Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 163 / Thursday, August 24, 2023 / Notices 58057 

resulting from the piracy or 

counterfeiting and a description of the 

methodology used to calculate the harm. 

• Whether the volume of counterfeit 

or pirated goods or estimates of harm 

has increased or decreased from 

previous years, and an approximate 

calculation of that increase or decrease 

for each year. 

• Whether the infringing goods or 

services sold, traded, distributed, or 

made available pose a risk to public 

health or safety. 

• Any known contractual, civil, 

administrative, or criminal enforcement 

activity against the market and the 

outcome of that enforcement activity. 

• Additional actions taken by right 

holders, such as discussing concerns 

with the market, sending cease and 

desist letters, sending warning letters to 

landlords or requests to enforce the 

terms of their leases, and the outcome 

of these actions. 

• Additional actions taken by the 

market owners or operators to remove, 

limit, or discourage the availability of 

counterfeit or pirated goods or services, 

the effectiveness of market policies and 

guidelines in addressing counterfeiting 

and piracy, and the level of cooperation 

with right holders and law enforcement. 

• Any other additional information 

relevant to the review. 

III. Submission Instructions 

All submissions must be in English 

and sent electronically via 

Regulations.gov. To submit comments, 

locate the docket (folder) by entering the 

docket number USTR–2023–0009 in the 

search bar on the Regulations.gov 

homepage and click ‘search.’ The site 

will provide a search-results page listing 

all documents associated with this 

docket. Locate the reference to this 

notice by selecting ‘notice’ under 

‘document type’ on the left side of the 

search-results page, and click on the 

link entitled ‘Comment’. You should 

provide comments in an attached 

document, and name the file according 

to the following protocol, as 

appropriate: Commenter Name or 

Organization_2023 Notorious Markets. 

Please include the following 

information in the ‘type comment’ field: 

2023 Review of Notorious Markets for 

Counterfeiting and Piracy. USTR prefers 

submissions in Microsoft Word (.docx) 

or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. If the 

submission is in another file format, 

please indicate the name of the software 

application in the ‘type comment’ field. 

For further information on using 

Regulations.gov, please select ‘how to 

use Regulations.gov’ on the bottom of 

any page. 

Please do not attach separate cover 

letters to electronic submissions. 

Instead, include any information that 

might appear in a cover letter in the 

comments themselves. Similarly, to the 

extent possible, please include any 

exhibits, annexes, or other attachments 

in the same file as the comment itself, 

rather than submitting them as separate 

files. 

Please include the name, email 

address, and phone number of an 

individual who can be contacted if there 

are issues or questions with the 

submission. The contact information 

can be included in the submission or 

sent to Jake Ewerdt, Deputy Assistant 

U.S. Trade Representative for 

Innovation and Intellectual Property, at 

notoriousmarkets@ustr.eop.gov or (202) 

395–6862. 

For any comment submitted 

electronically that contains business 

confidential information (BCI), the file 

name of the business confidential 

version should begin with the characters 

‘BCI’. Any page containing BCI must be 

clearly marked ‘BUSINESS 

CONFIDENTIAL’ on the top of that page 

and the submission should clearly 

indicate, via brackets, highlighting, or 

other means, the specific information 

that is business confidential. A filer 

requesting business confidential 

treatment must certify that the 

information is business confidential and 

that they would not customarily release 

it to the public. Additionally, the 

submitter should type ‘Business 

Confidential 2023 Review of Notorious 

Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy’ 

in the ‘comment’ field. Filers of 

comments containing BCI also must 

submit a public version. Begin the file 

name of the public version with the 

character ‘P’. USTR will place the nonbusiness confidential version in the 

docket at Regulations.gov and it will be 

available for public inspection. 

As noted, USTR strongly urges 

submitters to file comments through 

Regulations.gov. You must make any 

alternative arrangements in advance of 

the relevant deadline and before 

transmitting a comment by contacting 

Jake Ewerdt at notoriousmarkets@

ustr.eop.gov or (202) 395–6862. 

USTR will post comments in the 

docket for public inspection, except 

properly designated BCI. You can view 

comments on Regulations.gov by 

entering docket number USTR–2023– 

0009 in the search field on the home 

page. 

Daniel Lee, 

Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for 

Innovation and Intellectual Property, Office 

of the United States Trade Representative. 

