Department of Justice
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Supporting Statement ‑ Information Collection Requirement
1140-0028
Inventories: Licensed Explosives Importers, Manufacturers,
Dealers And Permittees
A. Justification
Chapter 40 of Title 18, United States Code, was added by Title XI of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 (Public Law 91‑452), in response to the high level of domestically perpetrated criminal acts involving explosives. Today, the greatest worry is the possibility of terrorism, both domestic and foreign in origin. These records are required under 18 U.S.C. 842 (f),(g),(j), (k), 843(f), and 847, and are established in the manner set forth in 27 CFR 55.121, .122, .123, .124, .125, and .127.
These records show the explosive material inventories of licensees and permittees. Inventories are used to determine whether any unlawful diversions of explosive materials have occurred, especially those arising through theft by persons not affiliated with the licensee or permittee. Licensees and permittees are required to take physical inventories when they are: 1) commencing business, 2) changing premises, 3) discontinuing business, or, 4) requested to do so by the ATF District Director (Regulatory Enforcement).
The inventory is taken by the licensee or permittee to establish initial figures from which an audit trail can be developed by ATF field officers, during a compliance inspection or criminal investigation. Specifically, inventory figures are used as a business of reconciliation between the physical inventory on hand, versus the book inventory maintained by the licensee or permittee. These reconciliations are conducted on an ongoing business, pursuant to the explosive inspections and investigations referenced above.
This information collection is an inventory of explosive materials created and maintained by the licensee or permittee. The inventory is kept on the business premises. The collection does not involve forms or the use of information technology.
The ATF Subject Classification System is used to identify duplication and to ensure that any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for the purpose of this information collection.
The collection of this information has no impact on small businesses or other small entities.
Less frequent or non‑collection of this information would pose a threat to public safety and negatively impact the accountability of explosive materials.
This recordkeeping requirement is conducted in a manner consistent with 5 CFR 1320.6.
No comments were received during the 60-day Federal Register notice period. However, a 30-day notice will be published in the Federal Register to solicit public comments.
No payment or gift is associated with this collection.
Confidentiality is not assured. These records are maintained at the premises of the licensee or permittee and are not available to members of the public.
The information collection does not involve records of a sensitive nature.
There are 9,433 respondents to this information collection. Each respondent responds one (1) time. Therefore, the total annual responses are 9,433. It is estimated that it takes two (2) hours to complete each inventory. Therefore, the total annual hours for this information collection is 18,866. Licensees and permittees shall keep records on the business premises for 5 years from the date a transaction occurs, or until the discontinuance of a business or operations by the licensee or permittee.
There is no annual cost to the respondent for this information collection.
There is no cost to ATF as forms are not published or furnished to the respondents. The individual licensee or permittee develops and maintains their own inventory records.
The adjustment associated with this collection is a decrease in the number of respondents by 483 and an increase in the total burden hours by 8,950, since the last renewal in 2017. The recalculated burden hours for this collection corresponds with the fact that each respondent responds only once, and also that it will take two (2) hours to provide each response, and not one (1) hour, as was previously reported.
ATF does not request approval to not display the expiration date of OMB approval for this collection.
There are no exceptions to the certification statement.
Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods
None
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | Department of Justice |
| Author | ATF |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-13 |