The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will submit the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. The USPTO invites comment on this information collection renewal, which helps the USPTO assess the impact of its information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on March 24, 2022 (87 16719) during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
Agency: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Commerce.
Title: COVID-19 Vaccine Supplemental Medical Provider Statement.
OMB Control Number: 0651-0087.
Needs and Uses: Consistent with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), guidance from the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force established pursuant to E.O. 13991 of January 20, 2021, Protecting the Federal Workforce and Requiring Mask-Wearing, and E.O. 14043 of September 9, 2021, Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees, the request for this collection of information is essential to implement the USPTO health and safety measures regarding the Federal employee medical exemptions to the COVID-19 mandatory vaccinations. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, requires Federal agencies to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees with disabilities unless that reasonable accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the employee's agency. See 29 U.S.C. 791; 29 CFR part 1614; see also 20 CFR part 1630 and E.O. 13164 of July 26, 2000, Requiring Federal Agencies to Establish Procedures to Facilitate the Provision of Reasonable Accommodation. Section 2 of E.O. 14043 mandates that each agency “implement, to the extent consistent with applicable law, a program to require COVID-19 vaccination for all of its Federal employees, with exceptions only as required by law.” This COVID-19 Vaccine Supplemental Medical Provider Statement is necessary for USPTO to determine legal exemptions to the vaccine requirement under the Rehabilitation Act.
The vaccination requirement issued pursuant to E.O. 14043, is currently the subject of a nationwide injunction. While that injunction remains in place, USPTO will not process requests for a medical exception from the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to E.O. 14043. USPTO will also not request the submission of any medical information related to a request for an exception from the vaccination requirement pursuant to E.O. 14043 while the injunction remains in place. But USPTO may nevertheless receive information regarding a medical exception. That is because, if USPTO were to receive a request for an exception from the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to E.O. 14043 during the pendency of the injunction, USPTO will accept the request, hold it in abeyance, and notify the employee who submitted the request that implementation and enforcement of the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to E.O. 14043 is currently enjoined and that an exception therefore is not necessary so long as the injunction is in place. In other words, during the pendency of the injunction, any information collection related to requests for medical exception from the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to E.O. 14043 is not undertaken to implement or enforce the COVID-19 vaccination requirement.
Form Numbers:
- USPTO-OEEOD Form 303 (COVID-19 Vaccine Supplemental Medical Provider Statement)
Type of Review: Extension and revision of a currently approved information collection.
Affected Public: Private sector.
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
Frequency: On occasion.
Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 150 respondents.
Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 150 responses.
Estimated Time per Response: The USPTO estimates that the responses in this information collection will take the public 10 minutes (0.167 hours) to complete. This includes the time to gather the necessary information, create the document, and submit the completed request to the USPTO.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Burden Hours: 25 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Respondent Non-Hourly Cost Burden: $0.
This information collection request may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view Department of Commerce, USPTO information collections currently under review by OMB.
Written comments and recommendations for this information collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting “Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function and entering either the title of the information collection or the OMB Control Number 0651-0087.
Further information can be obtained by:
• Email: InformationCollection@uspto.gov. Include “0651-0087 information request” in the subject line of the message.
• Mail: Kimberly Hardy, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.
Kimberly Hardy,
Information Collections Officer, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2022-11667 Filed 5-27-22; 8:45 am]
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