Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 18 /Wednesday, January 28, 1998 / Notices 4261

Series 835—Fate, Transport and Transformation Test Guidelines—Continued

OPPTS

Number Name

Existing Numbers EPA Pub.

no.

OTS OPP OECD 712–C–

835.3110 Ready biodegradability 796.3180,

.3200,

.3220,

.3240,

.3260

none 301 98–076

835.3120 Sealed-vessel carbon dioxide production test none none none 98–311

835.3160 Biodegradability in sea water none none 306 98–351

835.3170 Shake flask die-away test none none none 98–297

835.3180 Sediment/water microcosm biodegradation test none none none 98–083

835.3200 Zahn-Wellens/EMPA test 796.3360 none 302B 98–084

835.3210 Modified SCAS test 796.3340 none 302A 98–085

835.3220 Porous pot test none none none 98–301

835.3300 Soil biodegradation 796.3400 none 304A 98–088

835.3400 Anaerobic biodegradability of organic chemicals 796.3140 none none 98–090

Group E—Transformation Chemical-Specific Test Guidelines.

835.5045 Modified SCAS test for insoluble and volatile chemicals 795.45 none none 98–097

835.5154 Anaerobic biodegradation in the subsurface 795.54 none none 98–098

835.5270 Indirect photolysis screening test: Sunlight photolysis in waters containing dissolved humic substances795.70 none none 98–099

List of Subjects

Environmental Protection, Test

guidelines.

Dated: January 8, 1998.

Lynn R. Goldman,

Assistant Administrator for Prevention,

Pesticides and Toxic Substances.

[FR Doc. 98–1769 Filed 1–27–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–F

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS

COMMISSION

Notice of Public Information Collection

Submitted to OMB for Review and

Approval

January 16, 1998.

SUMMARY: The Federal Communications

Commission, as part of its continuing

effort to reduce paperwork burden

invites the general public and other

Federal agencies to take this

opportunity to comment on the

following information collection, as

required by the Paperwork Reduction

Act of 1995, Public Law 104–13. An

agency may not conduct or sponsor a

collection of information unless it

displays a currently valid control

number. No person shall be subject to

any penalty for failing to comply with

a collection of information subject to the

Paperwork Reduction Act that does not

display a valid control number.

Comments should address: (a) Whether

the proposed collection of information

is necessary for the proper performance

of the functions of the Commission,

including whether the information shall

have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of

the Commission’s burden estimates; (c)

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and

clarity of the information collected; and

(d) ways to minimize the burden of the

collection of information on the

respondents, including the use of

automated collection techniques or

other forms of information technology.

DATES: Written comments should be

submitted on or before February 27,

1998. OMB Notification of Action is due

on or before March 30, 1998. If you

anticipate that you will be submitting

comments, but find it difficult to do so

within the period of time allowed by

this notice, you should advise the

contact listed below as soon as possible.

ADDRESSES: Direct all comments to Judy

Boley, Federal Communications, Room

234, 1919 M St., NW., Washington, DC

20554 or via internet to jboley@fcc.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

additional information or copies of the

information collections contact Judy

Boley at 202–418–0214 or via internet at

jboley@fcc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On

October 17, 1997, the Commission

released a Report and Order and Second

Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking,

FCC 97–376, which addresses rules and

policies concerning cable inside wiring.

Among other things, this rulemaking

amends the Commission’s regulations

relating to the disposition of cable home

wiring and related issues including the

sharing of molding, the demarcation

point for multiple dwelling unit

buildings (‘‘MDUs’’), loop-through cable

wiring configurations, customer access

to cable home wiring before termination

of service, and signal leakage.

OMB Approval Number: 3060–0692.

Title: Home Wiring Provisions.

Type of Review: Revision of a

currently approved collection.

Respondents: Business and other forprofit entities.

Number of Respondents: 30,500

(20,500 multichannel video program

distributors and 10,000 multiple

dwelling unit building owners).

Estimated Time Per Response: 5

minutes–20 hours.

Total Annual Burden to Respondents:

46,114 hours, calculated as follows:

This collection (3060–0692) accounts

for all information collection

requirements that may come into play

during the disposition of cable home

wiring in single dwelling units, as well

as the disposition of home run wiring

and cable home wiring in MDUs. All

multichannel video programming

distributors (‘‘MVPDs’’), both cable and

non-cable alike, are now subject to these

disposition rules. Pursuant to the

Paperwork Reduction Act, when

modifying only portions of an

information collection, agencies are still

obligated to put forth the entire

collection for public comment.

