Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Interstate Shellfish Dealer's Certificate and Other Records Related to Participation in the National Shellfish Sanitation Program

AGENCY:

Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA, Agency, or we) is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of certain information by the Agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Federal Agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension of an existing collection of information, and to allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice. This notice solicits comments on the information collection provisions of the Interstate Shellfish Dealer's Certificate as well as the collection of other records related to participation in the National Shellfish Sanitation Program (NSSP).

DATES:

Submit either electronic or written comments on the collection of information by January 3, 2022.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments as follows. Please note that late, untimely filed comments will not be considered. Electronic comments must be submitted on or before January 3, 2022. The https://www.regulations.gov electronic filing system will accept comments until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time at the end of January 3, 2022. Comments received by mail/hand delivery/courier (for written/paper submissions) will be considered timely if they are postmarked or the delivery service acceptance receipt is on or before that date.

Electronic Submissions

Submit electronic comments in the following way:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov . Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted electronically, including attachments, to https://www.regulations.gov will be posted to the docket unchanged. Because your comment will be made public, you are solely responsible for ensuring that your comment does not include any confidential information that you or a third party may not wish to be posted, such as medical information, your or anyone else's Social Security number, or confidential business information, such as a manufacturing process. Please note that if you include your name, contact information, or other information that identifies you in the body of your comments, that information will be posted on https://www.regulations.gov .

• If you want to submit a comment with confidential information that you do not wish to be made available to the public, submit the comment as a written/paper submission and in the manner detailed (see “Written/Paper Submissions” and “Instructions”).

Written/Paper Submissions

Submit written/paper submissions as follows:

• Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier (for written/paper submissions): Dockets Management Staff (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.

• For written/paper comments submitted to the Dockets Management Staff, FDA will post your comment, as well as any attachments, except for information submitted, marked and identified, as confidential, if submitted as detailed in “Instructions.”

Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket No. FDA-2021-N-1112 for “Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Interstate Shellfish Dealer's Certificate and Other Records Related to Participation in the National Shellfish Sanitation Program.” Received comments, those filed in a timely manner (see ADDRESSES ), will be placed in the docket and, except for those submitted as “Confidential Submissions,” publicly viewable at https://www.regulations.gov or at the Dockets Management Staff between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, 240-402-7500.

• Confidential Submissions—To submit a comment with confidential information that you do not wish to be made publicly available, submit your comments only as a written/paper submission. You should submit two copies total. One copy will include the information you claim to be confidential with a heading or cover note that states “THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.” The Agency will review this copy, including the claimed confidential information, in its consideration of comments. The second copy, which will have the claimed confidential information redacted/blacked out, will be available for public viewing and posted on https://www.regulations.gov . Submit both copies to the Dockets Management Staff. If you do not wish your name and contact information to be made publicly available, you can provide this information on the cover sheet and not in the body of your comments and you must identify this information as “confidential.” Any information marked as “confidential” will not be disclosed except in accordance with 21 CFR 10.20 and other applicable disclosure law. For more information about FDA's posting of comments to public dockets, see 80 FR 56469, September 18, 2015, or access the information at: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2015-09-18/pdf/2015-23389.pdf .

Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or the electronic and written/paper comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov and insert the docket number, found in brackets in the heading of this document, into the “Search” box and follow the prompts and/or go to the Dockets Management Staff, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852, 240-402-7500.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ila S. Mizrachi, Office of Operations, Food and Drug Administration, Three White Flint North, 10A-12M, 11601 Landsdown St., North Bethesda, MD 20852, 301-796-7726, PRAStaff@fda.hhs.gov .

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521), Federal Agencies must obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. “Collection of information” is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 1320.3(c) and includes Agency requests or requirements that members of the public submit reports, keep records, or provide information to a third party. Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)) requires Federal Agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension of an existing collection of information before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, FDA is publishing notice of the proposed collection of information set forth in this document.

With respect to the following collection of information, FDA invites comments on these topics: (1) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of FDA's functions, including whether the information will have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of FDA's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques, when appropriate, and other forms of information technology.

