Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 231 / Monday, December 2, 2024 / Notices 95209 

Please submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ– 

OGC–2024–0251, through https://

www.regulations.gov. Once submitted, 

comments cannot be edited or removed 

from this docket. EPA may publish any 

comment received to its public docket. 

Do not submit any information you 

consider to be Confidential Business 

Information (CBI) or other information 

whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 

Multimedia submissions (e.g., audio, 

video) must be accompanied by a 

written comment. EPA will consider the 

written comment to be the official 

comment, and it should include 

discussion of all points you wish to 

make. EPA will generally not consider 

comments or comment contents located 

outside of the primary submission (e.g., 

on the web, cloud, or other file sharing 

system). For additional submission 

methods, the full EPA public comment 

policy, information about CBI or 

multimedia submissions, and general 

guidance on making effective 

comments, please visit https://

www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epadockets. For additional information 

about submitting information identified 

as CBI, please contact the person listed 

in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT section of this document. 

If you submit an electronic comment, 

EPA recommends that you include your 

name, mailing address, and an email 

address or other contact information in 

the body of your comment. This ensures 

that you can be identified as the 

submitter of the comment and allows 

EPA to contact you in case EPA cannot 

read your comment due to technical 

difficulties or needs further information 

on the substance of your comment. Any 

identifying or contact information 

provided in the body of a comment will 

be included as part of the comment that 

is placed in the official public docket 

and made available in EPA’s electronic 

public docket. If EPA cannot read your 

comment due to technical difficulties 

and cannot contact you for clarification, 

EPA may not be able to consider your 

comment. 

Use of the https://

www.regulations.gov website to submit 

comments to EPA electronically is 

EPA’s preferred method for receiving 

comments. The electronic public docket 

system is an ‘‘anonymous access’’ 

system, which means EPA will not 

know your identity, email address, or 

other contact information unless you 

provide it in the body of your comment. 

Please ensure that your comments are 

submitted within the specified comment 

period. Comments received after the 

close of the comment period will be 

marked ‘‘late.’’ EPA is not required to 

consider these late comments. 

Dated: November 25, 2024. 

Randolph L. Hill, 

Associate General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2024–28121 Filed 11–29–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

[OMB 3060–0999; FR ID 264781] 

Information Collection Being Reviewed 

by the Federal Communications 

Commission 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort 

to reduce paperwork burdens, and as 

required by the Paperwork Reduction 

Act of 1995 (PRA), the Federal 

Communications Commission (FCC or 

Commission) invites the general public 

and other Federal agencies to take this 

opportunity to comment on the 

following information collection. 

Comments are requested concerning: 

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; 

the accuracy of the Commission’s 

burden estimate; ways to enhance the 

quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information collected; 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; and ways to 

further reduce the information burden 

on small business concerns with fewer 

than 25 employees. The FCC may not 

conduct or sponsor a collection of 

information unless it displays a 

currently valid Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) control number. No 

person shall be subject to any penalty 

for failing to comply with a collection 

of information subject to the PRA that 

does not display a valid OMB control 

number. 

DATES: Written comments should be 

submitted on or before January 31, 2025. 

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 PRA comments to 

Cathy Williams, FCC, via email: PRA@

fcc.gov and to Cathy.Williams@fcc.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

additional information about the 

information collection, contact Cathy 

Williams at (202) 418–2918. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

OMB Control No.: 3060–0999. 

Title: Hearing Loss Compatible 

Wireless Handsets Section 20.19 and 

Hearing Aid Compatibility Act. 

Form Numbers: FCC Form 655 and 

FCC Form 855. 

Type of Review: Revision to the 

currently approved collection. 

Respondents: Business or other forprofit entities. 

Number of Respondents: 934 

respondents; 934 responses. 

Estimated Time per Response: 13.92 

hours per response (average). 

