, professional, and related employees, Table 1). Adding an additional 29.9 percent for benefits brings average hourly compensation for a mid-range GS-14 employee to $81.78. Assuming that approximately 60 hours will be required annually, this results in an annual cost of $4,907.

6. Program changes or adjustments

This is a new information collection request.

6. Plans for tabulation and publication

Not applicable.

6. Rationale for not displaying the expiration date for OMB approval

Not applicable.

2. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods

Not applicable.