Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 86 / Wednesday, May 4, 2022 / Notices 26389 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. NHTSA–2022–0010] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Notice and Request for 

Comment; Confidential Business 

Information 

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments on a reinstatement, without 

change, of a previously approved 

collection of information. 

SUMMARY: The National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration (NHTSA) invites 

public comments about our intention to 

request approval from the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for a 

reinstatement without change of a 

previously approved information 

collection. Before a Federal agency can 

collect certain information from the 

public, it must receive approval from 

OMB. Under procedures established by 

the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

before seeking OMB approval, Federal 

agencies must solicit public comment 

on proposed collections of information, 

including extensions and reinstatements 

of previously approved collections. This 

notice describes one collection of 

information for which NHTSA intends 

to seek OMB approval, relating to 

confidential business information. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted on 

or before July 5, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

to the docket number identified in the 

heading of this document by any of the 

following methods: 

• Electronic Submissions: Go to the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal at http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Fax: (202) 493–2251. 

• Mail or Hand Delivery: Docket 

Management, U.S. Department of 

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE, West Building, Room W12– 

140, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 

a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 

Friday, except on Federal holidays. To 

be sure someone is there to help you, 

please call (202) 366–9322 before 

coming. 

Instructions: All submissions must 

include the agency name and docket 

number for this notice. Note that all 

comments received will be posted 

without change to http:// 

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided. Please 

see the Privacy Act heading below. 

Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search 

the electronic form of all comments 

received into any of our dockets by the 

name of the individual submitting the 

comment (or signing the comment, if 

submitted on behalf of an association, 

business, labor union, etc.). You may 

review DOT’s complete Privacy Act 

Statement in the Federal Register 

published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 

19477–78) or you may visit https:// 

www.transportation.gov/privacy. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents or 

comments received, go to http:// 

www.regulations.gov or the street 

address listed above. Follow the online 

instructions for accessing the dockets 

via internet. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

additional information or access to 

background documents, contact Dan 

Rabinovitz in the Office of the Chief 

Counsel, Daniel.Rabinovitz@dot.gov, 

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration, U.S. Department of 

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. 

Please identify the relevant collection of 

information by referring to its title and 

OMB Control Number (Confidential 

Business Information, 2127–0025). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 

U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), before an agency 

submits a proposed collection of 

information to OMB for approval, it 

must first publish a document in the 

Federal Register providing a 60-day 

comment period and otherwise consult 

with members of the public and affected 

agencies concerning each proposed 

collection of information. The OMB has 

promulgated regulations describing 

what must be included in such a 

document. Under OMB’s regulation (at 

5 CFR 1320.8(d)), an agency must ask 

for public comment on the following: (a) 

Whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

agency, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate 

of the burden of the proposed collection 

of information, including the validity of 

the methodology and assumptions used; 

(c) how to enhance the quality, utility, 

and clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (d) how to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on those who are to respond, including 

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. In compliance with these 

requirements, NHTSA asks for public 

comments on the following proposed 

collection of information for which the 

agency is seeking approval from OMB. 

Title: Confidential Business 

Information 

OMB Control Number: 2127–0025 

Form Number(s): N/A 

Type of Request: Reinstatement 

without change of a previously 

approved information collection 

Type of Review Requested: Regular 

Requested Expiration Date of 

Approval: 3 years from date of approval 

Summary of the Collection of 

Information 

Persons who submit information to 

the agency and seek to have the agency 

withhold some or all of that information 

from public disclosure, including under 

the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 

5 U.S.C. 552, must provide the agency 

with sufficient support that justifies the 

confidential treatment of that 

information. A request for confidential 

treatment must meet the requirements 

set forth in 49 CFR part 512. For 

example, a request must be submitted to 

the Office of the Chief Counsel and 

include: (1) A letter to the Chief Counsel 

that contains supporting information to 

justify a request, per Part 512.8; (2) a 

certificate in support of a request for 

confidential treatment, per Part 512.4(b) 

and Appendix A; (3) the material 

claimed to include confidential business 

information—with proper confidential 

markings, per Part 512.6; and (4) a 

complete copy of the material—with 

redactions over the portions for which 

confidential treatment is claimed (i.e., 

so it cannot be seen), and the rest of the 

material unredacted, per Part 

512.5(a)(2). 

