3060‑0286
October 2021
SUPPORTING STATEMENT
Notice of Discontinuance, Reduction, or Impairment of Service
Involving a Distress Watch -- § 80.302
A. Justification
The Commission is seeking extension of this information collection in order to obtain the full three-year clearance from the OMB.
The reporting requirement contained in Section 80.302 requires that when changes occur in the operation of a public coast station, including discontinuance, relocation, reduction, or suspension of a watch required to be maintained on 2182 kHz or 156.800 MHz, notification must be made by the licensee to the nearest district office of the U.S. Coast Guard as soon as practicable. The notification must include the estimated or known resumption time of the watch.
This requirement is necessary to ensure that the U.S. Coast Guard is timely informed when a coast station that is responsible for maintaining a listening watch on a designated marine distress and safety frequency discontinues, relocates, reduces, or suspends such a watch, to allow the Coast Guard ample time to seek an alternate means of providing radio coverage to in order to protect the life or lives of persons and/or property at sea, or object to the planned diminution of service.
Statutory authority for this collection of information is contained in Secs. 4, 303, 307(e), 309, and 332, 48 Stat. 1066, 1082, as amended; 47 U.S.C. 154, 303, 307(e), 309, and 332, unless otherwise noted.
This collection of information does not affect individuals or households; thus, there are no impacts under the Privacy Act.
2. The information is used by the U.S. Coast Guard district office nearest to the coast station. Once the Coast Guard is aware that such a situation exists, it is able to inform the maritime community that radio coverage has or will be affected and/or seek to provide coverage of the safety watch via alternate means.
3. Prior to finalizing rule makings, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau conducts an analysis to ensure that improved information technology cannot be used to reduce the burden on the public. This analysis considers the possibility of obtaining and/or computer‑generating the required data from existing data bases in the Commission or other Federal agencies.
4. This agency does not impose a similar information collection on the respondents. There is no similar data available.
5. In conformance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Commission is making an effort to minimize the burden on all respondents, regardless of size. The Commission has limited the information requirements to those absolutely necessary.
6. If the Coast Guard is not notified of the discontinuance, reduction, or impairment of the service of a coast station that is required to maintain a listening watch on a designated distress and safety channel, the primary agency responsible for maritime search and rescue would be unaware of the gap in coverage and unable to take appropriate action if needed. Consequently, a decrease in the safety system designed to protect life and property at sea could occur.
7. There are no special circumstances that would require collections to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5.
8. The Commission published a Notice in the Federal Register on June 11, 2021, 86 FR 31310, as required by 5 CFR Section 1320.8(d), seeking comment from the public on the information collection requirements contained in this collection. No comments were received.
9. Respondents will not receive any payments connected to this collection of information.
10. There is no need for confidentiality with this collection.
11. This collection does not address any private matters of a sensitive nature.
12. There are approximately 50 coast stations, down from 160, per year that discontinue, reduce, or otherwise impair their service to the maritime public. Based on experience, it is estimated that a secretary or clerical employee would spend no more than one hour notifying the nearest U.S. Coast Guard district office of such an occurrence. This in-house individual will be paid $15 per hour.
Total Number of Respondents: 50.
Total Number of Annual Responses: 50.
Total Annual Burden Hours: 50 responses x 1 hour = 50 hours.
Total In-House Cost: $15/hour x 50 responses x 1 hour = $750.
13. Estimate of cost to respondents:
a. There are no capital or start-up costs.
b. There are no operational or maintenance costs.
c. Total Annual Costs: None.
14. Estimated annual cost to the Federal Government: None.
15. There are no program changes or adjustments to this collection.
16. The data will not be published for statistical use.
17. No expiration date will be displayed for this collection of information; therefore, a waiver to not display the expiration date is not necessary.
18. There were no exceptions to the certification statement.
B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods
No statistical methods are employed.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | 3060-0286 |
| Author | JSHAFFER |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-08-13 |