Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Reporting Harmful and Potentially Harmful Constituents in Tobacco Products and Tobacco Smoke Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act

AGENCY:

Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of certain information by the Agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Federal Agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension of an existing collection of information, and to allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice. This notice solicits comments on reporting harmful and potentially harmful constituents (HPHCs).

DATES:

Submit either electronic or written comments on the collection of information by April 1, 2019.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments as follows. Please note that late, untimely filed comments will not be considered. Electronic comments must be submitted on or before April 1, 2019. The https://www.regulations.gov electronic filing system will accept comments until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time at the end of April 1, 2019. Comments received by mail/hand delivery/courier (for written/paper submissions) will be considered timely if they are postmarked or the delivery service acceptance receipt is on or before that date.

Electronic Submissions

Submit electronic comments in the following way:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted electronically, including attachments, to https://www.regulations.gov will be posted to the docket unchanged. Because your comment will be made public, you are solely responsible for ensuring that your comment does not include any confidential information that you or a third party may not wish to be posted, such as medical information, your or anyone else's Social Security number, or confidential business information, such as a manufacturing process. Please note that if you include your name, contact information, or other information that identifies you in the body of your comments, that information will be posted on https://www.regulations.gov.
• If you want to submit a comment with confidential information that you do not wish to be made available to the public, submit the comment as a written/paper submission and in the manner detailed (see “Written/Paper Submissions” and “Instructions”).

Written/Paper Submissions

Submit written/paper submissions as follows:

• Mail/Hand delivery/Courier (for written/paper submissions): Dockets Management Staff (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
• For written/paper comments submitted to the Dockets Management Staff, FDA will post your comment, as well as any attachments, except for information submitted, marked and identified, as confidential, if submitted as detailed in “Instructions.”

Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket No. FDA-2012-D-0049 for “Reporting Harmful and Potentially Harmful Constituents in Tobacco Products and Tobacco Smoke Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.” Received comments, those filed in a timely manner (see ADDRESSES), will be placed in the docket and, except for those submitted as “Confidential Submissions,” publicly viewable at https://www.regulations.gov or at the Dockets Management Staff between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

• Confidential Submissions—To submit a comment with confidential information that you do not wish to be made publicly available, submit your comments only as a written/paper submission. You should submit two copies total. One copy will include the information you claim to be confidential with a heading or cover note that states “THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.” The Agency will review this copy, including the claimed confidential information, in its consideration of comments. The second copy, which will have the claimed confidential information redacted/blacked out, will be available for public viewing and posted on https://www.regulations.gov. Submit both copies to the Dockets Management Staff. If you do not wish your name and contact information to be made publicly available, you can provide this information on the cover sheet and not in the body of your comments and you must identify this information as “confidential.” Any information marked as “confidential” will not be disclosed except in accordance with 21 CFR 10.20 and other applicable disclosure law. For more information about FDA's posting of comments to public dockets, see 80 FR 56469, September 18, 2015, or access the information at: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-09-18/pdf/2015-23389.pdf.

Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or the electronic and written/paper comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov and insert the docket number, found in brackets in the heading of this document, into the “Search” box and follow the prompts and/or go to the Dockets Management Staff, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Amber Sanford, Office of Operations, Food and Drug Administration, Three White Flint North, 10A-12M, 11601 Landsdown St., North Bethesda, MD 20852, 301-796-8867, PRAStaff@fda.hhs.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under the 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. “Collection of information” is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 1320.3(c) and includes Agency requests or requirements that members of the public submit reports, keep records, or provide information to a third party. Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)) requires Federal Agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension of an existing collection of information, before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, FDA is publishing notice of the proposed collection of information set forth in this document.

With respect to the following collection of information, FDA invites comments on these topics: (1) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of FDA's functions, including whether the information will have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of FDA's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques, when appropriate, and other forms of information technology.

Reporting Harmful and Potentially Harmful Constituents in Tobacco Products and Tobacco Smoke Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act

OMB Control Number 0910-0732—Extension

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Pub. L. 111-31) (Tobacco Control Act), enacted on June 22, 2009, amended the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) and provided FDA with the authority to regulate the manufacture, marketing, and distribution of cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco, and smokeless tobacco products to protect the public health and to reduce tobacco use by minors. The Tobacco Control Act also gave FDA the authority to issue regulations deeming other products that meet the statutory definition of a tobacco product to be subject to chapter IX of the FD&C Act (section 901(b) of the FD&C Act (21 U.S.C. 387a(b))).

In accordance with that authority, on May 10, 2016, FDA issued a final rule deeming all products that meet the statutory definition of tobacco product, except accessories of newly deemed tobacco products, to be subject to FDA's tobacco product authority (final deeming rule) (81 FR 28974).

Chapter IX of the FD&C Act now applies to newly regulated products, including sections 904(a)(3) and (c)(1) (21 U.S.C. 387d(a)(3) and (c)(1)). Section 904(a)(3) of the FD&C Act requires the submission of an initial report from each tobacco product manufacturer or importer, or agents thereof, listing all constituents, including smoke constituents as applicable, identified as HPHC to health by FDA. Reports must be by brand and by quantity in each brand and subbrand. We note that for cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, cigarette filler, and RYO tobacco products, this initial reporting was completed in 2012.