Interstate Shellfish Dealer's Certificate and Other Records Related to Participation in the National Shellfish Sanitary Program

OMB Control Number 0910-0021—Extension

Under section 243 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 243), FDA is required to cooperate with and aid State and local authorities in the enforcement of their health regulations and are authorized to assist States in the prevention and suppression of communicable diseases. Under this authority, FDA participates with State regulatory agencies, some foreign nations, and the U.S. molluscan shellfish industry in the NSSP.

The NSSP is a voluntary, cooperative program to promote the safety of molluscan shellfish by providing for the classification and patrol of shellfish growing waters and for the inspection and certification of shellfish dealers. Each participating State and foreign nation monitors its molluscan shellfish production and issues certificates for those dealers that meet the State or foreign shellfish control authority's criteria. Each participating State and nation provides a certificate of its certified shellfish dealers to FDA on Form FDA 3038, “Interstate Shellfish Dealer's Certificate” (available at https://www.fda.gov/media/72094/download ). FDA uses this information to publish the “Interstate Certified Shellfish Shippers List (ICSSL),” a monthly comprehensive listing of all molluscan shellfish dealers certified under the cooperative program (available at https://www.fda.gov/food/federalstate-food-programs/interstate-certified-shellfish-shippers-list ). If FDA did not collect the information necessary to compile this list, participating States would not be able to identify and prevent the distribution in the United States of shellfish processed by uncertified dealers. Consequently, the NSSP would not be able to control the distribution of uncertified and possibly unsafe shellfish in interstate commerce. Without the ICSSL, the effectiveness of the NSSP would be nullified. The ICSSL is also used to identify U.S. shellfish dealers eligible to obtain health certificates and export to certain countries or regions.

FDA has been collecting information to construct the ICSSL since 2001. FDA is seeking to add one new data field to the Form FDA 3038, the “FDA Establishment Identifier” (FEI number). The FEI number is a unique number assigned by FDA to identify FDA-regulated facilities. FDA will explore whether the FEI can be used to retrieve data on shellfish dealers from existing FDA systems, which could reduce the number of required data elements that firms have to submit on Form FDA 3038.

The information collection also includes providing certain documents demonstrating compliance with the NSSP. When a competent authority in another country conducts an evaluation to determine whether the U.S. food safety control measures for molluscan shellfish are equivalent to their system of controls, the competent authority may require FDA to provide information and records demonstrating compliance with the provisions of the NSSP. Only those firms that comply with the NSSP would be permitted to export molluscan shellfish to a country whose competent authority determined that the U.S. system of controls is equivalent to their own controls. If approved, FDA will use this information to support the export of U.S. shellfish to countries whose competent authorities have determined the U.S. system of food safety controls to be equivalent to their own system of controls by demonstrating that the exporter is in compliance with the U.S. system of controls specified in the NSSP.

For example, to implement the European Commission's (EC) determination that the U.S. system of food safety controls for raw bivalve molluscan shellfish is equivalent to the European Union's (EU) system of controls, the EC is requiring FDA to provide documentation collected from NSSP-participating shellfish control authorities with firms seeking to export raw molluscan shellfish to the EU. This documentation includes, but is not limited to:

• A list of growing areas with an Approved classification;
• the most recent sanitary survey for each growing area with an Approved classification; and
• the most recent inspection report for each firm seeking to export shellfish to the EU.

The examples above are illustrative. Some competent authorities may require additional information to conduct an equivalence assessment or to implement an equivalence determination, or both. We plan to provide respondents with information about the specific documentation that is required for each equivalence assessment. For those competent authorities that recognize the U.S. system as equivalent, additional documentation may be needed to implement that determination.

Description of Respondents: Respondents to this collection are participating State and local regulatory agencies and foreign nations.

FDA estimates the burden of this collection of information as follows:

Based on a review of the information collection since our last request for OMB approval, we have made no adjustments to our burden estimate. This estimate is based on our experience with this information collection and the number of certificates received in the past 3 years, which has remained constant.