Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Commercial Remote Sensing

AGENCY:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES:

To ensure consideration, written or on-line comments must be submitted on or before December 9, 2019.

ADDRESSES:

Direct all written comments to Adrienne Thomas, PRA Officer, NOAA, 151 Patton Avenue, Room 159, Asheville, NC 28801 (or at PRAcomments@doc.gov). All comments received are part of the public record. Comments will generally be posted without change. All Personally Identifiable Information (for example, name and address) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Requests for additional information or copies of the information collection instrument and instructions should be directed to Tahara Dawkins, Director, Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs, 1335 East-West Highway, G101, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910; 301-713-3385; tahara.dawkins@noaa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

The information is being collected as a necessary step to regulate the private space-based remote sensing industry, which involves issuing licenses to applicants and ensuring their compliance with license terms. The Department of Commerce (DOC), through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has the authority to regulate private space-based remote sensing under the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992, 51 U.S.C. 60101 et seq. (the Act) and regulations at 15 CFR part 960. The regulations facilitate the development of the U.S. private remote sensing industry and thus promote the collection and widespread availability of remote sensing data, while preserving essential U.S. national security interests and observing international obligations.

Applications are made in response to the requirements in the Act, as amended, and no collection forms are used. The application information received is used to determine if the applicant meets the legal criteria for issuance of a license to operate a private remote sensing space system i.e., the proposed system will be operated in accordance with the Act, U.S. national security concerns and international obligations. Application information includes: Corporate information; launch segment information; space segment information; ground segment information; plans and/or pricing policy for providing access to or distributing the unenhanced data generated by the system; and the plan for post-mission disposition of any Remote Sensing satellites.

Once an applicant holds a license, he/she is subject to amendment filings and notification requirements concerning an executive summary of the licensed system, foreign agreements, deviation in orbits, planned disposition of the spacecraft, data protection plans, preliminary design reviews, critical design reviews, certification of launch contract and pre-ship review of the satellite; and notification of system demise or decision to discontinue operations. The licensee is required to provide NOAA an executive summary that can be provided to the public within 30 days of obtaining a NOAA license.

Monitoring and compliance information is used to ascertain that the licensee's activities meet the requirements of the Act, applicable regulations, and license conditions. The following information collections serve as part of the monitoring and compliance function: Annual compliance audits; data collection restriction plans; operation plans for restricting collection and dissemination of imaging Israeli territory; data flow diagrams; satellite sub-system diagrams and imaging system specification sheets; operational declarations; quarterly reports; purge notifications; and annual operational audits.

II. Method of Collection

Information is collected primarily via email and sometimes by mail.

III. Data

OMB Control Number: 0648-0174.

Form Number(s): None.

Type of Review: Regular submission.

Affected Public: Business or other not-for-profit.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 50.

Estimated Time per Response: 40 hours for the submission of a license application; 10 hours for the submission of a data protection plan; 5 hours for the submission of a plan describing how the licensee will comply with data collection restrictions; 3 hours for the submission of an operations plan for restricting collection or dissemination of imagery of Israeli territory; 3 hours for submission of a data flow diagram; 2 hours for the submission of satellite subsystems drawings; 3 hours for the submission of a final imaging system specifications document; 2 hours for the submission of a public summary for a licensed system; 2 hours for the submission of a preliminary design review; 2 hours for the submission of a critical design review; 1 hour for notification of a binding launch services contract; 1 hour for notification of completion of pre-ship review; 10 hours for the submission of a license amendment; 2 hours for the submission of a foreign agreement notification; 2 hours for the submission of spacecraft operational information submitted when a spacecraft becomes operational; 2 hours for notification of deviation in orbit or spacecraft disposition; 2 hours for notification of any operational deviation; 2 hours for notification of planned purges of information to the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive; 3 hours for the submission of an operational quarterly report; 8 hours for an annual compliance audit; 10 hours for an annual operational audit; and 2 hours for notification of the demise of a system or a decision to discontinue system operations.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,533

Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $2,777 in recordkeeping/reporting costs.

IV. Request for Comments

Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden (including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized and/or included in the request for OMB approval of this information collection; they also will become a matter of public record.