Section 904(c)(1) of the FD&C Act provides that manufacturers of tobacco products not on the market as of June 22, 2009, must also provide the information reportable under section 904(a)(3) at least 90 days prior to introducing the product into interstate commerce.

FDA has taken several steps to identify HPHCs to be reported under section 904 of the FD&C Act, including issuing a guidance discussing FDA's current thinking on the meaning of the term “harmful and potentially harmful constituent” in the context of implementing the HPHC list requirement under section 904(e) of the FD&C Act (76 FR 5387, January 31, 2011, revised guidance issued August 2016). The guidance is available on the internet at https://www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/ucm241339.htm. The current established list of HPHCs also is available on the internet at https://www.fda.gov/downloads/TobaccoProducts/Labeling/RulesRegulationsGuidance/UCM297828.pdf (77 FR 20034, April 3, 2012).

The purpose of the information collection is to collect statutorily mandated information regarding HPHCs in tobacco products and tobacco smoke, by brand and by quantity in each brand and subbrand.

To facilitate the submission of HPHC information, Forms FDA 3787a, 3787b, and 3787c for cigarettes, smokeless tobacco products, and RYO tobacco products, respectively, in both paper and electronic formats, are available. Additionally, FDA is developing forms to facilitate the submission of HPHC information for the newly deemed tobacco products. We intend to model these forms on the current HPHC reporting forms (i.e., Forms FDA 3787a, 3787b, and 3787c). A proposed information collection for newly deemed products will be published in a separate Federal Register notice, and we will solicit comments on that collection at that time.

Manufacturers or importers, or their agents, may submit HPHC information either electronically or in paper format. The FDA eSubmitter tool provides electronic forms to streamline the data entry and submission process for reporting HPHCs for cigarettes, smokeless tobacco products, and RYO tobacco products. Users of eSubmitter may populate an FDA-created Excel file and import data into eSubmitter. Whether respondents decide to submit reports electronically or on paper, each form provides instructions for completing and submitting HPHC information to FDA. The forms contain fields for company information, product information, and HPHC information.

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

The burden for this collection of information is estimated to be 2,516 hours. The burden estimate for this collection of information includes the time it will take to read the instructions, test the products, and prepare the HPHC report.

In arriving at this burden estimate, FDA estimated the number of tobacco products to be reported under the requirements of section 904(c)(1) of the FD&C Act annually to FDA.

Section 1 of table 1 estimates that 155 respondents (67 cigarette manufacturers or importers, 46 RYO tobacco manufacturers, 42 smokeless manufacturers) will submit 97 HPHC reports annually. This section addresses the time required for manufacturers and importers (or their agents), who must report their product information to FDA under section 904(c)(1) of the FD&C Act at least 90 days prior to delivery for introduction into interstate commerce for all new products, to report their company information to FDA through the use of the electronic portal or paper forms.

The company information reported includes: Company name; mailing address; telephone and Fax numbers; FDA Establishment Identifier number; Data Universal Numbering System number; and point of contact name, mailing address, and telephone and Fax numbers, as applicable. It also addresses the time required for manufacturers and importers to report their product information by entering certain testing information into the electronic or paper forms.

The product information includes: Brand and subbrand name; unique product identification number; type of product identification number; product category and subcategory; and mean weight and standard deviation of tobacco in product.

We estimate that the burden to enter both the company and product information is no more than 1.82 hours for cigarettes, 0.43 hours for RYO, and 0.63 hours for smokeless tobacco products regardless of whether the paper or electronic Form FDA series 3787 is used. The time to report per tobacco product types varies because the number of HPHCs varies by tobacco product category.

The estimated number of responses under section 904(c)(1) is based on FDA's experience and the past 3 years' actual responses to FDA under this provision of the FD&C Act for statutorily regulated products.

Section 2 of table 1 estimates that 88 respondents (46 cigarette filler and RYO tobacco manufacturers and importers and 42 smokeless manufacturers) will test quantities of HPHCs in an average of 24.5 products annually. This section addresses the time required for manufacturers and importers (or their agents) who must test HPHC quantities in products. The burden estimates include the burden to test the tobacco products, draft testing reports, and submit the report to FDA. The total expected burden for this section is 291 hours.

Section 3 of table 1 addresses the time required for manufacturers and importers to test quantities for HPHCs in cigarette smoke. The burden estimates include: The burden to test the number of replicate measurements; test date range; manufacture date range; extraction method; separation method; detection method; and mean quantity and standard deviation of HPHCs and includes the burden to test the tobacco products, draft testing reports, and submit the report to FDA. The annual burden reflects our estimate of the time it takes to test the tobacco products (i.e., carry out laboratory work). The burden estimate assumes that manufacturers and importers report HPHC quantities in cigarette mainstream smoke according to the two smoking regimens. The total expected burden is 2,128 hours for this section.

The total estimated burden for this information collection is 2,516 hours and 139 responses.

Our estimated burden for the information collection reflects an overall decrease of 2,125 hours and a corresponding decrease of 142 responses. We attribute this decrease to updated information on the number of submissions we received over the last few years.