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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 146 / Tuesday, August 3, 2021 / Proposed Rules test procedure as amended by the final rule, or Appendix I as it appeared as of January 1, 2021. Beginning on the date 180 days after publication of a final rule, representations with respect to energy use or efficiency of a microwave oven, including compliance certifications, would be required to be based on testing conducted in accordance with the test procedure as amended by the final rule.
If DOE were to publish an amended test procedure, EPCA provides an allowance for individual manufacturers to petition DOE for an extension of the 180-day period if the manufacturer may experience undue hardship in meeting the deadline. 42 U.S.C. 6293c3 To receive such an extension, petitions must be filed with DOE no later than 60
days before the end of the 180-day period and must detail how the manufacturer will experience undue hardship. Id.
IV. Procedural Issues and Regulatory Review A. Review Under Executive Order 12866
The Office of Management and Budget OMB has determined that this proposed test procedure rulemaking does not constitute a significant regulatory action under section 3f of Executive Order E.O. 12866, Regulatory Planning and Review, 58 FR
51735 Oct. 4, 1993. Accordingly, this action was not subject to review under the Executive Order by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs OIRA in OMB.

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B. Review Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act The Regulatory Flexibility Act 5
U.S.C. 601 et seq. requires preparation of an initial regulatory flexibility analysis IRFA for any rule that by law must be proposed for public comment, unless the agency certifies that the rule, if promulgated, will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
As required by Executive Order 13272, Proper Consideration of Small Entities in Agency Rulemaking, 67 FR 53461
August 16, 2002, DOE published procedures and policies on February 19, 2003, to ensure that the potential impacts of its rules on small entities are properly considered during the DOE
rulemaking process. 68 FR 7990. DOE
has made its procedures and policies available on the Office of the General Counsels website: https energy.gov/
gc/office-general-counsel.
DOE reviewed this proposal to amend the test procedures for microwave ovens under the provisions of the Regulatory Flexibility Act and the procedures and
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policies published on February 19, 2003. DOE certifies that this proposed rule does not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The factual basis for this certification is set forth in the following paragraphs.
DOE uses the Small Business Administrations SBA small business size standards to determine whether manufacturers qualify as small businesses, which are listed by the North American Industry Classification System NAICS and are available at www.sba.gov/document/support-tablesize-standards. The SBA considers a business entity to be a small business, if, together with its affiliates, it employs less than a threshold number of workers specified in 13 CFR part 121. The NAICS code for microwave ovens is 335220, major household appliance manufacturing. The threshold number for NAICS code 335220 is 1,500
employees. This employee threshold includes all employees in a businesss parent company and any other subsidiaries.
Most of the manufacturers supplying microwave ovens are either large multinational corporations or overseas microwave oven original equipment manufacturers OEMs that manufacture microwave ovens sold under another companys brand. DOE
conducted a focused inquiry into small business manufacturers of products covered by this rulemaking. DOE
primarily used DOEs Compliance Certification Database for microwave ovens to create a list of companies that sell microwave ovens covered by this rulemaking in the United States. DOE
also used the California Energy Commissions database, Modernized Appliance Efficiency Database System, to correlate brands with OEMs. DOE
identified a total of 48 distinct companies that manufacture or import microwave ovens in the United States.
DOE then reviewed these companies to determine whether the entities met the SBAs definition of small business and screened out any companies that do not manufacture products covered by this rulemaking, do not meet the definition of a small business, or are foreign-owned and operated. Based on this review, DOE identified one potential small business that manufactures microwave ovens in the United States.
The amendments proposed in this SNOPR would provide more explicit direction for the testing of microwave ovens with a connected function. The test procedure amendments proposed in this SNOPR are consistent with the current test procedure in Appendix I

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and do not affect the small business manufacturer because it does not make microwave ovens with network functions.
Therefore, DOE initially concludes that the impacts of the proposed test procedure amendments proposed in this SNOPR would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, and that the preparation of an IRFA is not warranted.
DOE will transmit the certification and supporting statement of factual basis to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration for review under 5 U.S.C. 605b.
C. Review Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
Manufacturers of microwave ovens must certify to DOE that their products comply with any applicable energy conservation standards. To certify compliance, manufacturers must first obtain test data for their products according to the DOE test procedures, including any amendments adopted for those test procedures. DOE has established regulations for the certification and recordkeeping requirements for all covered consumer products and commercial equipment, including microwave ovens. See generally 10 CFR part 429. The collection-of-information requirement for the certification and recordkeeping is subject to review and approval by OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act PRA. This requirement has been approved by OMB under OMB control number 19101400. Public reporting burden for the certification is estimated to average 35 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.
The proposal in this SNOPR would not amend the existing reporting requirements or establish new reporting requirements for manufacturers of microwave ovens.
Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, no person is required to respond to, nor shall any person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with, a collection of information subject to the requirements of the PRA, unless that collection of information displays a currently valid OMB Control Number.
D. Review Under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
DOE is analyzing this proposed regulation in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 NEPA and DOEs NEPA
implementing regulations 10 CFR part
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