Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 200 / Monday, October 18, 2004 / Notices 61353

Donald E. Hout, Director, Ocean and 

Coastal Resource Management, 

National Ocean Service. 

Gerald R. Lucas, Director for Strategic 

Initiatives, Office of Human Resources 

Management, Department of 

Commerce.

Dated: October 8, 2004. 

Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., 

Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy (Ret.), Under 

Secretary of Commerce, for Oceans and 

Atmosphere.

[FR Doc. 04–23218 Filed 10–15–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–12–M

CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY 

COMMISSION 

Pilot Programs Inviting Public 

Comment on Voluntary Standards 

Activities and Staff and Contractor 

Research Reports

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety 

Commission.

ACTION: Notice of pilot programs and 

request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The Consumer Product Safety 

Commission (CPSC or Commission) is 

launching two pilot programs that will 

open CPSC staff activities for public 

review and comment. The first pilot 

program will provide information on 

CPSC staff participation with respect to 

a cross-section of voluntary standards, 

including advance notice of proposed 

staff positions on issues to be 

considered by voluntary standards 

organizations. The second pilot program 

will provide public access to a set of 

research reports and an opportunity to 

submit comments to be considered by 

the staff before finalization. 

The primary goals of both programs 

are to make the CPSC staff’s activities 

more transparent and to obtain the 

benefit of public review and input 

before finalizing CPSC staff positions. 

The Commission believes that timely 

public input will strengthen the CPSC’s 

efforts in these important areas. 

Comments received through these 

programs will be reviewed by staff to 

ensure each research report and staff 

recommendation on voluntary standards 

activities is based on the best scientific, 

economic, and technological 

information available. The Commission 

is hopeful that the two pilot programs 

will enhance the quality of the 

conclusions and recommendations 

drawn by CPSC staff without limiting its 

ability to make timely contributions to 

the ever-evolving voluntary standards 

development process or to complete its 

research work in a timely fashion. 

The Commission will evaluate the 

two pilot programs after a period of six 

months. Should the pilot programs be 

deemed successful, the Commission 

will consider expanding them to 

include a broader cross-section of CPSC 

staff voluntary standards activities and 

research reports developed by CPSC 

staff and/or contractors. The two pilot 

programs are further described below.

DATES: The pilot programs described in 

this notice commence on publication of 

this notice and run through April 18, 

2005. 

Comments 

Comments on a proposed staff 

recommendation concerning a voluntary 

standards activity selected for the pilot 

may be submitted through the CPSC 

Web site at http://www.cpsc.gov/volstd/

standards.html and must be received 

not later than five (5) working days after 

the recommendation is posted on the 

Web site. 

Comments on any research report that 

is the subject of the Research Reports 

Technical Review Pilot Program may be 

submitted via e-mail to the 

Commission’s Office of the Secretary at 

cpsc-os@cpsc.gov. Commenters who 

prefer may submit comments to the 

Office of the Secretary at the address 

shown below. Comments on a research 

report must be received not later than 

forty-five (45) days after the report is 

posted on CPSC’s Web site. 

General comments on whether to 

continue these programs beyond the 

pilot period and any suggestions for 

improving the programs may be 

submitted to the address below and 

must be received not later than May 18, 

2005.

ADDRESSES: General comments on the 

pilot programs should be mailed to the 

Office of the Secretary, Consumer 

Product Safety Commission, 

Washington, DC 20207–0001; telephone 

(301) 504–7923, or delivered to the 

Office of the Secretary, Room 502, 4330 

East-West Highway, Bethesda, Maryland 

20814–4423. Comments should be 

captioned ‘‘Comments on Pilot 

Programs for Public Review and 

Comment on Voluntary Standards 

Activities and Draft Research Reports.’’

Comments may also be filed by 

telefacsimile to (301) 504–0127, or by email to cpsc-os@cpsc.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information on the specific 

voluntary standards activities and draft 

technical reports that are the subject of 

the pilot programs contact: 

Hugh McLaurin, Director, Directorate 

for Engineering Sciences, U.S. 

Consumer Product Safety Commission, 

Washington, DC 20207, (301) 504–7531, 

e-mail: hmclaurin@cpsc.gov.

For general information on the pilot 

programs, contact: Lowell Martin, 

Assistant General Counsel for 

Regulatory Affairs, U.S. Consumer 

Product Safety Commission, 

Washington, DC 20207, (301) 504–7628, 

e-mail: lmartin@cpsc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. CPSC Staff Voluntary Standards 

Activities Information and Opportunity 

for Comment 

1. Background 

The Commission is actively engaged 

in the voluntary standards development 

process for a wide range of consumer 

products. The staff works with several 

different standards development 

organizations. All provide an open, 

deliberative process featuring a balance 

of interests and due process protections. 