This information collection now

accounts for the information collection

requirement stated in 47 CFR 76.613,
4262 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 18 /Wednesday, January 28, 1998 / Notices

where MVPDs causing harmful signal

interference may be required by the

Commission’s engineer in charge (EIC)

to prepare and submit a report regarding

the cause(s) of the interference,

corrective measures planned or taken,

and the efficacy of the remedial

measures. Through the course of this

rulemaking proceeding, the Commission

identified this collection as not having

previously been reported to OMB for

approval. We estimate that no more than

10 interference reports will be

submitted annually to the Commission’s

EIC, each having an average burden of

2 hours to prepare. (10 reports×2 hours

= 20 hours). 47 CFR 76.620 applies the

Commission’s signal leakage rules to all

non-cable MVPDs. Our rules require

that each cable system perform an

independent signal leakage test

annually, therefore, non-cable MVPDs

will now be subject to the same

requirement. We recognize, however,

that immediate compliance with these

requirements may present hardships to

existing non-cable MVPDs not

previously subject to such rules. We

will allow a five-year transition period

from the effective date of these rules to

afford non-cable MVPDs time to comply

with our signal leakage rules other than

§ 76.613. The transition period will

apply only to systems of those non-cable

MVPDs that have been substantially

built as of January 1, 1998. Considering

non-cable MVPD systems that will be

built as of January 1, 1998, we estimate

that 500 new entities will be subject to

signal leakage filing requirements, with

an estimated burden of 20 hours per

entity. (500 systems×20 hours = 10,000

hours). 47 CFR 76.802, Disposition of

Cable Home Wiring, gives individual

video service subscribers in single unit

dwellings and MDUs the opportunity to

purchase their cable home wiring at

replacement cost upon voluntary

termination of service. In calculating

hour burdens for notifying individual

subscribers of their purchase rights, we

make the following assumptions: There

are approximately 20,000 MVPDs

serving approximately 72 million

subscribers in the United States. The

average rate of churn (subscriber

termination) for all MVPDs is estimated

to be 1% per month, or 12% per year.

MVPDs own the home wiring in 50% of

the occurrences of voluntary subscriber

termination and subscribers or property

owners already have gained ownership

of the wiring in the other 50% of

occurrences (e.g., where the MVPD has

charged the subscriber for the wiring

upon installation, has treated the wiring

as belonging to the subscriber for tax

purposes, or where state and/or local

law treats cable home wiring as a

fixture). Where MVPDs own the wiring,

we estimate that they intend to actually

remove the wiring 5% of the time, thus

initiating the disclosure requirement.

We believe in most cases that MVPDs

will choose to abandon the home wiring

because the cost and effort required to

remove the wiring generally outweigh

its value. The burden to disclose the

information at the time of termination

will vary depending on the manner of

disclosure, e.g., by telephone, customer

visit or registered mail. Virtually all

voluntary service terminations are done

by telephone. The estimated average

time consumed in the process of the

MVPD’s disclosure and subscriber’s

election is 5 minutes (.083 hours).

Estimated annual number of

occurrences is

72,000,000×12%×50%×5%=216,000.

(216,000×.083 hours=17,928 hours).

In addition, 47 CFR 76.802 states that

if a subscriber in an MDU declines to

purchase the wiring, the MDU owner or

alternative provider (where permitted

by the MDU owner) may purchase the

home wiring where reasonable advance

notice has been provided to the

incumbent. According to the Statistical

Abstracts of the United States, 1995 at

733 Table No. 1224, over 28 million

people resided in MDUs with three or

more units in 1993. We therefore

estimate that there are currently 30

million MDU residents and that MDUs

house an average of 50 residents, and so

we estimate that there are

approximately 600,000 MDUs in the

United States. We estimate that 2,000

MDU owners will provide advance

notice to the incumbent that the MDU

owner or alternative provider (where

permitted by the MDU owner) will

purchase the home wiring where a

terminating individual subscriber

declines. The estimated average time for

MDU owners to provide such notice is

estimated to be 15 minutes (.25 hours).

