3060‑0286
June 2024
SUPPORTING STATEMENT
Notice of Discontinuance, Reduction, or Impairment of Service
Involving a Distress Watch -- § 80.302
A. Justification
The Commission is seeking extension of this information collection to obtain the full three-year clearance from the OMB.
The reporting requirement contained in section 80.302 requires that when changes occur in the operation of a public coast station, including discontinuance, relocation, reduction, or suspension of a watch required to be maintained on 2182 kHz or 156.800 MHz, notification must be made by the licensee to the nearest district office of the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) as soon as practicable. However, in practice, the USCG no longer monitors 2182 kHz; and thus section 80.302 does not apply to the aforementioned medium frequency.
But the notification requirement for the watch on 156.800 MHz continues and must include the estimated or known resumption time of the watch. This requirement is necessary to ensure that the U.S. Coast Guard is timely informed when a coast station that is responsible for maintaining a listening watch on a designated marine distress and safety frequency discontinues, relocates, reduces, or suspends such a watch, to allow the Coast Guard ample time to seek an alternate means of providing radio coverage to protect the life or lives of persons and/or property at sea, or object to the planned diminution of service.
Statutory authority for this collection of information is contained in sections 4, 303, 307(e), 309, and 332 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 48 Stat. 1064, 1082, as amended; 47 U.S.C. §§ 154, 303, 307(e), 309, and 332, unless otherwise noted.
This collection of information does not affect individuals or households; thus, there are no impacts under the Privacy Act.
2. The information is used by the U.S. Coast Guard district office nearest to the coast station. Once the Coast Guard is aware that such a situation exists, it is able to inform the maritime community that radio coverage has or will be affected and/or seek to provide coverage of the safety watch via alternate means.
3. Prior to finalizing rule makings, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau conducts an analysis to ensure that improved information technology cannot be used to reduce the burden on the public. This analysis considers the possibility of obtaining and/or computer‑generating the required data from existing data bases in the Commission or other Federal agencies.
4. This agency does not impose a similar information collection on the respondents. There is no similar data available.
5. In conformance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Commission is making an effort to minimize the burden on all respondents, regardless of size. The Commission has limited the information requirements to those absolutely necessary.
6. If the Coast Guard is not notified of the discontinuance, reduction, or impairment of the service of a coast station that is required to maintain a listening watch on a designated distress and safety channel, the primary agency responsible for maritime search and rescue would be unaware of the gap in coverage and unable to take appropriate action if needed. Consequently, a decrease in the safety system designed to protect life and property at sea could occur.
7. There are no special circumstances that would require collections to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5.
8. The Commission published a Notice in the Federal Register on April 15, 2024, 89 FR 26146, as required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d), seeking comment from the public on the information collection requirements contained in this collection. No comments were received.
9. Respondents will not receive any payments connected to this collection of information.
10. There is no need for confidentiality with this collection.
11. This collection does not address any private matters of a sensitive nature.
12. There are approximately 49 public coast stations that discontinue, reduce, or otherwise impair their service to the maritime public. Based on experience, it is estimated that a clerical employee would spend no more than one hour notifying the nearest U.S. Coast Guard district office of such an occurrence.
Total Number of Respondents: 49.
Total Number of Annual Responses: 49.
Total Annual Burden Hours: 49 responses x 1 hour = 49 hours.
13. Estimate of cost to respondents:
As noted above, it is estimated that a clerical employee would spend no more than one hour notifying the nearest U.S. Coast Guard district office of such an occurrence. The FCC estimates that this in-house individual will be paid $20 (when rounded up from $19.78) per hour. Thus, the total in-house cost is calculated as follows: $20/hour x 49 responses x 1 hour = $980.
14. Estimated annual cost to the Federal Government: None.
15. There are no program changes to this collection. However, there are adjustments to the collection which are due to fewer respondents to this collection. The adjustments are as follows: -1 to the number of respondents, -1 to the annual number of responses and -1 to the annual burden hours.
16. The data will not be published for statistical use.
17. No expiration date will be displayed for this collection of information; therefore, a waiver to not display the expiration date is not necessary.
18. There were no exceptions to the certification statement.
B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods
No statistical methods are employed.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | 3060-0286 |
| Author | JSHAFFER |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2024-07-22 |