2010-9555. 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 May 26, 2010.

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: [phone], or e-mailed to [e-mail]. 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:

Daniel Gittleson, Office of Information Management, Food and Drug Administration, 1350 Piccard Dr., PI50-400B, Rockville, MD 20850, 301-796-5156, [e-mail].

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)(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 contact sterilizers. FDA's estimate of the reporting burden is based on actual data obtained from industry over the past several 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 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 of § 801.150(a)(2) consist of making copies and maintaining the actual reporting requests which were required under the 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 and includes $55,800 operating and maintenance costs.

In the Federal Register of February 18, 2010 (75 FR 7276), 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:

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 per Recordkeeping	Total Annual Records	Hours per Record	Total Hours
801.150(a)(2)	90	20	1,800	0.5	900
1 There are no capital costs associated with this collection of information.

Due to a clerical error, the operating and maintenance costs that appeared in a document published in the Federal Register of February 18, 2010, were incorrect. There are actually no operating and maintenance costs associated.

Dated: April 21, 2010.

Leslie Kux,

Acting Assistant Commissioner for Policy.