The estimated average time consumed

in the process of the MVPD’s

subsequent disclosure and the MDU

owner or alternative provider’s election

is 5 minutes (.083 hours). Estimated

annual time consumed is 2,000

notifications×.333 hours=666 hours. 47

CFR 76.802 also states that, to inform

subscribers of per-foot replacement

costs, MVPDs may develop replacement

cost schedules based on readily

available information; if the MVPD

chooses to develop such schedules, it

must place them in a public file

available for public inspection during

regular business hours. We estimate that

50% of MVPDs will develop such cost

schedules to place in their public files.

Virtually all individual subscribers

terminate service via telephone, and few

subscribers are anticipated to review

cost schedules on public file. The

annual recordkeeping burden for these

cost schedules is estimated to be 0.5

hours per MVPD. (20,000

MVPDs×50%×0.5 hours=5,000 hours).

47 CFR 76.804 Disposition of Home Run

Wiring. We estimate the burden for

notification and election requirements

for building-by-building and unit-byunit disposition of home run wiring as

described below. Note that these

requirements apply only when an

MVPD owns the home run wiring in an

MDU and does not (or will not at the

conclusion of the notice period) have a

legally enforceable right to remain on

the premises against the wishes of the

entity that owns or controls the common

areas of the MDU or have a legally

enforceable right to maintain any

particular home run wire dedicated to a

particular unit on the premises against

the MDU owner’s wishes. We use the

term ‘‘MDU owner’’ to include whatever

entity owns or controls the common

areas of an apartment building,

condominium or cooperative. For

building-by-building disposition of

home run wiring, the MDU owner gives

the incumbent service provider a

minimum of 90 days’ written notice that

its access to the entire building will be

terminated. The incumbent then has 30

days to elect what it will do with the

home run wiring. Where parties

negotiate a price for the wiring and are

unable to agree on a price, the

incumbent service provider must elect

among abandonment, removal of the

wiring, or arbitration for a price

determination. Also, regarding cable

home wiring, when the MDU owner

notifies the incumbent service provider

that its access to the building will be

terminated, the incumbent provider

must, within 30 days of the initial

notice and in accordance with our home

wiring rules, (1) offer to sell to the MDU

owner any home wiring within the

individual dwelling units which the

incumbent provider owns and intends

to remove, and (2) provide the MDU

owner with the total per-foot

replacement cost of such home wiring.

The MDU owner must then notify the

incumbent provider as to whether the

MDU owner or an alternative provider

intends to purchase the home wiring not

later than 30 days before the

incumbent’s access to the building will

be terminated. For unit-by-unit

disposition of home run wiring, an

MDU owner must provide at least 60

days’ written notice to the incumbent

MVPD that it intends to permit multiple
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 18 /Wednesday, January 28, 1998 / Notices 4263

MVPDs to compete for the right to use

the individual home run wires

dedicated to each unit. The incumbent

service provider then has 30 days to

provide the MDU owner with a written

election as to whether, for all of the

incumbent’s home run wires dedicated

to individual subscribers who may later

choose the alternative provider’s

service, it will remove the wiring,

abandon the wiring, or sell the wiring to

the MDU owner. In other words, the

incumbent service provider will be

required to make a single election for

how it will handle the disposition of

individual home run wires whenever a

subscriber wishes to switch service

providers; that election will then be

implemented each time an individual

subscriber switches service providers.

