PART A OF THE SUPPORTING STATEMENT

1. Identification of the Information Collection (a ) Title and Number of Information Collection. "National Volatile Organic Compound Emission Standards for Consumer Products." The Environmental Protection Agency (EP A) tracking number for this information collection request (I CR) is 1764.0 4 . This is a renewal of a currentl y approved ICR, OMB No. 2060

- 0348, scheduled to expire October 31, 2007

. (b ) Short Characterization. (i ) Type of collection. The information collection includes initial reports and periodic recordkeeping necessary for the EPA to ensure compliance with the federal standards for consumer products. Respondents are manufacturers and importers of consumer products. The Office of Management and B udget (OMB) approved the previous I CR (EPA I CR number 1764.0 3 ) without terms of clearance

. (ii) Content of reports. All manufacturers and importers of consumer products subject to this rule must submit an initial report by

the compliance date of the rule. The "Initial Notification Report" must include (1) company name; (2) list of affected product categories; (3) location of corporate headquarters; (4) location where formulation and batch records are maintained; (5) description of any date codes used on product labeling; and (6) name, title, and signature of the certifying company official. Respondents have no periodic reporting requirements. Another reporting requirement, in addition to the initial report, is to provide an updated description of an y date codes that may have been revised subsequent to submittal of the initial report. Respondents seeking a variance must submit an application which provides information to EPA necessary

in determining whether to grant the variance. The application would include the specific grounds on which the variance is sought, proposed date b y which the requirements of the rule will be met, and a plan for achieving compliance. Supporting documentation is required of companies who wish to market a product sub ject to the "innovative products" provisions of the rule. This documentation includes information on VOC emissions from the use of the product as compared to emissions from a product formulated in compliance with the table of standards.2

The rule require s that the labels of all subject consumer products display the date of manufacture. However, there should be no additional burden imposed due to this labeling requirement because manufacturers routinel y date

- code their products. The date can be in coded form. All manufacturers and importers of subject products must submit an explanation of all date codes used. Date code explanations must be submitted with the initial report. Thereafter, respondents must submit explanations of any new date code within 3 0 day s of its first use. (iii) Recordkeeping requirements. All manufacturers and importers of subject consumer products are required to maintain records of formulations and actual batch records for all consumer products covered b y the rule. If reque sted b y EPA, the manufacturer or importer must demonstrate to EPA's satisfaction that actual product content adheres to the formulation(s) on record. All information is routinely kept by companies and consists of formulation data and information on ingr edients used in each batch. There is no testing required to create this data, except for one

- time emission testing of charcoal lighter materials formulations. All records required under the rule must be retained for 3 ye ars. 2. Need for and Use of the Collection (a ) Need/Authority for the Collection. The EPA is required under Section 183(e) of the Clean Air Act (Act) to regulate VOC emissions from the use of consumer and commercial products. Pursuant to Section 183(e)(3), the EPA published a list of consumer and commercial products and a schedule for their regulation on March 23, 1995 (60 FR 15264). Consumer products were included in Group Iof the list, and standards were promulgated on September 11, 1998. In the Administrator's judgment, VOC e missions from the use of consumer products contribute to ground

- level ozone formation in ozone nonattainment areas. The reports and recordkeeping activities required under the rule enable the EPA to determine whether or not consumer products manufactured or imported for use in the U.S. meet the VOC content limits. Minimal reporting is required. Initial reporting consists of information needed b y EPA to (1) identify the universe of manufacturers and importers subject to the rule; (2) determine the date o f manufacture of products; (3) ascertain the location of formulation and batch records for purposes of compliance assurance; and (4) have on record a responsible company official as a primary

contact. Notification that a regulated entity has revised its d ate code sy stem will enable EPA to have access to the most current codes. Respondents seeking a variance are required to submit an application which includes the grounds upon which the variance is being sought, the proposed date for coming into complia nce, and a plan for achieving compliance.3

Companies desiring to market a product under the "innovative products" provisions are required to submit documentation of the VOC emissions from the use of the product as compared to emissions from a product f ormulated in compliance with the table of standards. Recordkeeping, consisting of maintenance of formulation data and batch records, enable EPA to determine whether a product offered for sale was, in fact, manufactured with V OC content in compliance with the limits. There is no required testing except for one