Frequency of Response: On occasion 

and annual reporting requirements, 

recordkeeping requirements, and thirdparty disclosure requirements. 

Obligation to Respond: Required to 

obtain or retain benefits. Statutory 

authority for this information collection 

is contained in 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), 

157, 160, 201, 202, 214, 301, 303, 308, 

309(j), 310 and 610 of the 

Communications Act of 1934, as 

amended. 

Total Annual Burden: 12,998 hours. 

Total Annual Cost: No cost. 

Needs and Uses: The Commission is 

requesting that the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) 

approve a revision to the Commission’s 

currently approved information 

collection for OMB Control No. 3060– 

0999. This information collection relates 

to the Commission’s Hearing Loss 

Compatible Wireless Handsets rules at 

section 20.19 of the Commission’s rules. 

This revision is necessary to implement 

the final rules that the Commission 

adopted on October 17, 2024, in a 

Report and Order, WT Docket No. 23– 

388, FCC 24–112, that the Commission 

released on October 18, 2024. This 

Report and Order revised the heading of 

section 20.19 of the Commission’s rules 

from ‘‘Hearing aid-compatible mobile 

handsets’’ to ‘‘Hearing loss compatible 

wireless handsets.’’ In addition, the 

revisions that the Commission adopted 

to section 20.19(b)(3)(iii), (f), (h), and 

(i)(4)–(5) constitute new or modified 

information collections subject to the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(PRA), Public Law 104–13. These rules 

will become effective following OMB’s 

completion of its review of these revised 

rules. Once OMB completes its review 

of these revisions, the Commission will 

publish a document in the Federal 


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95210 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 231 / Monday, December 2, 2024 / Notices 

Register announcing the effective date 

of section 20.19(b)(3)(iii), (f), (h), and 

(i)(4)–(5). 

The final rules that the Commission 

adopted require all wireless handset 

models to be hearing aid compatible. 

These revised rules ensure that 

consumers with hearing loss will have 

equal access to the same handset models 

as consumers without hearing loss. In 

order to ensure compliance with this 

100% hearing aid compatiblity 

requirement, the Commission adopted 

revised labeling, website posting, and 

certification requirements along with 

removing outdated and unnecessary 

information collection requriements. 

The removal of these outdated 

information collection requirments 

significantly reduces regulatory burden 

and cost for handset manufacturers and 

service providers. 

The revised hearing aid compatiblility 

rules include a requirement that a cetain 

number of handset models that handset 

manufacturers and service providers 

offer for sale or use in the United States 

meet Bluetooth coupling requirements. 

This Bluetooth coupling requirement 

will benefit consumers by ensuring 

more universal connectivity between 

handset models and hearing aids, 

including over-the-counter hearing aids, 

and reduces the issue of certain handset 

models only being able to pair with 

certain hearing aids. In order to ensure 

compliance with this new Bluetooth 

coupling requirement, the Commisison 

adopted a requirement that handset 

manufacturers submit a sworn 

declaration attesting to the handset 

model’s complaince with these new 

Bluetooth coupling requirements. This 

certification requirement is contained in 

section 20.19(b)(3)(iii) and requires 

handset manufacturers to provide: (1) 

the specific Bluetooth coupling standard 

included in each handset model; (2) that 

the relevant handset model has been 

tested to ensure compliance with the 

designated Bluetooth coupling standard; 

and (3) after the transition to a nonproprietary Bluetooth requirement, that 

the included Bluetooth coupling 

technology is consistent with the 

Bluetooth functionality requirements. 

The Commission adopted this 

attestation requirement based on the 

recommendation of handset 

manufacturers who stated that adopting 

an attestation requirement is consistent 

with the Commission’s equipment 

certification process. 