[FR Doc. 2023–18201 Filed 8–23–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3390–F3–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. FMCSA–2023–0153] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Renewal of an Approved 

Information Collection: Truck and Bus 

Maintenance Requirements and Their 

Impact on Safety 

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration (FMCSA), Department 

of Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

FMCSA announces its plan to submit 

the Information Collection Request (ICR) 

described below to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for its 

review and approval and invites public 

comment. FMCSA requests approval to 

renew an ICR titled, ‘‘Truck and Bus 

Maintenance Requirements and Their 

Impact on Safety’’ will allow for a study 

that focuses on vehicle maintenance and 

aims to determine the impact of vehicle 

maintenance requirements on overall 

motor carrier safety. This information 

collection supports the DOT Strategic 

Goal of Safety. 

DATES: Comments on this notice must be 

received on or before September 1, 

2023. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

identified by Docket Number FMCSA– 

2023–0153 using any of the following 

methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

online instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• Mail: Dockets Operations; U.S. 

Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, 

Ground Floor, Washington, DC 20590– 

0001. 

• Hand Delivery or Courier: Dockets 

Operations, U.S. Department of 

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE, West Building, Ground 

Floor, Washington, DC 20590–0001 

between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday 

through Friday, except Federal holidays. 


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58058 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 163 / Thursday, August 24, 2023 / Notices 

To be sure someone is there to help you, 

please call (202) 366–9317 or (202) 366– 

9826 before visiting Dockets Operations. 

• Fax: 1–202–493–2251. 

To avoid duplication, please use only 

one of these four methods. See the 

‘‘Public Participation and Request for 

Comments’’ portion of the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for 

instructions on submitting comments. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mike Lukuc, Program Manager, 

Technology Division, DOT, FMCSA, 

West Building 6th Floor, 1200 New 

Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 

20590–0001; (202) 385–238; 

mike.lukuc@dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Instructions 

All submissions must include the 

Agency name and docket number. For 

detailed instructions on submitting 

comments, see the Public Participation 

heading below. Note that all comments 

received will be posted without change 

to https://www.regulations.gov, 

including any personal information 

provided. Please see the Privacy Act 

heading below. 

Public Participation and Request for 

Comments 

If you submit a comment, please 

include the docket number for this 

notice (FMCSA–2023–0153), indicate 

the specific section of this document to 

which your comment applies, and 

provide a reason for each suggestion or 

recommendation. You may submit your 

comments and material online or by fax, 

mail, or hand delivery, but please use 

only one of these means. FMCSA 

recommends that you include your 

name and a mailing address, an email 

address, or a phone number in the body 

of your document so FMCSA can 

contact you if there are questions 

regarding your submission. If you want 

us to notify you that we received your 

comments, please include a selfaddressed, stamped envelope or 

postcard, or print the acknowledgement 

page that appears after submitting 

comments online. 

To submit your comment online, go to 

https://www.regulations.gov/docket/ 

FMCSA-2023-0153/document, click on 

this notice, click ‘‘Comment,’’ and type 

your comment into the text box on the 

following screen. 

If you submit your comments by mail 

or hand delivery, submit them in an 

unbound format, no larger than 81⁄2 by 

11 inches, suitable for copying and 

electronic filing. 

Comments received after the comment 

closing date will be included in the 

docket and will be considered to the 

extent practicable. 

Privacy Act 

In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c), 

DOT solicits comments from the public 

to better inform its rulemaking process. 

DOT posts these comments, without 

edit, including any personal information 

the commenter provides, to 

www.regulations.gov, as described in 

the system of records notice (DOT/ALL– 

14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at 

www.dot.gov/privacy. 

Background 

FMCSA’s core mission is to reduce 

crashes, injuries, and fatalities involving 

large trucks and buses. To aid in 

accomplishing this, the Agency uses the 

Compliance, Safety, Accountability 

(CSA) enforcement program to prioritize 

and target interventions of those motor 

carriers who are most likely to be 

involved in a future crash. As part of the 

CSA program, the Agency deploys the 

Safety Measurement System (SMS). 

SMS uses inspection, crash, and 

investigation data captured in the Motor 

Carrier Management Information System 

to calculate a percentile for each motor 

carrier. A motor carrier’s SMS percentile 

is based on its past compliance with a 

complete range of safety-based 

regulations (such as driver safety, hours 

of service, driver fitness, and vehicle 

maintenance, among others). The survey 

described in this notice focuses on the 

vehicle maintenance component of 

those safety regulations. The study goal 

is to determine what improvements, 

ranging from better compliance 

interventions to better vehicle 

maintenance requirements, would 

enhance motor carrier safety. 