Part 512 helps ensure that information 

submitted under a claim of 

confidentiality is properly evaluated 

under prevailing legal standards and, 

where appropriate, accorded 

confidential treatment. The 

requirements in Part 512 apply to all 

information submitted to NHTSA, 

except as provided in section 512.2(b), 

for which a determination is sought that 

the material is entitled to confidential 

treatment under 5 U.S.C. 552(b), most 

often because it constitutes confidential 

business information as described in 5 

U.S.C. 552(b)(4), and should be 

withheld from public disclosure. To 

facilitate the evaluation process, in their 

requests for confidential treatment, 

submitters of information may make 

reference to certain limited classes of 

information specified in Appendix B 

that are presumptively treated as 

confidential, such as blueprints and 

engineering drawings, future specific 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
26390 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 86 / Wednesday, May 4, 2022 / Notices 

1The collection of EWR data is covered under 

OMB Control No. 2127–0616. 

2More information about the General Order is 

available on NHTSA’s website at https:// 

www.nhtsa.gov/laws-regulations/standing-generalorder-crash-reporting-levels-driving-automation-2-5 

and in NHTSA’s information collection request 

with OMB control number 2127–0754. 

3NHTSA estimates that requests for confidential 

treatment pursuant to the General Order will only 

take 1 hour because NHTSA’s online portal for 

General Order submissions helps automate the 

process for requests and the General Order only 

allows entities to request confidential treatment for 

three (3) fields per incident report. Consequently, 

the limited General Order requests for confidential 

treatment are, on average, remarkably smaller than 

the voluminous non-General Order requests. 

model plans (under limited conditions), 

and future vehicle production or sales 

figures for specific models (under 

limited conditions). Additionally, 

Appendix C’s class determinations, 

which are specific to early warning 

reporting (EWR) data, grant presumptive 

confidentiality to certain EWR data, 

with exceptions including information 

on death, injury, and property damage 

claims and notices, which would be 

handled on an individual basis 

according to the procedures of Part 512. 

72 FR 59434 (Oct. 19, 2007).1

Description of the Need for the 

Information and the Proposed or Actual 

Use of the Information 

NHTSA receives confidential 

information for use in its activities, 

which include investigations, 

rulemaking actions, program planning 

and management, and program 

evaluation. The information is needed 

to ensure the agency has sufficient 

relevant information for decisionmaking in connection with these 

activities. Some of this information is 

submitted voluntarily, as in rulemaking, 

and some is submitted in response to 

compulsory information requests, as in 

investigations. If Part 512 were not in 

existence, the agency would still receive 

this confidential information, either 

through voluntary submissions or 

through compulsory submissions in 

response to agency requests issued 

pursuant to its information gathering 

powers. The only difference would be 

that the determinations of whether the 

information should be accorded 

confidential treatment would be less 

structured and, ultimately, more 

expensive and time-consuming for both 

the entities requesting confidentiality 

and the agency. 

Affected Public 

This collection of information applies 

to entities that submit to the agency 

information that the entities wish to 

have withheld from public disclosure, 

including under FOIA. Thus, the 

collection of information applies to 

entities that are subject to laws 

administered by the agency or agency 

regulations and are under an obligation 

to provide information to the agency. It 

also includes entities that voluntarily 

submit information to the agency. Such 

entities would include manufacturers of 

motor vehicles and of motor vehicle 

equipment. Importers are considered to 

be manufacturers. It may also include 

other entities that are involved with 

motor vehicles or motor vehicle 

equipment but are not manufacturers. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

165 

Frequency: On occasion. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 5,575 hours. 

