[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 237 (Wednesday, December 9, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79186-79187]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-27060]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

[Docket No. FDA-2014-N-1076]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Formal Dispute Resolution: Scientific and Technical 
Issues Related to Pharmaceutical Current Good Manufacturing Practice

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA, Agency, or we) is 
announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection 
of certain information by the Agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act 
of 1995 (PRA), Federal Agencies are required to publish notice in the 
Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, 
including each proposed extension of an existing collection of 
information, and to allow 60 days for public comment in response to the 
notice. This notice solicits comments on the information collection 
pertaining to Formal Dispute Resolution: Scientific and Technical 
Issues Related to Pharmaceutical Current Good Manufacturing Practice.

DATES: Submit either electronic or written comments on the collection 
of information by February 8, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments as follows. Please note that late, 
untimely filed comments will not be considered. Electronic comments 
must be submitted on or before February 8, 2021. The https://www.regulations.gov electronic filing system will accept comments until 
11:59 p.m. Eastern Time at the end of February 8, 2021. Comments 
received by mail/hand delivery/courier (for written/paper submissions) 
will be considered timely if they are postmarked or the delivery 
service acceptance receipt is on or before that date.

Electronic Submissions

    Submit electronic comments in the following way:
    <bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted 
electronically, including attachments, to https://www.regulations.gov 
will be posted to the docket unchanged. Because your comment will be 
made public, you are solely responsible for ensuring that your comment 
does not include any confidential information that you or a third party 
may not wish to be posted, such as medical information, your or anyone 
else's Social Security number, or confidential business information, 
such as a manufacturing process. Please note that if you include your 
name, contact information, or other information that identifies you in 
the body of your comments, that information will be posted on https://www.regulations.gov.
    <bullet> If you want to submit a comment with confidential 
information that you do not wish to be made available to the public, 
submit the comment as a written/paper submission and in the manner 
detailed (see ``Written/Paper Submissions'' and ``Instructions'').

Written/Paper Submissions

    Submit written/paper submissions as follows:
    <bullet> Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier (for written/paper 
submissions): Dockets Management Staff (HFA-305), Food and Drug 
Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
    <bullet> For written/paper comments submitted to the Dockets 
Management Staff, FDA will post your comment, as well as any 
attachments, except for information submitted, marked and identified, 
as confidential, if submitted as detailed in ``Instructions.''
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket No. 
FDA-2014-N-1076 for ``Agency Information Collection Activities; 
Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Guidance for Industry on Formal 
Dispute Resolution: Scientific and Technical Issues Related to 
Pharmaceutical Current Good Manufacturing Practice.'' Received 
comments, those filed in a timely manner (see ADDRESSES), will be 
placed in the docket and, except for those submitted as ``Confidential 
Submissions,'' publicly viewable at https://www.regulations.gov or at 
the Dockets Management Staff between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, 240-402-7500.
    <bullet> Confidential Submissions--To submit a comment with 
confidential information that you do not wish to be made publicly 
available, submit your comments only as a written/paper submission. You 
should submit two copies total. One copy will include the information 
you claim to be confidential with a heading or cover note that states 
``THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.'' The Agency will 
review this copy, including the claimed confidential information, in 
its consideration of comments. The second copy, which will have the 
claimed confidential information redacted/blacked out, will be 
available for public viewing and posted on https://www.regulations.gov. 
Submit both copies to the Dockets Management Staff. If you do not wish 
your name and contact information to be made publicly available, you 
can provide this information on the cover sheet and not in the body of 
your comments and you must identify this information as 
``confidential.'' Any information marked as ``confidential'' will not 
be disclosed except in accordance with 21 CFR 10.20 and other 
applicable disclosure law. For more information about FDA's posting of 
comments to public dockets, see 80 FR 56469, September 18, 2015, or 
access the information at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2015-09-18/pdf/2015-23389.pdf.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
the electronic and written/paper comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov and insert the docket number, found in brackets in 
the heading of this document, into the ``Search'' box and follow the 
prompts and/or go to the Dockets Management Staff, 5630 Fishers Lane, 
Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852, 240-402-7500.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Domini Bean, Office of Operations, 
Food and Drug Administration, Three White Flint North, 10A-12M, 11601 
Landsdown St., North Bethesda, MD 20852, 301-796-5733, 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#8ededccfddfaefe8e8cee8eaefa0e6e6fda0e9e1f8"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="401012011334212626002624216e2828336e272f36">[email protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521), Federal

