2016-21103. Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations

AGENCY:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION:

Notice with comment period.

SUMMARY:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing efforts to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on the information collection request Airline and Traveler Information Collection: Domestic Manifests and the Passenger Locator Form. This information aligns with current activities with regard to the collection of manifests from domestic flights within the United States, as well as the collection of traveler information using the Passenger Locator Form (PLF) on both international and domestic flights, in the event that a communicable disease has been confirmed during travel that puts other passengers at risk.

DATES:

Written comments must be received on or before November 1, 2016.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2016-0088 by any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Leroy A. Richardson, Information Collection Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE., MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.

Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name and Docket Number. All relevant comments received will be posted without change to Regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to Regulations.gov.

Please note: All public comment should be submitted through the Federal eRulemaking portal (Regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the address listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

To request more information on the proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan and instruments, contact the Information Collection Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE., MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: [phone]; Email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information collection before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a proposed data collection as described below. 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 of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; (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; and (e) estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information. Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire, install and utilize technology and systems for the purpose of collecting, validating and verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of information, to search data sources, to complete and review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the information.

Proposed Project

Airline and Traveler Information Collection: Domestic Manifests and the Passenger Locator Form—Existing Information Collection in use without an OMB Control Number—National Center for Emerging Zoonotic and Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

Stopping a communicable disease outbreak—whether it is naturally occurring or intentionally caused—requires the use of the most rapid and effective public health tools available. Basic public health practices, such as collaborating with airlines in the identification and notification of potentially exposed contacts, are critical tools in the fight against the introduction, transmission, and spread of communicable diseases in the United States.

The collection of timely, accurate, and complete contact information enables Quarantine Public Health Officers in CDC's Division of Global Migration and Quarantine (DGMQ) to notify state and local health departments in order for them to make contact with individuals who may have been exposed to a contagious person during travel and identify appropriate next steps.

Under the Public Health Service Act (42 United States Code § 264) and under 42 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) § 70.2 CDC can order airlines traveling between states to submit a data set, including airline flight details, and passenger and crew member information, if CDC reasonably believes that a traveler exposed to or infected with a communicable disease of public health concern could have put other passengers at risk for a communicable disease.

In order to collect this data set, aka a manifest, CDC seeking approval for domestic airline and traveler information orders under current authorities in 42 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 70.2. This activity is already current practice.

Additionally, CDC requests to transition the Passenger Locator Form (PLF), previously included and approved by OMB in 0920-0134 Foreign Quarantine Regulations, into this Information Collection Request. Further, CDC is requesting approval for the use of the PLF for the collection of traveler information from individuals on domestic flights. The PLF, a formed developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in concert with its international member states and other aviation organizations, is used when there is a confirmation or strong suspicion that an individual(s) aboard a flight is infected with or exposed to a communicable disease that is a threat to co-travelers, and CDC is made aware of the individual(s) prior to arrival in the United States. This prior awareness can provide CDC with an opportunity to collect traveler contact information directly from the traveler prior to departure from the arrival airport. CDC conducts this information collection under its regulations at 42 CFR 70.6 for domestic flights and 71.32 and 71.33 for flights arriving from foreign countries.

CDC is seeking three years of OMB clearance for this information collection request.

Estimated Annualized Burden Hours

CDC estimates that for each set of airline and traveler information ordered, airlines require approximately six hours to review the order, search their records, and send those records to CDC. CDC anticipates that travelers will need approximately five minutes to complete the PLF. There is no cost to respondents other than their time to perform these actions. For manifest information, CDC does not have a specified format for these submissions, only that it is one acceptable to both CDC and the respondent.

Type of respondent	Form name	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden per response (in hours)	Total burden (in hours)
Airline Medical Officer or Equivalent/Computer and Information Systems Manager	Domestic TB Manifest Template	1	1	360/60	6
Airline Medical Officer or Equivalent/Computer and Information Systems Manager	Domestic Non-TB Manifest Template	28	1	360/60	168
Traveler	Public Health Passenger Locator Form: Outbreak of public health significance (international flights)	2,700,000	1	5/60	225,000
Traveler	Public Health Passenger Locator Form: Limited onboard exposure (international flights)	800	1	5/60	67
Traveler	Public Health Passenger Locator Form (domestic flights)	800	1	5/60	67
Total					225,308

Leroy A. Richardson,

Chief, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific Integrity, Office of the Associate Director for Science, Office of the Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.