- time emission testing of charcoal lighter fluid formulations. (b ) Use/Users of the Information. Agency enforcement personnel will use the information collected to (1) identify manufacturers an d importers subject to the rule; and (2) ensure that consumer products compl y with the VOC content standards. These activities are essential to compliance assurance.
3. Nonduplication, Consultations, and Other Collection Criteria (a ) Nonduplication.
T he information collected pursuant to the regulation consists primarily of the VOC content for specific categories of consumer products. Several States regulate consumer products and require certain recordkeeping and reporting activities. The rule include s requirements consistent with State rules to the extent practical in order to minimize the cumulative burden to the industry. (b ) Public Notice Required Prior to ICR Submission to OMB
On August 2, 2007, EPA published a notice in the Federal Register ( 72 F R 42409 ) entitled, Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request; National Volatile Organic Compound Emission Standards for Consumer Products ; EPA ICR No. 1764.0 4 ; OMB Control No. 2060

- 0348 . The purpose of the notice was t o announce that EPA was planning to submit this continuing ICR to OMB for review and approval, and to solicit comments on the proposed continued collection. EPA received no comments during the comment period. (c) Consultations Significant input and inf

ormation was received from the affected industry , State and local governments, and environmental groups during development of the rule. In addition, in preparing to submit this I CR to OMB for renewal, EPA contacted parties within the affected industry to obtain information on the universe of affected sources and feedback on accuracy of the burden estimates.
TABLE 1
CONSULTATIONS Douglas Fratz Consumer Specialty Products Association4

Frances Wu The Cosmetic, Toiletry , and Fragrance Association Dougl as Ray

mond National Aerosol Association Mark Collatz The Adhesive and Sealant Council F. H. Brewer S.C. Johnson & Son Eileen Moyer Reckitt

- Benckiser (d ) Effects of Less Frequent Collection. This I CR includes one

- time initial reports by all manufa cturers and importers of subject consumer products. Periodic reporting is not required. Consequently , less frequent reporting is not an issue. Formulation and batch records are required to be kept on a per

- product basis. This information is normally

m aintained by

consumer product manufacturers. Because there is no anal yt ical test method for determining the VOC content of consumer products, maintaining records of each batch is essential for compliance assurance. Accordingl y, lesser degrees of recordke eping would make compliance determination difficult if not impossible. (e) General Guidelines. This I CR adheres to the guidelines for Federal data requesters, as provided at 5 CFR 1320.6. The regulation requires that records be maintained for 3 years. This period of record retention is consistent with other ongoing similar programs and allows enough record history for inspectors to adequatel y monitor compliance. (f ) Confidentiality. (i ) Confidentiality

. All information submitted to the Agency for which a claim of confidentiality is made will be safeguarded according to the Agency policies set forth in Title 40, Chapter 1, Part 2, Subpart B

-- Confidentiality

of Business Information (see 40 CFR 2; 41 FR 36092, September 1, 1976; amended by 43 FR 3 9999, September 8, 1978; 43 FR 42251, September 28, 1978; 44 FR 17674, March 23, 1979). (ii) Sensitive Questions

. This section is not applicable because this ICR does not involve matters of a sensitive nature. 4. The Respondents and the Information Requested (a ) Respondents/SIC and NAICS Codes. Respondents to this information collection are manufacturers and importers of consumer products. Manufacturers of consumer products fall within standard industrial classification (SIC)5

284, including "So ap, Detergents, Cleaning Preparations" and "Perfumes, Cosmetics, and Other Toilet Preparations;" SIC 287, "Agricultural Chemicals;" and SIC 289, "Miscellaneous Chemical Products." The appropriate North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) co des are 3256, “Soap, Cleaning Compounds, and Toilet Preparations;” and 3259, “Other Chemical Products and Preparations.” (b ) Information Requested. (i ) Data items. Table 2, Source Data and Information Requirements, summarizes the recordkeeping and reporting requirements.

TABLE 2

SOURCE DATA AND INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS

Recordkeeping

 Records of formulations in use 59.209(a)
 Records of composition of each batch of production 59.209(a)
 Records of charcoal lighter materials testing 59.209(c) Reporting

 Initial report 59.209(d)
 Report of change of date coding s ys tem 59.209(e)

 Application for variance 59.206(a)
 Documentation of "innovative products" 59.204(d)6

