autogargedooropsSupStmnt Nov 2015

Information Collection Request (ICR)

Standard for Automatic Residential Garage Door Operators

Supporting Statement

1. Justification

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

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is responsible for the enforcement of the mandatory federal regulation “Safety Standard for Automatic Residential Garage Door Operators” (16 CFR, Part 1211). This standard requires all automatic residential garage door operators manufactured and sold in the U.S. on or after January 1, 1993, to conform to the entrapment protection requirements developed by Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL 325, fifth edition, dated June 7, 2002, including revisions through February 21, 2006.)

The recordkeeping requirements of the standard (16 CFR, Part 1211.31 attached) became effective on January 21, 1993. According to these requirements, written certification records must be maintained for a period of at least three years from the date of certification of each residential garage door operator subject to the standard. These certificates are based on a test of each operator or on a “reasonable testing program.” These records must be available upon request to any designated officer or employee of the Commission upon request in accordance with section 16(b) of the CPSA, 15 U.S.C. 2065(b).

Automatic residential garage door operators are continually being introduced into the market, either by established manufacturers and importers or new manufacturers and importers. Therefore, the Commission seeks approval to continue the recordkeeping requirements without change.

In August 2015, the CPSC proposed an update of the regulation to incorporate the most recent revisions to the referenced standard (UL 325, sixth edition, June 2015). This update does not affect the recordkeeping requirements of the standard.

2. Use and sharing of collected information

CPSC will use the information obtained from the requested records to assess the current level of compliance with the entrapment provisions of the standard for automatic garage door operators. Also, we will use information we obtain at a given firm in any appropriate legal action(s) initiated, if the firm or its product(s) fail to comply with the entrapment provisions of the standard. The recordkeeping requirements will enable the Commission to identify industry-wide problems and address them prior to the report of related incidents associated with noncomplying products.

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

Manufacturers and importers subject to the regulation may use any improvements in information technology that they deem suitable for compiling and maintaining the records required by the regulation.

4. Efforts to identify duplication

Information collected by the Commission during this enforcement activity is not collected by any other agency, organization, or individual. There is no similar information available.

5. Impact on small businesses

Enforcement activities associated with the standard for automatic garage door operators may include a number of small firms. Of 19 identified firms that market these products in the U.S., 14 are small. All known firms, including the small firms, voluntarily conformed to the various requirements of UL 325 since before the time that UL 325 became the referenced standard in the federal rule. In the August 2015 proposed update of the mandatory rule, the Commission noted that all known firms met the UL certification requirements; UL certification is considered sufficient evidence of compliance with the mandatory rule. Thus, the requirements do not impose significant impacts on small businesses.

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

The Commission relies on the recordkeeping provisions of the UL standard to monitor compliance with the rule. Without the recordkeeping requirements, the level of compliance would be unknown. The lack of written test records would require an increase in Federal government inspections and sample collections for testing to determine the industry’s compliance with the standard.

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 automatic residential garage door operator, 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 Federal Register Notice announcing the Commission’s latest proposed update of this rule was published in September 2015, with public comments due in November 2015. A Federal Register Notice announcing the renewal of this clearance was published December 3, 2015. No comments were received.

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 19 respondents. These firms conduct performance tests and maintain records based on the test results in order to maintain UL certification and verify compliance with the rule. CPSC staff estimates that each respondent will spend 40 hours annually on the collection of information related to the rule. Therefore, the total estimated burden is 760 hours (19 firms x 40 hours). The estimate is comprised of 35 hours for testing and 5 hours for recordkeeping.

The total annual cost of the testing burden is estimated to be $44,707, based on an hourly rate of $67.22; the cost of recordkeeping is estimated to be $30.52 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,” June 2015, Table 9, total compensation for managerial and technical time in goods-producing private industries for testing, and an hourly rate of $30.52 for sales and office worker time for recordkeeping,: http://www.bls.gov/ncs) . Thus, the total cost associated with the testing and recordkeeping burden is $47,614 ($44,707 + $2,907). This estimate includes professional and clerical time that may be spent to retrieve product data from automated or other records systems, explain firm practices/policies intended to assure compliance with the standard, or accompany Commission personnel during inspections.

6. Estimates of other total annual cost burden to respondents or recordkeepers

There are no costs to respondents beyond those presented in Section A.12. There are no other operating, maintenance, or capital costs associated with the collection.

6. Estimate of annualized costs to the federal government

The estimated annual cost to the federal government is approximately $22,196, which includes1.5 months to examine and evaluate the information, as needed, for compliance activities. This estimate is based on annual total compensation of $121,635 (the equivalent of a GS-14 Step 5 employee) with an additional 31.5 percent added for benefits, for a total of $177,569; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,” June 2015, Table 1, percentage of wages and salaries for all civilian management, professional, and related employees).

6. Program changes or adjustments

Based on recent experience, CPSC staff revised the estimate of the number of firms from 23 to 19.

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.