CPSC staff members participate, as 

non-voting members, in a number of 

steps in the voluntary standards 

development process. CPSC staff often 

provide expert advice, technical 

assistance, injury and death data and 

analysis, as well as supporting research. 

In addition, CPSC staff will commonly 

submit recommendations concerning 

new consumer product safety standards 

or modification of existing standards. 

These recommendations are often based 

on previous research conducted by the 

agency or a review of injury and death 

data associated with the product 

category at issue. From 1990 through 

2002, CPSC staff has participated with 

other interested stakeholders in 

developing or revising 217 voluntary 

standards. 

2. Pilot Program 

CPSC is initiating a pilot program to 

begin posting notice of CPSC staff 

activities and recommendations 

concerning voluntary standards 

development on its web site. At present, 

Commission staff is involved in over 60 

consumer product voluntary standards 

development activities. For purposes of 

the pilot, CPSC has selected eight 

different voluntary standards activities 

to evaluate this system of sharing CPSC 

staff information with the public for 

review and comment.

The voluntary standards activities 

selected for the pilot are: (1) Smoke 

alarms; (2) arc fault circuit interrupters; 

(3) ground fault circuit interrupters; (4) 

pool and spa safety vacuum release 

systems; (5) bunk beds; (6) gasoline 

containers for child resistance; (7) 

portable generators (within the engine 

driven tools project); and (8) garage door 

and gate operators. For these voluntary 

61354 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 200 / Monday, October 18, 2004 / Notices 

standards activities, we will make 

available on the CPSC Web site a wide 

range of technical information, 

including as appropriate: relevant CPSC 

safety alerts, press releases involving the 

product category, pertinent fact sheets, 

relevant incident and death data, letters 

with staff recommendations, 

correspondence, meeting notices, 

research reports, memoranda, and 

contractor reports. We will also provide 

appropriate contact information, both 

for CPSC staff and the voluntary 

standards organizations. 

The information on these eight 

activities can be accessed by visiting the 

CPSC Web site at http://www.cpsc.gov/

volstd/standards.html. In addition, the 

site will allow any member of the public 

to arrange to receive automatic 

electronic mail updates on any new 

CPSC staff activity and/or 

recommendations regarding voluntary 

standards activities. 

This new area of the CPSC Web site 

will also provide the public with the 

opportunity to review and comment on 

newly developed staff materials/

recommendations before they are 

submitted for consideration by the 

voluntary standards organization. 

During the pilot, the Commission staff 

will post proposed staff 

recommendations for the selected 

voluntary standards activities in the 

voluntary standards area of the CPSC 

Web site for a period of five (5) working 

days. Interested parties will be able to 

forward comments to CPSC staff though 

this web area. Following the five day 

public comment period, staff will 

provide due consideration to inputs 

received, inform the Assistant Executive 

Director for Hazard Identification and 

Reduction of any significant issues 

raised, and finalize the staff 

recommendation for the Director’s 

review. Although public comments may 

affect the staff’s proposed 

recommendations, the staff will not 

respond directly to comments. 

The Commission would prefer to 

allow a longer period than five days for 

public input, but we lack control over 

the deadlines set by voluntary standards 

organizations. We are concerned that a 

more generous review period may leave 

the staff too little time for formulating 

a position and taking account of public 

comments. The Commission invites 

comments on this and other aspects of 

the pilot programs. 

The pilot project will alert the public 

to eight current voluntary standards 

activities within the CPSC and enable 

them to access detailed information and 

analysis regarding the proposed 

approach and staff recommendations for 

new or revised standards. We believe it 

is in the public interest to ensure all 

interested parties have the opportunity 

to review this information and make 

comments to staff for consideration 

prior to finalizing a recommendation to 

a voluntary standards organization. We 

have developed this pilot project to 

evaluate that hypothesis and to develop 

a better understanding of the practical 

implications of this new, more open 

process. 

It is important to note that this pilot 

addresses only information pertaining 

directly to CPSC staff involvement in 

voluntary standards activities and is not 

intended to create a complete repository 

for all voluntary standards activities 

information. Each voluntary standards 

organization is responsible for 

maintaining such comprehensive 

information. Accordingly, for each 

activity in the pilot program, contact 

information for the appropriate 

voluntary standards organization and/or 

staff member will be included. 

