autogargedooropsSupStmnt 2019

Information Collection Request (ICR)
Standard for Automatic Residential Garage Door Operators
Supporting Statement

A.

Justification

1.
Information to be collected and circumstances that make the
collection of information necessary
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is responsible for the
enforcement of the mandatory federal regulation “Safety Standard for Automatic
Residential Garage Door Operators” (16 CFR, Part 1211). This standard
requires all automatic residential garage door operators manufactured and sold
in the U.S. on or after January 1, 1993, to conform to the entrapment protection
requirements developed by Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL 325), , including
subsequent revisions.
The recordkeeping requirements of the standard (16 CFR, Part 1211.31
attached) became effective on January 21, 1993. According to these
requirements, written certification records must be maintained for a period of at
least three years from the date of certification of each residential garage door
operator subject to the standard. These certificates are based on a test of each
operator or on a “reasonable testing program.” These records must be available
upon request to any designated officer or employee of the Commission upon
request in accordance with section 16(b) of the CPSA, 15 U.S.C. 2065(b).
Automatic residential garage door operators are continually being
introduced into the market, either by established manufacturers and importers or
new manufacturers and importers. Therefore, the Commission seeks approval to
continue the recordkeeping requirements without change.
On January 18, 2017, and July 11, 2017, the Commission voted to include
the revisions regarding the entrapment protection requirements for automatic
residential garage door operators in UL 325, Seventh Edition. This update does
not affect the recordkeeping requirements of the standard.
2.

Use and sharing of collected information

CPSC will use the information obtained from the requested records to
assess the current level of compliance with the entrapment provisions of the
standard for automatic garage door operators. Also, we will use information we
obtain at a given firm in any appropriate legal action(s) initiated, if the firm or its
product(s) fail to comply with the entrapment provisions of the standard. The
recordkeeping requirements will enable the Commission to identify industry-wide

problems and address them prior to the report of related incidents associated
with noncomplying products.
3.

Use of information technology (IT) in information collection
Manufacturers and importers subject to the regulation may use any
improvements in information technology that they deem suitable for compiling
and maintaining the records required by the regulation.
4.

Efforts to identify duplication

Information collected by the Commission during this enforcement activity
is not collected by any other agency, organization, or individual. There is no
similar information available.
5.

Impact on small businesses

Enforcement activities associated with the standard for automatic garage
door operators may include a number of small firms. CPSC staff has identified
18 manufacturers and importers, including private labelers, of automatic
residential garage door operators. Information from company websites and from
Dun & Bradstreet business reports indicate that, of the 18 identified firms
manufacturing or importing the products, 4 are either large companies or
subsidiaries of large domestic or foreign companies (subsidiaries of large firms
are considered to be large, regardless of the number of employees at the
subsidiary). The remaining 14 appear to be small firms under the SBA size
standards for their industry sectors. 1 All known firms, including the small firms,
voluntarily conformed to the various requirements of UL 325 since before the
time that UL 325 became the referenced standard in the federal rule. In the
August 2015 proposed update of the mandatory rule, the Commission noted that
all known firms met the UL certification requirements; UL certification is
considered sufficient evidence of compliance with the mandatory rule. Thus, the
requirements do not impose significant impacts on small businesses.
6.
Consequences to Federal program or policy activities if collection is
not conducted or is conducted less frequently
The Commission relies on the recordkeeping provisions of the UL
standard to monitor compliance with the rule. Without the recordkeeping
requirements, the level of compliance would be unknown. The lack of written test
records would require an increase in Federal government inspections and
sample collections for testing to determine the industry’s compliance with the
standard.

1

Domestic manufacturers of “other miscellaneous electrical equipment” (NAICS code
335999) with fewer than 500 employees; and merchant wholesalers (including importers) of “durable
goods” (NAICS Subsector 423) with fewer than 100 employees.

7.
Special circumstances requiring respondents to report information
more often than quarterly or to prepare responses in fewer than 30 days
There may be special circumstances in which respondents will be
requested to prepare a written response involving the collection of information
within fewer than 30 days after receipt of the request. These circumstances
apply when the CPSC Compliance staff is trying to determine preliminarily
whether a defect is present in an automatic residential garage door operator, and
whether that defect rises to the level of a substantial product hazard under
Section 15 of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), 15 U.S.C. 2064. Firms
are typically given 10 working days to respond to our request for information.
8.

Agency’s Federal Register Notice and related information

A Federal Register Notice announcing the Commission’s latest proposed
update of this rule was published in September 2015, with public comments due
in November 2015. A Federal Register Notice announcing the renewal of this
clearance was published March 14, 2019. No comments were received.
9.

Decision to provide payment or gift
Not applicable.

10.

Assurance of confidentiality

All records cited as being confidential remain confidential according to the
Commission’s procedures under the Freedom of Information Act. These
procedures are provided in 15 U.S.C. 1015.
11.

Questions of a sensitive nature
Not applicable. There are no questions of a sensitive nature.

12.

Estimate of hour burden to respondents

CPSC staff has identified 18 respondents. These firms conduct
performance tests and maintain records based on the test results in order to
maintain UL certification and verify compliance with the rule. Staff estimates that
each respondent will spend 40 hours annually (35 hours for testing and 5 hours
for recordkeeping) on the collection of information related to the rule. Therefore,
the total estimated burden is 720 hours (18 firms x 40 hours).
The total annual cost of the testing burden is estimated to be about
$43,834, based on an hourly rate of $69.60 as total compensation for managerial
and technical time in goods-producing private industries (18 firms x 35 hours x
$69.60); the annual cost of recordkeeping is estimated to be about $2,928 based

on an hourly rate of $32.54 for sales and office workers. 2 Thus, the total cost
associated with the testing and recordkeeping burden is about $46,762 ($43,834
+ $2,928). This estimate includes professional and clerical time that may be
spent to retrieve product data from automated or other records systems, explain
firm practices/policies intended to assure compliance with the standard, or
accompany Commission personnel during inspections.
13.
Estimates of other total annual cost burden to respondents or
recordkeepers
There are no costs to respondents beyond those presented in Section
A.12. There are no other operating, maintenance, or capital costs associated with
the collection.
14.

Estimate of annualized costs to the federal government

Approximately 1.5 staff months for agency employees to examine and
evaluate the information could be required for compliance activities. The
estimated annual cost to the federal government is based on performance of the
work by employees paid at a GS-14 Step 5 pay rate employee, $129,869.
According to the most recent Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, this
represents approximately 67.7 percent of total compensation for management,
professional and related occupational groups. 3 Therefore, total compensation for
an employee at the GS-14 Step 5 pay rate will have an annual value of about
$191,830 (or $15,986 per month). The annual cost to the federal government of
the collection of information is therefore estimated to be about $23,979 ($15,986
times 1.5 months).
15.

Program changes or adjustments

Based on recent experience, CPSC staff revised the estimate of the
number of firms from 19 to 18 resulting in a reduction of 40 hours.

16.

Plans for tabulation and publication
Not applicable.

17.

2

Rationale for not displaying the expiration date for OMB approval

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,” June 2018,
Table 9, total compensation for all sales and office workers in goods-producing private industries:
http://www.bls.gov/ncs/
3
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,” June 2018,
Table 1, percentage of wages and salaries for all civilian management, professional, and related
employees.

Not applicable.
B.

Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods
Not applicable.