Certification and Compliance
Requirements for Nonroad Spark-ignition Engines (Renewal)
Extension without change of a currently approved collection
No
Regular
10/31/2019
Requested
Previously Approved
36 Months From Approved
01/31/2021
4,080
3,217
281,351
265,475
12,374,111
9,604,355
As required by the Clean Air Act, EPA
has regulations establishing emission standards and other
requirements for various classes of vehicles, engines, and
evaporative emissions. These regulations require that compliance be
demonstrated prior to EPA granting a “Certificate of Conformity.”
EPA is charged with issuing certificates of conformity for those
engines which comply with applicable emission standards. Such a
certificate must be issued before engines may be legally introduced
into commerce. To apply for a certificate of conformity,
manufacturers are required to submit descriptions of their planned
production line, including detailed descriptions of the emission
control system, and test data. The emission values achieved during
certification testing may also be used in the Averaging, Banking,
and Trading (ABT) Program. The program allows manufacturers to bank
credits for engine families that emit below the standard and use
the credits for families that emit above the standard. They may
also trade banked credits with other manufacturers. Participation
in the ABT program is voluntary. Different categories of
spark-ignition engines may also be required to comply with
production-line testing (PLT) and in-use testing. There are also
recordkeeping and labeling requirements. This information is
collected electronically by the Gasoline Engine Compliance Center
(GECC) at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. GECC uses this
information to ensure that manufacturers comply with applicable
regulations and the Clean Air Act (CAA). It may also be used by the
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) and the
Department of Justice for enforcement purposes. Non- CBI may be
disclosed on OTAQ's Web site or upon request under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) to trade associations, environmental groups,
and the public. Any information submitted for which a claim of
confidentiality is made is safeguarded according to EPA regulations
at 40 CFR 2.201 et seq.
There is an increase of 15,876
hours (from 265,475 hours to 281,351) in the total estimated burden
in this collection from the burden currently identified in the OMB
Inventory of Approved ICRs. This increase in hours is primarily
attributed to an increase in the total number of respondents,
though primarily from evaporative components, and an adjustment in
the hours required to file a complete application for certification
and conduct compliance activities throughout a calendar year. The
changes between the previous ICR and the current version is a
result of a more accurate accounting of the now mature evaporative
components industry to this ICR. Evaporative testing, reporting and
record keeping accounts for the increase in the number of
responses, annual time burden, and annual cost burden. The burden
identified in the Inventory is a combination of the burden
previously identified in ICR1695.10 and communications between EPA
and the regulated community. A review of all the programs included
in the previous ICR reflected that the number of respondents
previously estimated was lower than current estimates, particularly
for evaporative components, and the hours needed to reflect the
adjustment to the use of more carry-over applications and
contracting out the test work for certification and/or compliance
testing by some manufacturers. Table 8 below summarizes the total
number of respondents per ICR. Other minor factors for the
adjustment in the overall burden are: (1) most applications for
certification are now carry-over, which require less time to
prepare than a full certification test; and (2) more extensive use
of web-based system where manufacturers can submit their responses,
including applications for certification and compliance reports
included in this ICR.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.