[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 57 (Thursday, March 24, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16719-16721]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-06333]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

United States Patent and Trademark Office


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; COVID-19 Vaccine Supplemental Medical Provider Statement

AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.

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[[Page 16720]]

SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as 
required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, invites comments on 
the extension and revision of an existing information collection: 0651-
0087 (COVID-19 Vaccine Supplemental Medical Provider Statement). The 
purpose of this notice is to allow 60 days for public comment preceding 
submission of the information collection to OMB.

DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this information 
collection must be received on or before May 23, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by 
any of the following methods. Do not submit Confidential Business 
Information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.
    <bullet> Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#044d6a626b766965706d6b6a476b68686167706d6b6a44717774706b2a636b72"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="773e191118051a16031e181934181b1b1214031e181937020407031859101801">[email protected]</span></a>. Include ``0651-
0087 comment'' in the subject line of the message.
    <bullet> Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
    <bullet> Mail: Kimberly Hardy, Office of the Chief Administrative 
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, 
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Request for additional information 
should be directed to Naveen Paul, Office of Equal Employment 
Opportunity and Diversity, United States Patent and Trademark Office, 
P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450; by telephone at 571-270-5395; 
or by email at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#652b041300000b4b3504100925101615110a4b020a13"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="96d8f7e0f3f3f8b8c6f7e3fad6e3e5e6e2f9b8f1f9e0">[email protected]</span></a> with ``0651-0087 comment'' in the 
subject line. Additional information about this information collection 
is also available at http://www.reginfo.gov under ``Information 
Collection Review.''

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    Consistent with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC), guidance from the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force 
established pursuant to E.O. 13991 of January 20, 2021, Protecting the 
Federal Workforce and Requiring Mask-Wearing, and E.O. 14043 of 
September 9, 2021, Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for 
Federal Employees, the request for this collection of information is 
essential to implement the USPTO health and safety measures regarding 
the Federal employee medical exemptions to the COVID-19 mandatory 
vaccinations. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, requires 
Federal agencies to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified 
employees with disabilities unless that reasonable accommodation would 
impose an undue hardship on the employee's agency. See 29 U.S.C. 791; 
29 CFR part 1614; see also 20 CFR part 1630 and E.O.13164 of July 26, 
2000, Requiring Federal Agencies to Establish Procedures to Facilitate 
the Provision of Reasonable Accommodation. Section 2 of E.O. 14043 
mandates that each agency ``implement, to the extent consistent with 
applicable law, a program to require COVID-19 vaccination for all of 
its Federal employees, with exceptions only as required by law.'' This 
COVID-19 Vaccine Supplemental Medical Provider Statement is necessary 
for USPTO to determine legal exemptions to the vaccine requirement 
under the Rehabilitation Act.
    The vaccination requirement issued pursuant to E.O. 14043, is 
currently the subject of a nationwide injunction. While that injunction 
remains in place, USPTO will not process requests for a medical 
exception from the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to E.O. 
14043. USPTO will also not request the submission of any medical 
information related to a request for an exception from the vaccination 
requirement pursuant to E.O. 14043 while the injunction remains in 
place. But USPTO may nevertheless receive information regarding a 
medical exception. That is because, if USPTO were to receive a request 
for an exception from the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to 
E.O. 14043 during the pendency of the injunction, USPTO will accept the 
request, hold it in abeyance, and notify the employee who submitted the 
request that implementation and enforcement of the COVID-19 vaccination 
requirement pursuant to E.O. 14043 is currently enjoined and that an 
exception therefore is not necessary so long as the injunction is in 
place. In other words, during the pendency of the injunction, any 
information collection related to requests for medical exception from 
the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to E.O. 14043 is not 
undertaken to implement or enforce the COVID-19 vaccination 
requirement.

II. Method of Collection

    USPTO utilizes its USPTO Accommodation Point for employees to 
request accommodations. The individual responder/medical service 
provider will fill out the required fields of the form and submit the 
completed form to the appropriate USPTO personnel/employee requesting 
the accommodation. A link to this form or a PDF version may be emailed 
to respondents who will then print it out to complete it manually or 
complete it electronically. USPTO will continue to explore options to 
use technology to reduce the burden on respondents.

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0651-0087.
    Forms:
    <bullet> USPTO-OEEOD Form 303 (COVID-19 Vaccine Supplemental 
Medical Provider Statement)
    Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved 
information collection.
    Affected Public: Private sector.
    Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
    Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 150 respondents.
    Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 150 responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses 
in this information collection will take the public approximately 10 
minutes (0.167 hours) to complete. This includes the time to gather the 
necessary information, create the document, and submit the completed 
request to the USPTO.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 25 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Hourly Cost Burden: $2,557.

[[Page 16721]]



                                               Table 1--Total Burden Hours and Hourly Costs to Respondents
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                                                             Estimated
                                            Estimated       Estimated       Estimated     Estimated time for     Estimated     Rate ($/       Annual
      Item No.               Item            annual       responses per      annual        response (hour)     burden (hour/     hour)      respondent
                                           respondents     respondent       responses                              year)                    cost burden
                                                    (a)             (b)     (a) x (b) =  (d)................     (c) x (d) =         (f)     (e) x (f) =
                                                                                    (c)                                  (e)                         (g)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1...................  COVID-19 Vaccine              150               1             150  0.167 (10 minutes).              25     $103.06          $2,577
                       Supplemental
                       Medical Provider
                       Statement.
                                        ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         Totals........             150  ..............             150  ...................              25  ..........           2,577
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-Hourly Cost Burden: $0. There 
are no capital start-up, maintenance costs, recordkeeping costs, filing 
fees, or postage costs associated with this information collection.

IV. Request for Comments

    The USPTO is soliciting public comments to:
    (a) Evaluate whether the collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the functions of the Agency, including 
whether the information will have practical utility;
    (b) Evaluate the accuracy of the Agency's estimate of the burden of 
the collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    (c) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; and
    (d) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those 
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses.
    All comments submitted in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. USPTO will include or summarize each comment in the 
request to OMB to approve this information collection. Before including 
an address, phone number, email address, or other personally 
identifiable information (PII) in a comment, be aware that the entire 
comment-- including PII--may be made publicly available at any time. 
While you may ask in your comment to withhold PII from public view, 
USPTO cannot guarantee that it will be able to do so.

Kimberly Hardy,
Information Collections Officer, Office of the Chief Administrative 
Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2022-06333 Filed 3-23-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P


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