Potential submitters of requests for 

confidential treatment of information 

include vehicle manufacturers, 

equipment manufacturers, and 

registered importers. In recent years, 

NHTSA has received an average of 

approximately 500 requests for 

confidential treatment of information 

annually from approximately 75 unique 

requesters. Last year, however, NHTSA 

began receiving more requests for 

confidential treatment after NHTSA 

issued the Standing General Order 

2021–01 (General Order) which requires 

certain named entities to submit reports 

on crashes involving ADS or Level 2 

ADAS.2 As a result, NHTSA estimates it 

will receive an additional 1,575 requests 

for confidential treatment each year 

from an estimated 110 unique 

respondents, for a total of 2,075 requests 

from 165 unique respondents (NHTSA 

estimates that there will be some 

overlap between respondents submitting 

requests in connection with General 

Order reporting and those submitting 

non-General Order requests). NHTSA 

estimates that most requests for 

confidential treatment have come, and 

will continue to come, from large 

manufacturers. 

The agency receives requests for 

confidential treatment that vary in 

size—from requests that ask the agency 

to withhold as little as a portion of one 

page to voluminous electronic files. An 

entity requesting confidential treatment 

must provide a written statement in 

support of a request for confidential 

treatment that explains why the 

submitted information should be 

withheld from public disclosure, 

including the legal basis for 

withholding, along with a certification. 

See 49 CFR part 512. In the case of 

submissions by large manufacturers, 

which often consist of hundreds of 

pages of information, it takes, on 

average, eight hours to prepare a 

submission. On the other hand, the 

typical small business that submits a 

single page document should only need 

about five (5) minutes to fully comply 

with the regulation. To estimate the 

total burden associated with this 

information collection, NHTSA has 

used the more conservative estimate 

that each non-General Order submission 

will take approximately 8 hours. 

Therefore, the non-General Order total 

annual burden is estimated at 4,000 

hours (8 hours × 500 requests/year). 

Additionally, NHTSA estimates that 

each General Order submission will take 

approximately 1 hour.3 Therefore, the 

General Order total annual burden is 

estimated at 1,575 hours (1 hour × 1,575 

requests/year). Finally, the combined 

total annual burden is estimated at 

5,575 hours for 49 CFR part 512. 

To calculate the labor cost associated 

with submitting requests for 

confidential treatment, NHTSA looked 

at wage estimates for the type of 

personnel involved with compiling and 

submitting the documents. NHTSA 

estimated the total labor costs associated 

with these burden hours by looking at 

the average wage for Paralegals and 

Legal Assistants. The Bureau of Labor 

Statistics (BLS) estimates that the 

average hourly wage for Paralegals and 

Legal Assistants (BLS Occupation code 

23–2011) is $27.22. The Bureau of Labor 

Statistics estimates that private industry 

workers’ wages represent 70.4% of total 

labor compensation costs. Therefore, 

NHTSA estimates the hourly labor costs 

to be $38.67 for BLS Occupation code 

23–2011. Consequently, NHTSA 

estimates the total labor cost associated 

with the 5,575 burden hours to be 

$215,585. This estimate was derived by 

multiplying the estimated annual 

burden of 5,575 hours with the mean 

hourly labor cost estimate for Paralegals 

and Legal Assistants of $38.67 per hour. 

Table 1 provides a summary of the 

estimated burden hours and labor costs 

associated with those submissions. 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 86 / Wednesday, May 4, 2022 / Notices 26391 

4NHTSA has a separate record retention 

regulation (49 CFR part 576) covered by a 

Paperwork Reduction Act clearance, OMB Control 

No. 2127–0042. 

TABLE 1—BURDEN ESTIMATES

Annual 

responses 

Estimated 

burden per 

response 

(hours) 

Average 

hourly 

labor cost 

Labor cost 

per submission 

Total burden 

hours 

Total labor 

costs 

2,075 2.687 $38.67 $309.36 5,575 $215,585 

Since 49 CFR part 512 does not 

require those persons who request 

confidential treatment to keep copies of 

records or requests submitted to us, 

there are no associated recordkeeping 

burdens.4

Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: 

$165. 