B. Research Reports Technical Review 

Pilot Program 

1. Background 

The CPSC conducts many research 

and study projects in furtherance of its 

activities to improve product safety and 

eliminate potential hazards associated 

with consumer products. The findings 

from such projects may be used by staff 

to develop and refine positions on 

voluntary and mandatory product safety 

standards. The staff also conducts 

research on new and emerging 

technologies to evaluate their potential 

for enhancing consumer product safety 

and reducing hazards. Each research 

project typically concludes with 

development of a final report outlining 

the hazard scenario or product safety 

issue that was researched, the scope of 

the project, methodology utilized, 

findings, and recommendations when 

appropriate. On occasion, the staff also 

engages outside contractors to perform 

research. In such cases, the final 

contractor report is usually transmitted 

to the Commission and the public with 

a cover memorandum from the staff 

addressing any issues presented by the 

report and/or making recommendations 

as appropriate. 

2. Pilot Program 

The Research Reports Technical 

Review pilot program will give 

interested persons the opportunity to 

review and provide timely technical 

comments on CPSC staff and CPSCsponsored research reports prior to their 

finalization. The reports will be located 

on the CPSC Web site at http://

www.cpsc.gov/volstd/research/

research.html. Each selected research 

report can be viewed by clicking on the 

link for that report. Interested parties 

can forward technical comments to 

CPSC staff via e-mail to cpscos@cpsc.gov or, if access to e-mail is 

unavailable, by correspondence to the 

Office of the Secretary at the address 

shown above. 

We have selected the following draft 

staff reports to initiate this pilot: (1) 

Detection of Abnormal Operating 

Conditions in Electric Clothes Dryers; (2) 

A Review of the Sound Effectiveness of 

Residential Smoke Alarms; (3) An 

Evaluation of Finger Injuries Associated 

with Home Document (Paper) Shredder 

Machines; and (4) Fire Indicators Project 

Report. In addition, we are including 

one final contractor report, namely, 

Final Report on Development and 

Manufacturing Assessment of the 

Concentric-Ring Smooth-Top Range 

Sensor. These research reports will be 

located on the Research Reports 

Technical Review Web page and will be 

available for comment for forty-five (45) 

days from the date of this notice, that is 

until December 2, 2004. Other research 

reports may be posted to the Web site 

during the pilot, and in such cases the 

Commission will allow 45 days for 

public comment. 

CPSC staff will assess technical 

comments submitted through the 

Research Reports Technical Review 

Web site and will take account of such 

comments when finalizing staff reports 

or in the final staff assessment to 

accompany a contractor report. Staff 

will provide due consideration to inputs 

received, inform the Assistant Executive 

Director for Hazard Identification and 

Reduction of any significant issues that 

arise, and finalize the report in question 

for review by the Executive Director and 

transmittal to the Commission. 

Although the staff will take account of 

all comments received, the staff will not 

respond directly to the commenter. 

C. Conclusion 

The Commission has launched these 

pilot programs in an effort to increase 

the transparency and openness of CPSC 

staff voluntary standards activities and 

CPSC staff and CPSC-sponsored 

research. The Commission is hopeful 

that the pilots will enhance the overall 

quality of the conclusions and 

recommendations drawn by CPSC staff 

with regard to voluntary standards 

development and our product safety 

research. It is important to note that 

while comments on specific positions 

and reports will be reviewed and 

assessed by CPSC staff member(s) as 

appropriate, CPSC staff will not prepare 

formal responses. Rather, the staff will 

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 200 / Monday, October 18, 2004 / Notices 61355

consider whether to modify its input to 

the voluntary standards organization or 

to revise a research report. 

The pilots will commence upon 

publication of this notice in the Federal 

Register and will be completed by April 

18, 2005. 

The Commission also seeks comment 

on these pilot programs generally in 

order to inform its judgment about 

extending or modifying the programs. 

Such comments should be in writing 

and submitted to the Office of the 

Secretary at the address above no later 

than one (1) month after completion of 

the pilots, that is, not later than May 18, 

2005.

Dated: October 12, 2004. 

Todd A. Stevenson, 

Secretary, Consumer Product Safety 

Commission.

[FR Doc. 04–23197 Filed 10–15–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6355–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request

ACTION: Notice.

The Department of Defense has 

submitted to OMB for clearance, the 

following proposal for collection of 

information under the provisions of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 

Chapter 35). 

Dates: Consideration will be given to 

all comments received by November 17, 

2004. 

