Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for Office of Management and Budget Review; Comment Request; Agreement for Shipment of Devices for Sterilization

AGENCY:

Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing that a proposed collection of information has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES:

Fax written comments on the collection of information by September 2, 2016.

ADDRESSES:

To ensure that comments on the information collection are received, OMB recommends that written comments be faxed to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Attn: FDA Desk Officer, FAX: 202-395-7285, or emailed to oira_submission@omb.eop.gov. All comments should be identified with the OMB control number 0910-0131. Also include the FDA docket number found in brackets in the heading of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

FDA PRA Staff, Office of Operations, Food and Drug Administration, Three White Flint North 10A-12M, 11601 Landsdown St., North Bethesda, MD 20852, PRAStaff@fda.hhs.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

In compliance with 44 U.S.C. 3507, FDA has submitted the following proposed collection of information to OMB for review and clearance.

Agreement for Shipment of Devices for Sterilization—21 CFR 801.150—OMB Control Number 0910-0131—Extension

Under sections 501(c) and 502(a) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the FD&C Act) (21 U.S.C. 351(c) and 352(a)), nonsterile devices that are labeled as sterile but are in interstate transit to a facility to be sterilized are adulterated and misbranded. FDA regulations in § 801.150(e) (21 CFR 801.150(e)) establish a control mechanism by which firms may manufacture and label medical devices as sterile at one establishment and ship the devices in interstate commerce for sterilization at another establishment, a practice that facilitates the processing of devices and is economically necessary for some firms.

Under § 801.150(e)(1), manufacturers and sterilizers may sign an agreement containing the following: (1) Instructions for maintaining accountability of the number of units in each shipment, (2) acknowledgment that the devices that are nonsterile are being shipped for further processing, and (3) specifications for sterilization processing. This agreement allows the manufacturer to ship misbranded products to be sterilized without initiating regulatory action and provides FDA with a means to protect consumers from use of nonsterile products. During routine plant inspections, FDA normally reviews agreements that must be kept for 2 years after final shipment or delivery of devices (§ 801.150(a)(2)).

The respondents to this collection of information are device manufacturers and contract sterilizers. FDA's estimate of the reporting burden is based on data obtained from industry over the past several years. It is estimated that each of the firms subject to this requirement prepares an average of 20 written agreements each year. This estimate varies greatly, from 1 to 100, because some firms provide sterilization services on a part-time basis for only one customer, while others are large facilities with many customers. The average time required to prepare each written agreement is estimated to be 4 hours. This estimate varies depending on whether the agreement is the initial agreement or an annual renewal, on the format each firm elects to use, and on the length of time required to reach agreement. The estimate applies only to those portions of the written agreement that pertain to the requirements imposed by this regulation. The written agreement generally also includes contractual agreements that are a usual and customary business practice. The recordkeeping requirements of § 801.150(a)(2) consist of making copies and maintaining the records required under the third-party disclosure section of this collection.

In the Federal Register of April 20, 2016 (81 FR 23309), FDA published a 60-day notice requesting public comment on the proposed collection of information. No comments were received.

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