In the Report and Order, the 

Commission revised its external printed 

package labeling requirements for 

handset models as well as requirements 

related to what information must be 

included within a handset model’s 

packaging either in the form of a printed 

insert or a printed handset manual. The 

Commission is requiring that a handset 

model’s external printed package label 

indicate whether the handset model 

includes Bluetooth coupling capabilities 

or telecoil coupling capabilites or both, 

and in the case of Bluetooth coupling 

which Bluetooth technology the handset 

model incorporates. The Commission is 

also requiring handset manufacturers 

and service providers to include 

information on the hearing aid 

compatiblity settings of handset models 

and how consumers can turn these 

settings on and off. As part of these 

revisions, the Commission eliminated 

outdated labeling requirements which 

were no longer necessary and that might 

cause consumer confusion if retained. 

By eliminating these outdated 

requirements, the Commission reduced 

regulatory burden and cost to handset 

manufacturers and service providers. 

The revised labeling requirements are in 

section 20.19(f)(1) and (2) of the 

Commission’s rules and these revised 

requirements ensure that consumers 

have the informition that they need to 

make informed handset model 

purchasing decisions. 

In addition to these revised labeling 

rules, the Commission determined to 

allow handset manufacturers and 

service providers to use digital labeling 

technology as an alternative to 

including a printed insert or printed 

handset manual in a handset model’s 

packaging. Handset manufacturers and 

service providers choosing this option 

must maintain publicly accessible 

websites where consumers can find the 

required hearing aid compatiblity 

information, and they must provide 

consumers with a Quick-Respone (QR) 

code and the related website adress 

where the required hearing aid 

compatibility information can be found. 

The Commission decided to allow the 

use of digital labeling technology at the 

request of handset manufacturers and 

service providers who argued that the 

use of digital labeling would reduce 

regulatory burden and cost for them. 

The use of digital labeling will also 

ensure that consumers have access to 

the most up-to-date handset model 

information. The Commission’s new 

digital labeling rules are at section 

20.19(f)(3) of the Commission’s rules. 

Along these same lines, the 

Commission revised its website posting 

requirements that apply to handset 

manufacturers and service providers 

who maintain publicly accessible 

websites. These companies must 

indicate on their publicly accessible 

websites which handset models that 

they offer for sale or use in the United 

States meet telecoil certificaton 

requirements and which meet Bluetooth 

coupling requirements. In addition, 

these companies must list a handset 

model’s conversational gain if the 

handset model was certified as hearing 

aid-compatible using a standard that 

includes volume control requirements. 

The Commission also adopted point-ofcontact requirements that require 

handset manufacturers and service 

providers to list contact information that 

consumers can use to ask knowledgable 

company employees compatiblity 

questions that they might have 

concerning the handset models that 

these companies offer for sale or use in 

the United States. Part of these revisions 

also included eliminating out-of-date 

website posting and record retention 

requirements that no longer served a 

usefull purpose. The elimination of 

these outdated information collection 

requirements reduce regulatory burden 

and cost for handset manufacturers and 

service providers. The revised website 

posting requirements are at section 

20.19(h) of the Commission’s rules. 

Finally, the Commission revised its 

annual certification requirements for 

handset manufacturers and service 

providers. After the 100% hearing aid 

compatibility transition period ends for 

handset manufacturers, these companies 

will no longer file FCC Form 655. 

Instead, handset manufacturers will 

start filing FCC Form 855 and service 

providers will continue to file this form. 

FCC Form 855 is a streamlined 

certification form that does not require 

the detail handset model information 

that FCC Form 655 collects. This change 

will significantly reduce regulatory 

burden and cost for handset 

manufacturers. In addition, the 

Commission is updating FCC Form 855 

to ensure it collects only relevent 

information consistent with the 

Commission’s 100% hearing aid 

compatibility requirement. These 

updates include removing outdated 

questions and streamlining the 

information that the form collects. The 

revised annual certification 

requirements are at section 20.19 (i)(4) 

and (5) of the Commission’s rules. 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Marlene Dortch, 

Secretary, Office of the Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2024–28186 Filed 11–29–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 


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