Title, Form, and OMB Number:

Registration for Scientific and Technical 

Information Services; DD Form 1540; 

OMB Control Number 0704–0264. 

Type of Request: Reinstatement. 

Number of Respondents: 7,979. 

Responses Per Respondent: 1. 

Annual Responses: 7,979. 

Average Burden Per Response: 10 

minutes. 

Annual Burden Hours: 1,330. 

Needs and Uses: The date that the 

Defense Technical Information Center 

handles is controlled, either because of 

distribution limitations, or security 

classification. For this reason, all 

potential users are required to register 

for service. DoD Instruction 3200.14, 

Principles and Operational Parameters 

of the DoD Scientific and Technical 

Information Program, mandates the 

registration procedure. Federal 

Government agencies and their 

contractors are required to complete the 

DD Form 1540, Registration for 

Scientific and Technical Information 

Services. The contractor community 

completes a separate DD Form 1540 for 

each contract or grant, and registration 

is valid until the contract expires. 

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit, not-for-profit institutions, Federal 

Government, and state, local or tribal 

government. 

Frequency: On occasion. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Required to 

obtain or retain benefits. 

OMB Desk Officer: Ms. Jacqueline 

Zeiher. 

Written comments and 

recommendations on the proposed 

information collection should be sent to 

Ms. Zeiher at the Office of Management 

and Budget, Desk Officer for DoD, Room 

10236, New Executive Office Building, 

Washington, DC 20503. 

DOD Clearance Officer: Mr. Robert 

Cushing. 

Written requests for copies of the 

information collection proposal should 

be sent to Mr. Cushing, WHS/ESCD/

Information Management Division, 1225 

South Clark Street, Suite 504, 

Arligntron, VA 22202-4326.

Dated: October 8, 2004. 

Patricia L. Toppings, 

Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison 

Officer, Department of Defense.

[FR Doc. 04–23245 Filed 10–15–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 5001–06–M

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request

ACTION: Notice.

The Department of Defense has 

submitted to OMB for clearance, the 

following proposal for collection of 

information under the provisions of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 

Chapter 35). 

Dates: Consideration will be given to 

all comments received by November 17, 

2004. 

Title, Form, and OMB Number:

Uniform Tender of Rates and/or Charges 

for Domestic Transportation Services 

(DoD/USCG Sponsored Household 

Goods); SDDC Form 43–R; OMB Control 

Number 0702–0018. 

Type of Request: Reinstatement. 

Number of Respondents: 1,580. 

Responses Per Respondent: 4. 

Annual Responses: 6,320. 

Average Burden Per Response: 30 

minutes. 

Annual Burden Hours: 3,160. 

Needs and Uses: The Department of 

Defense approved household goods 

carriers files rate to engage in the 

movement of DoD and United States 

Coast Guard sponsored shipments 

within the continental United Sates. 

The Military Surface Deployment and 

Distribution Command evaluates the 

rates and awards the traffic to low rate 

responsible carriers whose rates are 

responsive and most advantageous to 

the Government. 

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit. 

Frequency: Semi-annually. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Required to 

obtain or retain benefits. 

OMB Desk Officer: Ms. Jacqueline 

Zeiher. 

Written comments and 

recommendations on the proposed 

information collection should be sent to 

Ms. Zeiher at the Office of Management 

and Budget, Desk Officer for DoD, Room 

10236, New Executive Office Building, 

Washington, DC 20503. 

DoD Clearance Officer: Mr. Robert 

Cushing. 

Written requests for copies of the 

information collection proposal should 

be sent to Mr. Cushing WHS/ESCD/

Information Management Division, 1225 

South Clark Street, Suite 504, Arlington, 

VA 22202–4326.

Dated: October 8, 2004. 

Patricia L. Toppings, 

Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison 

Officer, Department of Defense.

[FR Doc. 04–23246 Filed 10–15–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 5001–06–M

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request

ACTION: Notice.

The Department of Defense has 

submitted to OMB for clearance, the 

following proposal for collection of 

information under the provisions of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 

Chapter 35).

DATES: Consideration will be given to all 

comments received by November 17, 

2004. 

Title, Form, and OMB Number:

Shipper’s Export Declaration (SED) 

Program; ENG Form 7513; OMB Control 

Number 0710–0013. 

Type of Request: Reinstatement. 

Number of Respondents: 14,300. 

Responses per Respondent: 6.8. 

Annual Responses: 97,300. 

Average Burden per Response: 11 

minutes. 

Annual Burden Hours: 17,600.