5 CFR Part 1320.3

Office of Management and Budget

§ 1320.3

promulgate rules, regulations, or procedures necessary to exercise the authority provided by this chapter.’’ It is
designed to reduce, minimize and control burdens and maximize the practical utility and public benefit of the
information created, collected, disclosed, maintained, used, shared and
disseminated by or for the Federal government.

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§ 1320.2 Effect.
(a) Except as provided in paragraph
(b) of this section, this part takes effect on October 1, 1995.
(b)(1) In the case of a collection of information for which there is in effect
on September 30, 1995, a control number issued by the Office of Management
and Budget under 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35,
the provisions of this Part shall take
effect beginning on the earlier of:
(i) The date of the first extension of
approval for or modification of that
collection of information after September 30, 1995; or
(ii) The date of the expiration of the
OMB control number after September
30, 1995.
(2) Prior to such extension of approval, modification, or expiration, the
collection of information shall be subject to 5 CFR part 1320, as in effect on
September 30, 1995.
§ 1320.3 Definitions.
For purposes of implementing the
Act and this Part, the following terms
are defined as follows:
(a) Agency means any executive department, military department, Government corporation, Government controlled corporation, or other establishment in the executive branch of the
government, or any independent regulatory agency, but does not include:
(1) The General Accounting Office;
(2) Federal Election Commission;
(3) The governments of the District
of Columbia and the territories and
possessions of the United States, and
their various subdivisions; or
(4) Government-owned contractor-operated facilities, including laboratories
engaged in national defense research
and production activities.
(b)(1) Burden means the total time,
effort, or financial resources expended
by persons to generate, maintain, re-

tain, or disclose or provide information
to or for a Federal agency, including:
(i) Reviewing instructions;
(ii) Developing, acquiring, installing,
and utilizing technology and systems
for the purpose of collecting, validating, and verifying information;
(iii) Developing, acquiring, installing, and utilizing technology and systems for the purpose of processing and
maintaining information;
(iv) Developing, acquiring, installing,
and utilizing technology and systems
for the purpose of disclosing and providing information;
(v) Adjusting the existing ways to
comply with any previously applicable
instructions and requirements;
(vi) Training personnel to be able to
respond to a collection of information;
(vii) Searching data sources;
(viii) Completing and reviewing the
collection of information; and
(ix) Transmitting, or otherwise disclosing the information.
(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 (e.g., in compiling
and
maintaining
business
records) will be excluded from the
‘‘burden’’ if the agency demonstrates
that the reporting, recordkeeping, or
disclosure activities needed to comply
are usual and customary.
(3) A collection of information conducted or sponsored by a Federal agency that is also conducted or sponsored
by a unit of State, local, or tribal government is presumed to impose a Federal burden except to the extent that
the agency shows that such State,
local, or tribal requirement would be
imposed even in the absence of a Federal requirement.
(c) Collection of information means, except as provided in § 1320.4, the obtaining, causing to be obtained, soliciting,
or requiring the disclosure to an agency, third parties or the public of information by or for an agency by means of
identical questions posed to, or identical reporting, recordkeeping, or disclosure requirements imposed on, ten
or more persons, whether such collection of information is mandatory, voluntary, or required to obtain or retain
a benefit. ‘‘Collection of information’’

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§ 1320.3

5 CFR Ch. III (1–1–11 Edition)

includes any requirement or request
for persons to obtain, maintain, retain,
report, or publicly disclose information. As used in this Part, ‘‘collection
of information’’ refers to the act of collecting or disclosing information, to
the information to be collected or disclosed, to a plan and/or an instrument
calling for the collection or disclosure
of information, or any of these, as appropriate.
(1) A ‘‘collection of information’’ may
be in any form or format, including the
use of report forms; application forms;
schedules; questionnaires; surveys; reporting or recordkeeping requirements;
contracts; agreements; policy statements; plans; rules or regulations;
planning requirements; circulars; directives; instructions; bulletins; requests for proposal or other procurement requirements; interview guides;
oral communications; posting, notification, labeling, or similar disclosure
requirements; telegraphic or telephonic requests; automated, electronic,
mechanical, or other technological collection techniques; standard questionnaires used to monitor compliance
with agency requirements; or any
other techniques or technological
methods used to monitor compliance
with agency requirements. A ‘‘collection of information’’ may implicitly or
explicitly include related collection of
information requirements.
(2) Requirements by an agency for a
person to obtain or compile information for the purpose of disclosure to
members of the public or the public at
large, through posting, notification, labeling or similar disclosure requirements constitute the ‘‘collection of information’’ whenever the same requirement to obtain or compile information
would be a ‘‘collection of information’’
if the information were directly provided to the agency. The public disclosure of information originally supplied
by the Federal government to the recipient for the purpose of disclosure to
the public is not included within this
definition.
(3) ‘‘Collection of information’’ includes questions posed to agencies, instrumentalities, or employees of the
United States, if the results are to be
used for general statistical purposes,
that is, if the results are to be used for