In 2014, the John A. Volpe National 

Transportation Systems Center 

conducted a study to assess the 

effectiveness of SMS in identifying the 

highest risk motor carriers to be targeted 

for interventions. One finding from the 

study was that motor carriers targeted 

for intervention due to ‘‘vehicle 

maintenance’’ issues (i.e., violations) 

had a 65 percent higher crash rate 

compared to the national average. These 

violations are based on Federal and state 

inspections of components critical to 

the safe operation of the vehicle. It is 

important to recognize that proper and 

regular preventative maintenance (i.e., 

systematic maintenance programs) 

among carriers—rather than Federal and 

State inspections, which are by nature 

limited to the most visible or obvious 

safety-related components—should be 

the primary activity applied to ensure 

safe equipment operation. While these 

initial findings are important, they raise 

additional questions. One such question 

is prompted by the stipulation in 49 

CFR 396.3(a), which states that every 

carrier must have a program to 

‘‘systematically inspect, repair, and 

maintain, or cause to be systematically 

inspected, repaired, and maintained, all 

motor vehicles and intermodal 

equipment subject to its control.’’ 

Though this regulation provides some 

direction, there is no supporting 

definition of the word systematic, and 

because this term is subjective, it is 

likely to vary from one carrier to 

another. The lack of specificity 

regarding standard intervals for 

preventative maintenance makes it 

difficult for Federal and State personnel 

to evaluate the effectiveness of and 

compliance with a carrier’s maintenance 

program. Furthermore, the lack of 

specificity may make it difficult for 

carriers to ascertain and therefore 

comply with the regulation’s intent. 

The current research effort, 

augmented by the proposed survey, is 

necessary to improve FMCSA’s 

understanding of the safety impact of 

preventative vehicle maintenance and to 

clarify the requirements of § 396.3(a). 

The study objectives are as follows: 

1. Develop an operational definition 

of systematic maintenance. 

2. Evaluate whether current 

regulations and the intervention process 

could be modified to improve 

compliance with vehicle maintenance 

requirements. Examples of such 

requirements are as follows: (i) 

Preventative maintenance intervals, (ii) 

preventative maintenance inspections 

with adequately trained/equipped 

mechanics, and (iii) adequacy of motor 

carriers’ maintenance facilities. 

[However, the results of the survey will 

be used only to explore what areas of 

rulemaking and/or other areas, such as 

policy guidance and training, might be 

useful in the future; the results of the 

survey will not be used for rulemaking, 

per se.] 

3. Gather information to assist in 

establishing minimum standards for 

inspection intervals, mechanic 

qualifications and training, and 

certification of maintenance facilities. 

FMCSA is authorized to conduct this 

research under 49 U.S.C. 31108, Motor 

Carrier Research and Technology 

Programs. Under section 31108(a)(3)(C), 

FMCSA may fund research, 

development, and technology projects 

that improve the safety and efficiency of 

commercial motor vehicle operations 

through technological innovation and 

improvement. This information 

collection supports the DOT strategic 

goal of Safety. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 163 / Thursday, August 24, 2023 / Notices 58059 

Under contract to FMCSA, the 

Virginia Tech Transportation Institute 

(VTTI) at the Virginia Polytechnic 

Institute and State University will use 

online surveys to obtain the data 

required to address the study objectives. 

The information collection will be 

administered in two phases: 

Phase I: Online Recruitment Survey. 

This voluntary, seven-question survey 

will screen carriers and verify their 

eligibility for Phase II participation. To 

be eligible for Phase II participation, 

carriers must fall into one of two groups: 

(a) The Recommended Practices (RP) 

Group, which includes carriers with the 

lowest Vehicle Maintenance and Crash 

Indicator Behavior Analysis and Safety 

Improvement Categories (BASIC) 

percentiles (i.e., less than or equal to the 

33rd percentile); or (b) the Intervention 

Effects (IE) Group, which includes 

carriers that have experienced Federal 

or State interventions in the last 24 

months due to vehicle maintenance 

violations. The BASICs are Unsafe 

Driving, Crash Indicator, Hours-ofService (HOS) compliance, Vehicle 

Maintenance, Controlled Substances/ 

Alcohol, Hazardous Materials (HM) 

Compliance, and Driver Fitness. More 

information on the SMS methodology 

can be found at https://

csa.fmcsa.dot.gov/Documents/

SMSMethodology.pdf. 

Phase II: Carrier Maintenance 

Management Survey. This voluntary, 

108-question survey will include 

questions about demographics; 

maintenance practices, intervals, 

personnel, and facilities; and State and 

Federal inspections, among other things. 

The Phase II survey will employ branch 

logic; as such, carriers will be prompted 

to complete different sections based on 

their survey group (and for one section, 

carrier size). Consequently, no 

participating carrier will be asked to 

complete all 108 questions. 

