Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for Office of Management and Budget Review; Comment Request; Food Additive Petitions

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

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

DATES:

Fax written comments on the collection of information by July 6, 2004.

ADDRESSES:

OMB is still experiencing significant delays in the regular mail, including first class and express mail, and messenger deliveries are not being accepted. 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: Fumie Yokota, Desk Officer for FDA, FAX: 202-395-6974.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Denver Presley, Office of Management Programs (HFA-250), Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, 301-827-1472.

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.

Food Additive Petitions—21 CFR Part 571

Section 409(a) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the act) (21 U.S.C. 348 (a)), provides that a food additive shall be deemed to be unsafe unless its use is permitted by a regulation which prescribes the condition(s) under which it may safely be used, or unless it is exempted by regulation for investigational use. Section 409(b) of the act specifies the information that must be submitted by a petition in order to establish the safety of a food additive and to secure the issuance of a regulation permitting its use.

To implement the provision of section 409 of the act, procedural regulations have been issued under part 571 (21 CFR part 571). These procedural regulations are designed to specify more thoroughly the information that must be submitted to meet the requirement set down in broader terms by the law. The regulations add no substantive requirements to those indicated in the law, but attempt to explain the requirements and provide a standard format for submission to speed the processing of the petition. Labeling requirements for food additives intended for animal consumption are also set forth in various regulations contained in 21 CFR parts 572, 573, and 580. The labeling regulations are considered by FDA to be cross referenced to § 571.1, which is the subject of this same OMB clearance for food additive petitions.

In the Federal Register of November 12, 2003 (68 FR 64110), FDA published a 60-day notice requesting public comment on the information collection provisions. No comments were received.

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