Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of an Approved Information Collection: Commercial Motor Vehicle Marking Requirements

AGENCY:

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, DOT.

ACTION:

Notice and request for comments.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FMCSA announces its plan to submit the Information Collection Request (ICR) described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for its review and approval, and invites public comment. This ICR will enable FMCSA to document the burden associated with the marking regulations codified in 49 CFR 390.21, “Marking of Self-Propelled CMVs and Intermodal Equipment.” These regulations require marking of vehicles and intermodal equipment by motor carriers, freight forwarders and intermodal equipment providers (IEPs) engaging in interstate transportation.

DATES:

We must receive your comments on or before June 25, 2018.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2018-0091 using any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
• Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
• Mail: Docket Operations; U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
• Hand Delivery or Courier: U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC, 20590-0001 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and docket number. For detailed instructions on submitting comments and additional information, see the Public Participation heading below. Note that all comments received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov,, including any personal information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading below.

Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov,, and follow the online instructions for accessing the dockets, or go to the street address listed above.

Privacy Act: In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits comments from the public to better inform its rulemaking process. DOT posts these comments, without edit, including any personal information the commenter provides, to www.regulations.gov,, as described in the system of records notice (DOT/ALL-14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at www.dot.gov/privacy.

Public Participation: The Federal eRulemaking Portal is available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. You can obtain electronic submission and retrieval help and guidelines under the “help” section of the Federal eRulemaking Portal website. If you want us to notify you that we received your comments, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope or postcard, or print the acknowledgement page that appears after submitting comments online. Comments received after the comment closing date will be included in the docket and will be considered to the extent practicable.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Crystal Frederick, Compliance Division, Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, West Building 6th Floor, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: 202-366-2904; email: Crystal.Frederick@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background: The Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) is authorized to require marking of vehicles and intermodal equipment by motor carriers, freight forwarders and intermodal equipment providers (IEPs) engaging in interstate transportation based on the authority of 49 U.S.C. 31133(a)(8) and 31133(a)(10). The Secretary has delegated authority pertaining to the marking of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) pursuant to 49 CFR 1.87(f). The Agency's regulation governing the marking of CMVs is codified at 49 CFR 390.21.

Vehicle marking requirements are intended to ensure that FMCSA, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and State safety officials are able to identify motor carriers and correctly assign responsibility for regulatory violations during inspections, investigations, compliance reviews, and crash studies. These marking requirements will also provide the public with beneficial information that could assist in identifying carriers for the purposes of commerce, complaints or emergency notification. The marking requirements apply to motor carriers, freight forwarders and intermodal equipment providers (IEPs) engaging in interstate transportation. The Agency does not require a specific method of marking as long as the marking complies with FMCSA's regulations. The program change decrease of 76,751 estimated annual burden hours (774,249 proposed estimated annual burden hours—851,000 approved estimated annual burden hours) is due to adjustments in respondent and response estimates, as well as the removal of initial marking burden from the adoption of the “Lease and Interchange of Vehicles; Motor Carriers of Passengers” final rule.

Title: Marking of Self-Propelled CMVs and Intermodal Equipment

OMB Control Number: 2126-0054.

Type of Request: Renewal of a currently approved collection.

Respondents: Freight carrying commercial motor carriers, Passenger carrying commercial motor carriers, freight forwarders and intermodal equipment providers.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 218,389 motor carriers and Intermodal equipment providers (IEPs).

Estimated Time per Response: 26 minutes [12 minutes to affix DOT Number + 14 minutes for affixing a carrier's name = 26].

Expiration Date: August 31, 2018.

Frequency of Response: On occasion.

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 774,249 hours spent by motor carriers and IEPs marking CMVs with a DOT number and carrier information.

Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of this information collection, including: (1) Whether the proposed collection is necessary for the performance of FMCSA's functions; (2) the accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) ways for FMCSA to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and (4) ways that the burden could be minimized without reducing the quality of the collected information. The agency will summarize or include your comments in the request for OMB's clearance of this information collection.