In the Phase II survey, carriers (of all 

sizes) in the RP Group will be asked to 

provide additional information about 

maintenance personnel and facilities 

(e.g., mechanic training levels, tools 

required for adequate inspection, and 

certification of facilities) and vehicle 

maintenance issues that may impact 

safety. Information from the RP Group 

will seek to address Objective 1, relating 

to development of an operational 

definition of systematic maintenance, 

Objective 2, and Objective 3, relating to 

establishment of minimum standards for 

inspection intervals, mechanic 

qualifications and training, and 

certification of maintenance facilities. 

Carriers in the IE Group will be asked 

to complete the section on intervention 

effects, which includes questions about 

the status of active interventions or 

investigations; results of closed 

interventions or investigations; 

interactions with State versus Federal 

agencies; intervention activities 

experienced; the accuracy of violations 

leading to interventions; actions taken 

in response to interventions; changes in 

carrier vehicle maintenance practices as 

a result of an intervention; significant 

benefits of interventions; and ways the 

intervention process could be improved. 

Information provided by the IE Group 

will address the portion of Objective 2 

regarding sufficiency of regulations and 

where interventions need to be 

improved to facilitate complying with 

these regulations. 

Survey responses will be summarized 

and reported using plots, tables, content 

analysis, and calculated summary 

statistics. Plots and tables will provide 

a visual comparison of multiple choice 

and checkbox survey responses for 

successful carriers (i.e., carriers in the 

RP Group) and those receiving 

interventions in the last 24 months (i.e., 

carriers in the IE Group). These methods 

will also allow researchers to 

summarize responses by carrier 

operation type (i.e., truck or bus) and 

size. Bar charts will be used to plot 

responses to many survey questions. 

Some survey responses may be 

summarized with tables with rows for 

each of the carrier operation types (truck 

or bus) and each carrier-size subgroup. 

To explore and summarize responses to 

open-ended survey questions, 

researchers will use content analysis 

methods. An illustration of an openended question in the survey is ‘‘List 

examples of critical safety-related 

maintenance activities for trailer vehicle 

milestones.’’ The goal of content 

analysis of open-ended questions will 

be to identify common answers. 

The results of this information 

collection will be documented in a 

technical report to be delivered to and 

published by FMCSA. In addition, the 

results will be used to create a 

‘‘recommended best practices’’ report 

that will outline minimum standards for 

inspection intervals, mechanic 

qualifications and training, and 

certification of maintenance facilities. 

Finally, VTTI is required under the 

contract with FMCSA to compile and 

analyze the collected information and 

develop a public-use data set. 

If this data collection does not take 

place, the truck and bus industry would 

continue to operate with the uncertainty 

of what a ‘‘systematic maintenance’’ 

program, as currently worded in 

§ 396.3(a), consists of. This term’s 

ambiguous definition makes it difficult 

for Federal and State inspectors to 

evaluate the effectiveness of a carrier’s 

maintenance program or its compliance 

with this provision. Furthermore, this 

uncertainty may make it difficult for 

carriers to ascertain and therefore 

comply with the regulation’s intent. 

Title: Truck and Bus Maintenance 

Requirements and Their Impact on 

Safety. 

OMB Control Number: 2126–0069. 

Type of Request: Extension of a 

currently approved ICR. 

Respondents: Freight motor carriers 

and passenger carriers. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

578 respondents [578 respondents will 

complete the Online Recruitment 

Survey. Of those 578 respondents, 289 

will also complete the Carrier 

Maintenance Manager Survey]. 

Estimated Time per Response: Varies 

[Online Recruitment Survey: 5 minutes. 

Carrier Maintenance Manager Survey: 

45 minutes.] 

Expiration Date: November 30, 2023. 

Frequency of Response: Annually. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 265 

hours [Online Recruitment Survey: 578 

respondents × (5 minutes ÷ 60 minutes) 

= 48 hours; Carrier Maintenance 

Manager Survey: 289 respondents × (45 

minutes ÷ 60 minutes) = 217 hours]. 

Public Comments Invited: You are 

asked to comment on any aspect of this 

information collection, including: (1) 

whether the proposed collection is 

necessary for the performance of 

FMCSA’s functions; (2) the accuracy of 

the estimated burden; (3) ways for 

FMCSA to enhance the quality, 

usefulness, and clarity of the collected 

information; and (4) ways that the 

burden could be minimized without 

reducing the quality of the collected 

information. The Agency will 

summarize or include your comments in 

the request for OMB’s clearance of this 

ICR. 

Issued under the authority of 49 CFR 1.87. 

Thomas P. Keane, 

Associate Administrator, Office of Research 

and Registration. 

[FR Doc. 2023–18236 Filed 8–23–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P 


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