(ii) Respondent Activities

. The respondent activities required for all manufacturers and importers of regulated products are listed in Table 3.
5. The Information Collected
--Agency Activities, Collection Methodology, and Information Management. (a ) Agency Activities. A list of activities required of the EPA is provided in Table 4. (b ) Collection Methodology and Management The information collected under this rule will be maintained in a computerized database. As noted in section 2(b) of this I CR, the information collected is a necessary part of compliance determination. (c ) Small Entity Flexibility. Under the rule, there are no specific provisions for small entity flexibility . However, companies subject to the rule can apply for variances in cases where the company , because of extraordinary

reasons beyond reasonable control, cannot compl y with the rule. While all variance applications will receive close scrutiny, EPA will give full consideration to the special needs of small manufacturers and importers. (d ) Collection Schedule. By December 10, 1998 ( December 10, 1999 for consumer products that are also regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungici de, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)) , or within 30 day s of becoming subject to the rule, manufacturers and importers of regulated products must submit to EPA an Initial Notific ation Report. The content of this report is outlined in section 1(b)(ii) of this ICR.
6. Estimating the Burden and Cost of the Collection Because this is a renewal of an existing I CR, these estimates represent the average annual burden that will be i ncurred by the affected industry

during the 3

- year period beginning in November 200 7 . Consequently , the requirement for each regulated entity to submit an initial notification report during the first year the rule was effective will have already been met and is not considered here.7

(a ) Estimating Respondent Burden. The average annual burden estimates for reporting and recordkeeping requirements for all manufacturers and importers of subject products are presented in Table 3. These numbers were derived from estimates based on the EPA's experience with other standards, and from information obtained from the industry representatives listed in Table 1. These estimates represent the average annual burden that will be incurred b y the affected industry for the 3 years beginning in November 2007 . The following assumptions were used to estimate the respondent burden:

 Only incremental burden imposed by this rule was considered. Recordkeeping activities already performed b y sources regardless of the existence of this rule are not included in the burden calculation.

 The burden of planning for recordkeeping will be 2 hours per ye ar.
 Th e burden of maintaining batch records will be 8 hours per month.
 The burden of maintaining records of charcoal lighter material te st results will be 1 hour per ye ar (b ) Estimating Respondent Costs. Table 3 also presents estimated costs for the required recordkeeping and reporting activities. Industry labor rates are based on an average of occupational wage rates for the affected N AI CS groupings 3256 and 3259. Management wages were based on industrial production managers, technical wages were based on health and safety engineers, and clerical rates were based on production, planning, and expediting clerks . The resultant average wa ge rates were: management ($41.50); technical ($32.06); and clerical ($19.76). To estimate the actual labor costs to be used in Table 3, an overhead of 100 percent was added to the raw labor rates resulting in the following loaded labor rates: management ($ 83 ); technical ($ 64 ); and clerical ($ 39 ). There are no capital or O&M costs associated with the IC R

. (c) Estimating Agency Burden and Cost

. Because the information collection requirements were estimated as an incidental part of the standard develop ment, no costs can be attributed to the development of the information collection requirements. Because reporting and recordkeeping requirements on the part of respondents are required under section 183(e) of the Act, no operational costs will be incurred by the Federal government. Examination of records to be maintained by the respondents will occur incidentall y as a part of the periodic inspection of sources that is part of the EPA's overall compliance and enforcement program and is not attributable to this I CR. The onl y costs that the Federal government will incur are costs associated with the review of reported information, as presented in Table 4. Labor rates and associated costs are based on Office of Personnel Management Salary Table 200 7

- RUS. Salary

rates from this table were: management (GS15

- $50); technical (GS13

- $36); and clerical (GS7

- $17). Overhead of 100 per cent was added, resulting in the following loaded labor rates: management ($ 100 ); technical ( $72) ; and clerical ( $34 ). Th e number of management8

hours is assumed to equal 5 percent of the number of technical hours; the number of clerical hours is assumed to equal 1 percent of the number of technical hours (see Table 4). (d ) Estimating the Respondent Universe and Total Burden an d Costs The following assumptions were used to estimate the respondent universe and total burden and costs for industry

to comply

with the various requirements of the rule:

 Total number of affected sources is 3000
 Total number of respondents will be 7 32
 Number of respondents performing “new” recordkeeping will be 10 percent, or about 300 per ye ar
 Number of “new” respondents submitting the one

- time Initial Notification Report will be 1 percent of the total affected sources, or about 30 per ye ar
 Number o f respondents submitting variance applications will be 5
 Number of respondents submitting innovative products applications will be 2
(e) Bottom Line Burden Hours and Cost Tables

. (i ) Respondent Tally The bottom line respondent burden hours and cost , presented in Table 3, are calculated b y summing the person

- hours column and by summing the cost column. The annual burden and labor cost averaged over the 3 years beginning in November 200 7 are 29,613 hours and $1, 187,537 . The average burden equals th e total burden (29,613 hours) divided b y the number of respondents ( 732 respondents), or about 40 hours per respondent. There are no capital or O&M costs. (ii) Agency Tally The bottom line Agency

burden and cost are presented in Table 4. The number of management hours is assumed to equal 5 percent of the number of technical hours; the number of clerical hours is assumed to equal 1 percent of the number of technical hours. Agency cost for each activity is calculated by

summing the technical, management, and clerical costs for each burden item. The estimated annual burden and cost averaged over the 3 ye ars beginning in November 2007 are 123 hours and $7,951. (iii) Variations in the annual bottom line