statistical compilations of general public interest, including compilations
showing the status or implementation
of Federal activities and programs.
(4) As used in paragraph (c) of this
section, ‘‘ten or more persons’’ refers to
the persons to whom a collection of information is addressed by the agency
within any 12-month period, and to any
independent entities to which the initial addressee may reasonably be expected to transmit the collection of information during that period, including
independent State, territorial, tribal or
local entities and separately incorporated subsidiaries or affiliates. For
the purposes of this definition of ‘‘ten
or more persons,’’ ‘‘persons’’ does not include employees of the respondent acting within the scope of their employment, contractors engaged by a respondent for the purpose of complying
with the collection of information, or
current employees of the Federal government (including military reservists
and members of the National Guard
while on active duty) when acting
within the scope of their employment,
but it does include retired and other
former Federal employees.
(i) Any recordkeeping, reporting, or
disclosure requirement contained in a
rule of general applicability is deemed
to involve ten or more persons.
(ii) Any collection of information addressed to all or a substantial majority
of an industry is presumed to involve
ten or more persons.
(d) Conduct or Sponsor. A Federal
agency is considered to ‘‘conduct or
sponsor’’ a collection of information if
the agency collects the information,
causes another agency to collect the
information, contracts or enters into a
cooperative agreement with a person to
collect the information, or requires a
person to provide information to another person, or in similar ways causes
another agency, contractor, partner in
a cooperative agreement, or person to
obtain, solicit, or require the disclosure to third parties or the public of information by or for an agency. A collection of information undertaken by a
recipient of a Federal grant is considered to be ‘‘conducted or sponsored’’ by
an agency only if:

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Office of Management and Budget

§ 1320.3

(1) The recipient of a grant is conducting the collection of information
at the specific request of the agency; or
(2) The terms and conditions of the
grant require specific approval by the
agency of the collection of information
or collection procedures.
(e) Director means the Director of
OMB, or his or her designee.
(f) Display means:
(1) In the case of forms, questionnaires, instructions, and other written
collections of information sent or made
available to potential respondents
(other than in an electronic format), to
place the currently valid OMB control
number on the front page of the collection of information;
(2) In the case of forms, questionnaires, instructions, and other written
collections of information sent or made
available to potential respondents in
an electronic format, to place the currently valid OMB control number in
the instructions, near the title of the
electronic collection instrument, or,
for on-line applications, on the first
screen viewed by the respondent;
(3) In the case of collections of information published in regulations, guidelines, and other issuances in the FEDERAL REGISTER, to publish the currently valid OMB control number in
the FEDERAL REGISTER (for example, in
the case of a collection of information
in a regulation, by publishing the OMB
control number in the preamble or the
regulatory text for the final rule, in a
technical amendment to the final rule,
or in a separate notice announcing
OMB approval of the collection of information). In the case of a collection
of information published in an issuance
that is also included in the Code of
Federal Regulations, publication of the
currently valid control number in the
Code of Federal Regulations constitutes an alternative means of ‘‘display.’’ In the case of a collection of information published in an issuance
that is also included in the Code of
Federal Regulations, OMB recommends
for ease of future reference that, even
where an agency has already ‘‘displayed’’ the OMB control number by
publishing it in the FEDERAL REGISTER
as a separate notice or in the preamble
for the final rule (rather than in the
regulatory text for the final rule or in

