03-31798. Fee Adjustments for Testing, Evaluation, and Approval of Mining Products

AGENCY:

Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), Labor.

ACTION:

Notice of fee adjustments.

SUMMARY:

This notice revises our [MSHA Approval and Certification Center (A&CC)] user fees. Fees compensate us for the costs that we incur for testing, evaluating, and approving certain products for use in underground mines. We based the 2004 fees on our actual expenses for fiscal year 2003. The fees reflect changes both in our approval processing operations and in our costs to process approval actions.

DATES:

This fee schedule is effective from January 1, 2004, through December 31, 2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Steven J. Luzik, Chief, Approval and Certification Center (A&CC), 304-547-2029 or 304-547-0400.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On May 8, 1987 (52 FR 17506), we published a final rule, 30 CFR Part 5—Fees for Testing, Evaluation, and Approval of Mining Products. The rule established specific procedures for calculating, administering, and revising user fees. We have revised our fee schedule for 2004 in accordance with the procedures of that rule and include this new fee schedule below. For approval applications postmarked before January 1, 2004, we will continue to calculate fees under the previous (2003) fee schedule, published on December 31, 2002.

Fee Computation

In general, we computed the 2004 fees based on fiscal year 2003 data. We calculated a weighted-average, direct cost for all the services that we provided during fiscal year 2003 in the processing of requests for testing, evaluation, and approval of certain products for use in underground mines. From this cost, we calculated a single hourly rate to apply uniformly across all of the product approval categories during 2004.

Dated: December 18, 2003.

John R. Correll,

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health.

Fee Schedule Effective January 1, 2004

[Based on FY 2003 data]

Action title	Hourly rate
Fees for Testing, Evaluation, and Approval of all Mining Products 1	$63
Retesting for Approval as a Result of Post-Approval Product Audit 2
30 CFR Part 15—Explosives Testing
Permissibility Tests for Explosives:
Weigh-in	462
Physical Exam: First size	325
Chemical Analysis	1,977
Air Gap—Minimum Product Firing Temperature	460
Air Gap—Room Temperature	352
Pendulum Friction Test	163
Detonation Rate	352
Gallery Test 7	7,436
Gallery Test 8	5,533
Toxic Gases (Large Chamber)	805
Permissibility Tests for Sheathed Explosives:
Physical Examination	128
Chemical Analysis	1,044
Gallery Test 9	1,944
Gallery Test 10	1,944
Gallery Test 11	1,944
Gallery Test 12	1,944
Drop Test	648
Temperature Effects/Detonation	672
Toxic Gases	580
1 Full approval fee consists of evaluation cost plus applicable test costs.
2 Fee based upon the approval schedule in effect at the time of retest.

Note:

When the nature of the product requires that we test and evaluate it at a location other than our premises, you must reimburse us for the traveling, subsistence, and incidental expenses of our representative in accordance with standardized government travel regulations. This reimbursement is in addition to the fees charged for evaluation and testing.