OMB Number
1405-0076
DS-3013
and DS 3013s
1. The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (Convention), which entered into force for the United States on July 1, 1988, requires each party to designate a “Central Authority” responsible for discharging the contracting states’ duties as set forth in the Convention. Executive Order 12648, 53 F.R. 30637, designated the U.S. Department of State as the U.S. Central Authority. Within the Department of State, the Office of Children’s Issues in the Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA/OCS/CI) discharges the functions of the U.S. Central Authority.
2. Article 8 of the Convention and the Convention’s implementing legislation, the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (ICARA) 42 U.S.C. § 11608, authorize this information collection. Under the Convention, persons may apply to a state party’s Central Authority for assistance in obtaining the prompt return of a child wrongfully removed from or retained outside of the child’s country of habitual residence and currently located in another state party. In addition, persons may apply to the Central Authority for assistance in securing their access or visitation rights to the child.
Article 8 of the Convention contains a list of items such an application must contain: (a) “information concerning the identity of the applicant, of the child and of the person alleged to have removed or retained the child”; (b) the child’s date of birth; (c) “the grounds on which the applicant’s claim for return of the child is based”; and (d) “all available information relating to the whereabouts of the child and the identity of the person with whom the child is presumed to be.” Article 8 additionally provides that copies of pertinent decisions or agreements, a certified statement from a competent authority regarding the relevant law of the country of the child’s habitual residence, and any other relevant documents may accompany the application. ICARA, in turn, states that the U.S. Central Authority can “receive from or transmit to any applicant, petitioner, or respondent, information necessary to locate a child or for the purpose of otherwise implementing the Convention with respect to a child . . . . 42 U.S.C. § 11608(a).”
3. The form may be downloaded and completed electronically and then printed, or printed and filled out by hand. While the applicant may print out and sign the form, scan it, and then submit the scan by e-mail, the form may not be fully filled out and electronically submitted because some foreign Central Authorities require the applicant’s original signature to appear on the form. In addition, abduction officers at CA/OCS/CI include the paper form in an informational package they distribute to potential applicants via traditional mail. Typically, the applicant will complete the application and forward it by mail, e-mail attachment or other means, along with supporting documentation, to CA/OCS/CI. CI staff will review the form and enter the necessary information into the International Parental Child Abduction (IPCA) database. Original documents received from the applicant are then attached to the CI paper file as a permanent record or forwarded to a foreign Central Authority as appropriate. At this time, the IPCA database is not capable of linking to information directly from an online electronic submission.
An application under the Convention is the formal document that enables the applicant to request a state party’s Central Authority’s assistance in securing the return of an abducted child or access to that child. Filing the application with the Central Authority is a key step in initiating what is a time-sensitive process.
In accordance with Article 8 of the Convention, DS-3013 requests information from applicants regarding the identities of the applicant, the child or children who are alleged to have been wrongfully removed or retained, and the person with whom the child is alleged to be. In addition, it requests the details surrounding the wrongful removal or retention, as well as the legal justification for return of, or access to, the child.
The U.S. Central Authority will use DS-3013 to facilitate applicants’ claims under the Convention, advise applicants about available remedies under the Convention, and facilitate the relevant foreign Central Authority’s efforts in locating an abducted child and affecting the return of the child to the United States or access to the child. In accordance with Article 9 of the Convention, the U.S. Central Authority will transmit the application and supporting documents to a foreign Central Authority if it has reason to believe the child is in that country. (The U.S. Central Authority may also be the recipient of information from a foreign Central Authority where such Authority believes an unlawfully removed or retained child is present in the United States.)
DS 3013 is available in electronic form at the following website:
http://www.state.gov/m/a/dir/forms/c21447.htm.
4. The collection of information requested in DS-3013 is not duplicative of information maintained elsewhere or otherwise available.