Where parties negotiate a price for the

wiring and are unable to agree on a

price, the incumbent service provider

must elect among abandonment,

removal of the wiring, or arbitration for

a price determination. The MDU owner

also must provide reasonable advance

notice to the incumbent provider that it

will purchase, or that it will allow an

alternative provider to purchase, the

cable home wiring when a terminating

individual subscriber declines. If the

alternative provider is permitted to

purchase the wiring, it will be required

to make a similar election during the

initial 30-day notice period for each

subscriber who switches back from the

alternative provider to the incumbent

MVPD. According to the Statistical

Abstracts of the United States, 1995 at

733 Table No. 1224, over 28 million

people resided in MDUs with three or

more units in 1993. We therefore

estimate that there are currently 30

million MDU residents and that MDUs

house an average of 50 residents, and so

we estimate that there are

approximately 600,000 MDUs in the

United States. In many instances,

incumbent service providers may no

longer own the home run wiring or may

continue to have a legally enforceable

right to remain on the premises. Also,

MDU owners may forego the notice and

election processes for various other

reasons, e.g., they have no interest in

purchasing the home run or cable home

wiring. We estimate that there will be

approximately 12,500 notices and

12,500 elections made on an annual

basis. The number of notices accounts

for the occasions when the MDU owner

simultaneously notifies the incumbent

provider that: (1) It is invoking the home

run wiring disposition procedures, and

(2) whether the MDU owner or

alternative provider intends to purchase

the cable home wiring. It also accounts

for those occasions when the MDU

owner makes a separate notification

regarding the purchase of cable home

wiring. The number of elections

accounts for instances when the

incumbent elects to sell the wiring but

the parties are unable to agree on a

price, therefore necessitating a second

election. We assume all notifications

and elections (except when an

individual subscriber is terminating

service) will be in writing and take an

average burden of 30 minutes (0.5

hours) to prepare. (25,000 notifications

and elections×0.5 hours=12,500 hours).

Total Cost to Respondents: Total

Annual Cost to Respondents: $37,510,

estimated as follows: Under the annual

operation and maintenance costs

category, we estimate that stationery

and postage costs for interference

reports submitted to the Commission

pursuant to § 76.613 to be $1 per report.

(10 reports×$1=$10). We estimate

stationery and postage costs for signal

leakage filings to be $1 per filing. (500

filings×$1=$500). We estimate that 50%

of the 20,000 MVPDs will annually

develop cost schedules. We estimate

recordkeeping expenses for these

schedules to be $1 per MVPD.

(20,000×50%×$1=$10,000). We estimate

stationery and postage costs for the

various disposition notifications and

elections to be $1 per occurrence.

(27,000 advance notices and

notifications and elections×$1=$27,000).

There are no estimated capital and startup costs.

Needs and Uses: The various

notification and election requirements

in this collection (3060–0692) are set

forth in order to promote competition

and consumer choice by minimizing

any potential disruption in service to a

subscriber switching video providers.

Federal Communications Commission.

Magalie Roman Salas,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–2031 Filed 1–27–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6712–10–P

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS

COMMISSION

Sunshine Act Meeting; Additional Item

To Be Considered at Open Meeting

Thursday, January 29, 1998

January 23, 1998.

The Federal Communications

Commission will consider an additional

item on the subject listed below at the

Open Meeting scheduled for 9:30 a.m.,

Thursday, January 29, 1998, at 1919 M

Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. See

meeting notice published on January 27,

1998.

Item No., Bureau and Subject

4—Office of Engineering and

Technology—Title: Advanced

Television Systems and Their Impact

upon the Existing Television

Broadcast Service (MM Docket No.

87–268). Summary: The Commission

will consider petitions for

reconsideration filed in response to

the Commission’s Sixth Report and

Order regarding allotment of channels

for digital television.

The prompt and orderly conduct of

the Commission business requires that

less than 7-days notice be given

consideration of this additional item.

Action by the Commission January 23,

1998, Chairman Kennard and

Commissioners Ness, Furchtgott-Roth,

Powell and Tristani voting to consider

this item.

Additional information concerning

this meeting may be obtained from

Maureen Peratino or David Fiske, Office

of Public Affairs, telephone number

(202) 418–0500.

Copies of materials adopted at this

meeting can be purchased from the

FCC’s duplicating contractor,

International Transcription Services,

Inc. (ITS, Inc.) at (202) 857–3800 or fax

(202) 857–3805 and 857–3184. These

copies are available in paper format and

alternative media which includes, large

print/type; digital disk; and audio tape.

ITS may be reached by e-mail:

itslinc@ix.netcom.com. Their Internet

address is http://www.itsi.com.

This meeting can be viewed over

George Mason University’s Capitol

Connection. For information on this

service call (703) 993–3100. The audio

portion of the meeting will be broadcast

live on the Internet via the FCC’s

Internet audio broadcast page at <http:/

/www.fcc.gov/realaudio/>. The meeting

can also be heard via telephone, for a

fee, from National Narrowcast Network,

telephone (202) 966–2211 or fax (202)

966–1770; and from Conference Call

USA (available only outside the

Washington, D.C. metropolitan area),

telephone 1–800–962–0044. Audio and

video tapes of this meeting can be

purchased from Infocus, 341 Victory

Drive, Herndon, VA 20170, telephone

(703) 834–0100; fax number (703) 834–

0111.

Federal Communications Commission.

Magalie Roman Salas,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–2275 Filed 1–26–98; 3:55 pm]

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P