The only cost to respondents is 

expected to be postage costs. NHTSA 

estimates that each mailed response 

costs $8.95 (priority flat rate envelope 

from USPS). Historically, Part 512 

requests were submitted by mail. 

However, at the onset of the COVID–19 

public health emergency, NHTSA began 

accepting Part 512 submissions 

electronically and requested that 

submissions not be mailed. NHTSA now 

estimates that no more than 1% of 

submissions are submitted by mail. 

Accordingly, NHTSA estimates the total 

annual costs for this information 

collection to be $186 (2,075 submissions 

× .01 × $8.95 = $185.71, rounded to 

$186). 

Public Comments Invited: You are 

asked to comment on any aspects of this 

information collection, including (a) 

whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

Department, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(b) the accuracy of the Department’s 

estimate of the burden of the proposed 

information collection; (c) ways to 

enhance the quality, utility and clarity 

of the information to be collected; and 

(d) ways to minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on 

respondents, including the use of 

automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

Authority: The Paperwork Reduction 

Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, as 

amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 

1351.29. 

Ann E. Carlson, 

Chief Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2022–09516 Filed 5–3–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. DOT- NHTSA–2022–0008] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Notice and Request for 

Comment; Generic Clearance for the 

Collection of Qualitative Feedback on 

Agency Service Delivery 

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration (NHTSA), 

Department of Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments for a reinstatement of a 

previously approved information 

collection. 

SUMMARY: In compliance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(PRA), this notice announces that the 

Information Collection Request (ICR) 

abstracted below will be submitted to 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) for review and approval. This 

document describes a collection of 

information for which NHTSA intends 

to seek OMB approval on generic 

clearance for qualitative feedback on 

agency service delivery. A Federal 

Register Notice with a 60-day comment 

period soliciting comments on the 

following information collection was 

published on January 13, 2022, 

87FR2235. No comments were received. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted on 

or June 3, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection, including 

suggestions for reducing burden, should 

be submitted to the Office of 

Management and Budget at 

www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 

To find this information collection, 

select ‘‘Currently under Review—Open 

for Public Comment’’ or use the search 

function. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

additional information or access to 

background documents, contact Walter 

Culbreath, NIO–0300, (202)–366–1566, 

Office of the Chief Information Officer, 

W51–316, U.S. Department of 

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. 

Please identify the relevant collection of 

information by referring to its OMB 

Control Number. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 

PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), a Federal 

agency must receive approval from the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) before it collects certain 

information from the public and a 

person is not required to respond to a 

collection of information by a Federal 

agency unless the collection displays a 

valid OMB control number. In 

compliance with these requirements, 

this notice announces that the following 

information collection request will be 

submitted OMB. 

A Federal Register notice with a 60- 

day comment period soliciting public 

comments on the following information 

collection was published on January 13, 

2022. 

Title: Generic Clearance for the 

Collection of Qualitative Feedback on 

Agency Service Delivery. 

OMB Control Number: 2127–0682. 

Form Number: To be determined by 

specific collections. 

Type of Request: Reinstatement of a 

previously approved information 

collection. 

Requested Expiration Date of 

Approval: 3 years from date of approval. 

Summary of the Collection of 

Information: Executive Order 12862 

directs Federal agencies to provide the 

highest quality service possible to the 

public. This proposed information 

collection provides a means to garner 

qualitative customer and stakeholder 

feedback in an efficient, timely manner, 

in accordance with the Administration’s 

commitment to improving service 

delivery. 

This feedback collected through this 

information collection will provide 

insights into customer or stakeholder 

perceptions, experiences and 

expectations; provide early warning of 

issues with service; or focus attention 

on areas where communication, 

training, or changes in operations might 

improve delivery of products or 

services. The feedback will allow for 

ongoing, collaborative, and actionable 

communication between the Agency 

and its customers and stakeholders. 

This information collection will also 

allow feedback to contribute directly to 


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