5. The collection of information requested in DS-3013 does not involve small businesses or other small entities.
6. The information gathered through the submission of DS-3013 is essential for the U.S. Central Authority to be able to comply with the Convention. In accordance with Articles 8 and 9 of the Convention and 42 U.S.C. § 11608, the U.S. Department of State needs this information in order to transmit it to the relevant foreign Central Authority. Without such information, the Central Authority of the foreign country where the child is located may find it difficult or impossible to carry out its Convention duties; and the United States would be likewise hindered in fulfilling its own obligations to assist individuals seeking the return of or access to such a child, and to assist foreign Central Authorities in locating children and facilitating their return or access to them.
The information requested in DS-3013 will be collected only one time for each applicant. In this manner, the frequency of collection will be kept at an absolute minimum.
7. Not applicable. No such circumstances exist.
8. The 60-day notice for the current OMB approval for this information collection was published in the Federal Register at 77 FR 51101 on August, 23, 2012. The purpose of the Federal Register notice was to solicit comments from the public. No comments were received.
9. No payments or gifts are provided to respondents.
10. No promises of confidentiality are given to respondents.
11. No questions of a sensitive nature are asked.
12. CA/OCS/CI estimates that it receives around 1,000 abduction cases per year and approximately 300 respondents complete the DS-3013. CA/OCS/CI also estimated that respondents take an average of one hour to fill out the DS-3013. The hour burden of 300 hours is based on 300 respondents completing and sending in the application.
The overall hourly cost burden to the respondents is $9,660. The overall hourly cost burden was determined by figuring out the average hourly in earnings which is the average mean hourly civilian earnings are $21.29; private industry workers are $20.47, and state and local government workers are $26.08. Averaging the three totals $22.61 (rounded to $23). $23/hr was multiplied by 1.4 to get a weighted hourly wage of $32.20/hr. $32.20/hr. was then multiplied by 300 overall hour’s burden by the respondents. This final calculation equaled $9,660.
13. There is no fee for this application. The only cost associated with the completion of DS-3013 is the mailing of the form with supporting documents to the Office of Children’s Issues.
There are approximately 60 respondents that mail the form to the Office of Children’s Issues. The total average postage cost burden for all respondents is $600. The respondents are located in the U.S. and abroad. The average postage cost burden on the respondent is determined using Priority Mail w/ a Flat Rate Envelope that is 12 1/2 by 9 1/2 criterions. Domestic postage under this criterion averages $5. International postage under this criterion averages $15. Overall average for domestic and international postage for each respondent under the aforementioned criterion is $10. To determine the overall postage cost burden we multiplied 60 respondents by $10, which equals $600.
14. The total cost to the Federal Government is based on a Consular Cost of Service Model. The Consular Cost of Service Model provides projected total costs for FY13, FY14 and FY15. The average projected total cost to the government for FY13, FY14 and FY15 is $7,683,349. The table below indicates the projected total costs for FY13, FY14 and FY15.
FY13 |
FY14 |
FY15 |
$ 7,477,285 |
$ 7,682,071 |
$ 7,890,392 |
The Consular Cost of Service Model that calculates the data regarding cost to the government is maintained by the Consular Affairs Comptroller’s Office (CA/C). The cost to the government has increased because CA/C changed the methodology for assigning support costs in the 2011 Cost of Service Model from being assigned on a per cost object basis to one based on volume.
15. The decrease in respondent burden hours occurred because the annual number of respondents to this information collection (i.e., the number of DS-3013 applicants) decreased. The burden decrease took place because of a past overestimate of the actual usage of the form. The cost burden increased because of an additional calculation to take into account mailing costs associated with submitting the necessary documents.
16. This collection of information will not be published for statistical purposes.
17. The U.S. Department of State will display the OMB expiration date.
18. No exceptions are requested.
This collection does not employ statistical methods.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR |
| Author | USDOS |
| Last Modified By | RiversDA |
| File Modified | 2012-12-05 |
| File Created | 2012-11-15 |