. The EPA does not anticipate any significant annual variations in the bottom line.9 TABLE 3
INDUSTRY BURDEN FOR THE CONSUMER PRODUCTS RULE

Burden It em (A)

Person Hours per Occurrence (B)

Number of Occurrences per Respondent per Year (C)

Person Hours per Respondent per Year (C=A*B) Dollars

per Hour (D)

Respondents per Year (E)

Total Hours per Year (E=C*D) Total Cost

per Year ($) Reporting Read i nstructions 2 1 2 83 30 60 4980 Gather information 1 1 1 64 30 30 1920 Initial report 1 1 1 39 30 30 1770 Update date code 1 1 1 39 30 30 1770 Variance application 2 1 2 83 5 10 830 Innovative products appl 24 1 24 64 2 48 3072 Recordkeeping Read instructions (above) Plan activities 2 1 2 83 300 600 49,800 Im plementation 8 12 96 39 300 28,800 1,123,200 Charcoal light er results 1 1 1 39 5 5 195 Total Industry Burden 732 29,613 $ 1,187,53710 TABLE 4
AGENCY BURDEN FOR THE CONSUMER PRODUCTS RULE

Burden It em (A)

Person Hours per Occurrence (B)

Occurrences per Year (C)

Technical Person Hours @ $ 64/hr (C=A*B ) (D)

Management Person Hours @ $83/hr (D=C*0.05) (E)

Clerical Person Hours @ $39/hr (E=C*0.01 ( F )

Total Hours per Year ( F= C+D+E ) Total

Cost per Year ($) Reporting Initial report 1 30 30 1.5 0.3 31.8 2056 Update date code 1 30 30 1.5 0.3 31.8 2056 Variance application 8 5 4 0 2.0 0.4 42.4 2742 Innovative products appl 8 2 16 0.8 0.16 16.96 1097
Total Agency Burden 67 116 5.8 1.16 123 $ 795111

(f ) Reasons for Change in Burden

. This renewal includes the following one

- tim e burden and cost items: reading the rule, the initial report, the explanation of date codes, planning activities, and modifying product labels. To develop the estimates of annual average burden, these one

- time activities were averaged over 3 ye ars, begi nning after the rule has been effective for over a year. Therefore, the EPA assumes that the vast majority

of one

- time Initial Notification Reports already will have been submitted by October 200 7 . Consequently , only “new” notifications will be submitted during the period covered by this ICR renewal. The assumptions used as a basis for the burden calculations more fully explain this concept. In addition, EPA’s experience since the effective date of the rule indicates that the anticipated number of variances and innovative product exemptions sought will be lower than originall y estimated. (g ) Burden Statement The annual public reporting and recordkeeping burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 40 hours per respondent. Bur den means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended b y persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency . This includes the time needed to review instructions; develop, acquire, install, and utilize technology and s ys tems for the purposes of collecting, validating, and verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; adjust the existing way s to comply with an y previously

applicable instr

uctions and requirements; train personnel to be able to respond to a collection of information; search data sources; complete and review the collection of information; and transmit or otherwise disclose the information. An agency may not conduct or sponso r, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it display s a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA's regulations are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR chapter 15. To comment on the Agenc y’ s need for this information, the accuracy of the provided burden estimates, and any suggested methods for minimizing respondent burden, including the use of automated collection techniques, EPA has established a docket for this I CR under Docket ID No. EP A

- HQ

- OAR

- 2007

- 0563, which is available for online viewing at www.regulations.gov, or in hard cop y at EPA Docket, EPA/DC, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC. The EPA/DC Public Reading Room is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday , excluding legal holiday s. The telephone number for the Reading Room is 202

- 566

- 1744, and the telephone number for the Air and Radiation Docket Center is 202

- 566

- 1742. An electronic version of the public docket is available at www.regulations.gov. This site can be used to submit or view public comments, access the index listing of the contents of the public docket, and to access those documents in the public docket that are available electronicall y. When in the sy stem, select “search,” the n key in the Docket ID Number identified above. Also, you can send comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20503, Attention: Desk Office r for EPA. Please include the EPA Docket ID No. EPA

- HQ

- OAR

- 2007

- 0563 in an y correspondence.