a technical amendment to the final
rule), the agency also place the currently valid control number in a table
or codified section to be included in the
Code of Federal Regulations. For placement of OMB control numbers in the
Code of Federal Regulations, see 1 CFR
21.35.
(4) In other cases, and where OMB determines in advance in writing that
special circumstances exist, to use
other means to inform potential respondents of the OMB control number.
(g) Independent regulatory agency
means the Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission,
the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Federal Communications
Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Federal Housing Finance Board, the Federal Maritime Commission, the Federal
Trade Commission, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Mine Enforcement Safety and Health Review Commission, the National Labor Relations
Board, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Occupational Safety and
Health Review Commission, the Postal
Rate Commission, the Securities and
Exchange Commission, and any other
similar agency designated by statute
as a Federal independent regulatory
agency or commission.
(h) Information means any statement
or estimate of fact or opinion, regardless of form or format, whether in numerical, graphic, or narrative form,
and whether oral or maintained on
paper, electronic or other media. ‘‘Information’’ does not generally include
items in the following categories; however, OMB may determine that any
specific item constitutes ‘‘information’’:
(1) Affidavits, oaths, affirmations,
certifications, receipts, changes of address, consents, or acknowledgments;
provided that they entail no burden
other than that necessary to identify
the respondent, the date, the respondent’s address, and the nature of the instrument (by contrast, a certification
would likely involve the collection of
‘‘information’’ if an agency conducted
or sponsored it as a substitute for a
collection of information to collect evidence of, or to monitor, compliance

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§ 1320.3

5 CFR Ch. III (1–1–11 Edition)

with regulatory standards, because
such a certification would generally
entail burden in addition to that necessary to identify the respondent, the
date, the respondent’s address, and the
nature of the instrument);
(2) Samples of products or of any
other physical objects;
(3) Facts or opinions obtained
through direct observation by an employee or agent of the sponsoring agency or through nonstandardized oral
communication in connection with
such direct observations;
(4) Facts or opinions submitted in response to general solicitations of comments from the public, published in the
FEDERAL REGISTER or other publications, regardless of the form or format
thereof, provided that no person is required to supply specific information
pertaining to the commenter, other
than that necessary for self-identification, as a condition of the agency’s full
consideration of the comment;
(5) Facts or opinions obtained initially or in follow-on requests, from individuals (including individuals in control groups) under treatment or clinical examination in connection with
research on or prophylaxis to prevent a
clinical disorder, direct treatment of
that disorder, or the interpretation of
biological analyses of body fluids, tissues, or other specimens, or the identification or classification of such specimens;
(6) A request for facts or opinions addressed to a single person;
(7) Examinations designed to test the
aptitude, abilities, or knowledge of the
persons tested and the collection of information for identification or classification in connection with such examinations;
(8) Facts or opinions obtained or solicited at or in connection with public
hearings or meetings;
(9) Facts or opinions obtained or solicited through nonstandardized followup questions designed to clarify responses to approved collections of information; and
(10) Like items so designated by
OMB.
(i) OMB refers to the Office of Management and Budget.
(j) Penalty includes the imposition by
an agency or court of a fine or other

punishment; a judgment for monetary
damages or equitable relief; or the revocation, suspension, reduction, or denial of a license, privilege, right, grant,
or benefit.
(k) Person means an individual, partnership, association, corporation (including operations of governmentowned contractor-operated facilities),
business trust, or legal representative,
an organized group of individuals, a
State, territorial, tribal, or local government or branch thereof, or a political subdivision of a State, territory,
tribal, or local government or a branch
of a political subdivision;
(l) Practical utility means the actual,
not merely the theoretical or potential, usefulness of information to or for
an agency, taking into account its accuracy, validity, adequacy, and reliability, and the agency’s ability to
process the information it collects (or
a person’s ability to receive and process that which is disclosed, in the case
of a third-party or public disclosure) in
a useful and timely fashion. In determining whether information will have
‘‘practical utility,’’ OMB will take into
account whether the agency demonstrates actual timely use for the information either to carry out its functions or make it available to third-parties or the public, either directly or by
means of a third-party or public posting, notification, labeling, or similar
disclosure requirement, for the use of
persons who have an interest in entities or transactions over which the
agency has jurisdiction. In the case of
recordkeeping requirements or general
purpose statistics (see § 1320.3(c)(3)),
‘‘practical utility’’ means that actual
uses can be demonstrated.
(m) Recordkeeping requirement means
a requirement imposed by or for an
agency on persons to maintain specified records, including a requirement
to:
(1) Retain such records;
(2) Notify third parties, the Federal
government, or the public of the existence of such records;
(3) Disclose such records to third parties, the Federal government, or the
public; or
(4) Report to third parties, the Federal government, or the public regarding such records.

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