[[Page 79187]]

Agencies must obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. 
``Collection of information'' is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 
1320.3(c) and includes Agency requests or requirements that members of 
the public submit reports, keep records, or provide information to a 
third party. Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)) 
requires Federal Agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal 
Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including 
each proposed extension of an existing collection of information, 
before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. To comply with 
this requirement, FDA is publishing notice of the proposed collection 
of information set forth in this document.
    With respect to the following collection of information, FDA 
invites comments on these topics: (1) Whether the proposed collection 
of information is necessary for the proper performance of FDA's 
functions, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (2) the accuracy of FDA's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways 
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques, when 
appropriate, and other forms of information technology.

Formal Dispute Resolution: Scientific and Technical Issues Related to 
Pharmaceutical Current Good Manufacturing Practice OMB Control Number 
0910-0563--Extension

    Section 562 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) 
(21 U.S.C. 360bbb-1) directs FDA to establish adequate dispute 
resolution (DR) procedures to ensure appropriate review of scientific 
controversies between FDA and members of regulated industry, including 
possible review by a scientific advisory committee. To implement this 
provision, we amended the general appeal regulation applicable across 
all FDA components (21 CFR 10.75), Internal agency review of decisions) 
to provide for advisory committee review (Sec.  10.75(b)(2)). At the 
same time and consistent with the mandates of section 562 of the FD&C 
Act, we adopted an approach whereby specific implementation procedures 
regarding scientific controversy associated with review of certain FDA 
decisions are detailed in center-issued guidance.
    Accordingly, we developed the guidance for industry ``Formal 
Dispute Resolution: Scientific and Technical Issues Related to 
Pharmaceutical Current Good Manufacturing Practice.'' We intend that 
the guidance inform manufacturers of veterinary and human drugs, 
including human biological drug products, on how to resolve disputes 
about scientific and technical issues relating to current good 
manufacturing practice (CGMP).
    Disputes related to scientific and technical issues may arise 
during FDA inspections of pharmaceutical manufacturers to determine 
compliance with CGMP requirements or during FDA's assessment of 
corrective actions undertaken as a result of such inspections. The 
guidance recommends procedures that we believe encourage open and 
prompt discussion of disputes and lead to their resolution. The 
guidance describes procedures for raising such disputes to the Office 
of Regulatory Affairs and Center levels and procedures for requesting 
review by the DR panel. The guidance is available on our website at 
https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents, along with additional information regarding the resolution 
of scientific disputes at FDA.
    We estimate only a nominal burden for the information collection 
and assume that one manufacturer will submit one request annually for 
tier-one DR and that it will take manufacturers approximately 30 hours 
to prepare and submit each tier-one DR request. Since our last request 
for OMB approval of the information collection, we have received no 
tier-two DRs.
    We estimate the burden of this collection of information as 
follows:

                                                     Table 1--Estimated Annual Reporting Burden \1\
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                                                                                         Number of
                              Activity                                  Number of      responses per     Total annual   Average  burden    Total hours
                                                                       respondents       respondent       responses      per  response
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Requests for tier-one DR...........................................               1                1                1               30               30
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\1\ There are no capital costs or operating and maintenance costs associated with this collection of information.

    Our estimated burden for the information collection reflects a 
decrease of 38 hours and a decrease of 1 request. This adjustment 
corresponds to a decrease in the number of submissions we have received 
over the last few years.

    Dated: December 2, 2020.
Lauren K. Roth,
Acting Principal Associate Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2020-27060 Filed 12-8-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4164-01-P


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