03-20523. Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB 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 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.

DATES:

Submit written comments on the collection of information by September 11, 2003.

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: [phone].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Peggy Robbins, Office of Management Programs (HFA-250), Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, 301-827-1223.

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(e) (OMB Control Number 0910-0131)—Extension

Under sections 501(c) and 502(a) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the 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), manufacturers and sterilizers may sign an agreement containing the following provisions: (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. The respondents to this collection of information are device manufacturers and contact sterilizers.

In the Federal Register of May 21, 2003 (68 FR 27819), FDA published a 60-day notice requesting public comment on the information collection provisions. No comments were received.

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

Table 1.—Estimated Annual Reporting Burden¹

21 CFR Section	No. of Respondents	Annual Frequency per Response	Total Annual Responses	Hours per Response	Total Hours
801.150(e)	90	20	1,800	4	7,200
1 There are no capital costs or operating and maintenance costs associated with this collection of information.

Table 2.—Estimated Annual Recordkeeping Burden¹

21 CFR Section	No. of Recordkeepers	Annual Frequency of Recordkeeping	Total Annual Records	Hours per Recordkeeper	Total Hours
801.150(a)(2)	90	20	1,800	.5	900
1 There are no capital costs or operating and maintenance costs associated with this collection of information.

FDA's estimate for the reporting burden is based on actual data obtained from industry during the past 3 years where there are approximately 90 firms subject to this requirement. It is estimated that each of these firms on the average prepares 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 is 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 customary and usual business practice. On the average, the total annual recordkeeping burden is 7,200 hours (90 firms x 20 agreements x 4 hours).

The recordkeeping requirements for respondents consists of making copies and maintaining the actual reporting requests which were required under reporting section of this collection. To fulfill this requirement, FDA estimates it will take about 30 minutes to copy each package, for a total of 900 recordkeeping hours.

Dated: August 7, 2003.

Jeffrey Shuren,

Assistant Commissioner for Policy.