Submission Request for TAC Prog Customer Comment Cards

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0690-0030)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Trade Agreements Compliance Program Customer Comment Cards

PURPOSE: The Market Access and Compliance (MAC) Unit will administer comments cards to gather information to be used only internally for general service improvement and management purposes of the Trade Agreements Compliance (TAC) Program. Brief customer comment cards will be sent to all cases closed successfully or unsuccessfully to gauge client satisfaction and areas for TAC Program (two cards).

Clients will be asked about level of service in specific instances and to verify the reason for closing (closed cases) as well as to verify accuracy of success definition and success summary of record (in successes only).

Annually, clients will also be asked about general level of service received (separate comment card) and asked to comment more broadly on MAC outreach efforts and to identify other trade barriers that clients may be facing so that we can gather customer comments for improved service delivery (one card).

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: The International Trade Administration’s (ITA) TAC Program draws on the Commerce Department’s expertise and resources in all of ITA to help U.S. exporters and investors, particularly small- and medium-sized businesses, facing foreign government trade policy actions which create trade barriers. The Program’s objective is to ensure that foreign countries’ practices with respect to their trade agreement obligations to the United States are continuously monitored, that potential compliance problems are promptly addressed, and that U.S. exporters are aware of market access opportunities created by U.S. trade agreements.

The respondents of MAC’s comment cards are companies or trade associations of all sizes that ITA has assisted with a trade barrier problem successfully or unsuccessfully. The respondents are also all clients (approximately 160) of the previous fiscal year that ITA has assisted.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[X ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [ ] Other: ______________________

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name:_Steve Williams___________

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [X ] No

2. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [ X ] No

BURDEN HOURS

The annual burden hours requested by MAC (52 hours) are based on the number of collections we expect to conduct over the requested period for this clearance. We close approximately 160 cases per year and some clients bring more than one case.

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden Hours
Case-specific comment cards	320	5 minutes	27
Program-specific comment cards	300	5 minutes	25
Total	620		52

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is ______0______

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [ ] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[X] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [ X ] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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