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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 18 / Friday, January 29, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
practices of tolling the processing of the request while notifying the requester that advance payment is due, 5 U.S.C.
552a6AiiII, and closing the request if, after 30 days of receipt, the requester does not respond to the fee notice.
B. Amendments To Reflect Organizational Changes at CPSC
FOIA Office. CPSC changed the organizational structure of the FOIA
Office since the FOIA regulations were last amended in 2017. See 82 FR 37010.
The CPSCs FOIA Office is now housed within the Office of the General Counsel, rather than within the Office of the Secretary; and the Commissions Assistant General Counsel for the Office of the General Counsel, Division of the Secretariat, holds the position of Chief FOIA Officer, rather than the Secretary of the Commission. The final rule amends 16 CFR 1015.1, 1015.2, 1015.3, 1015.4, 1015.5, 1015.6, 1015.7, and 1015.9 to replace the designations Secretary of the Commission, Secretary, or Secretariat with the title, Chief FOIA Officer, and the final rule also replaces Office of the Secretary with Office of the General Counsel, Division of the Secretariat or Division of the Secretariat.

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C. Amendment Concerning Appeals Delegation of Authority. The current regulations are inconsistent regarding the delegation of authority to review and respond to FOIA appeals. The final rule changes 1015.4 and 1015.7e to clarify that the CPSCs General Counsel has responsibility for reviewing and responding to FOIA appeals, and adds 1015.1d. The Commission delegated this authority to the General Counsel in 1985, 50 FR 7753 February 26, 1985;
however, this authority was not codified in other relevant FOIA provisions.
Remands. Section 1015.7c codifies the existing practice regarding FOIA
appeals. If the General Counsel grants, in whole or in part, a FOIA appeal, the General Counsel remands the matter to the Chief FOIA Officer for processing and providing the records to the requester, in accordance with the General Counsels decision.
D. Broadening the Scope of FOIA
Exemptions Under 16 CFR 1015.20
Currently, 1015.5h states that the CPSC may be unable to comply with the time limits set forth in 1015.5
when disclosure of documents responsive to a request under this part is subject to the requirements of section 6b of the Consumer Product Safety Act. However, the regulation does not take into account that, due to statutory
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obligations, the CPSC also may be unable to comply with the time limits set forth in 1015.5, when disclosure of documents responsive to a request is subject to section 6a of the Consumer Product Safety Act CPSA. As such, the final rule amends 1015.5h to conform to the statute by replacing the phrase, section 6b of the Consumer Product Safety Act, 15 U.S.C. 2055b with the phrase, section 6 of the Consumer Product Safety Act, 15 U.S.C. 2055.
Additionally, the current 1015.20, which addresses the release of accident or investigation reports, only allows for the application of the investigatory file FOIA exemption and the redaction of the names of injured persons and the persons who treated the injured, pursuant to section 25c of the CPSA.
Current CPSC practice, however, is to redact all personally identifiable information, including not only the names of injured persons and the persons who treated them, but also the names of other persons incidental to a consumer complaint, pursuant to FOIA
exemption b6. See 5 U.S.C. 552b6.
Rather than limit the applicable FOIA
exemptions to the investigatory file exemption only, the final rule amends 1015.20a to clarify that accident and investigation reports are subject to all applicable FOIA exemptions.
E. Miscellaneous Amendments To ensure proper routing of new FOIA
requests and appeals, CPSCs FOIA
Office created a separate email address for the submission of new FOIA
requests and appeals. That address is cpscfoiarequests@cpsc.gov.
Accordingly, the final rule updates 1015.3a and 1015.7a to specify the proper email addresses to submit new FOIA requests and appeals.
F. Environmental Considerations The CPSCs regulations address whether the agency is required to prepare an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement. 16
CFR part 1021. These regulations provide a categorical exclusion for certain CPSC actions that normally have little or no potential for affecting the human environment. 16 CFR
1021.5c1. This final rule falls within the categorical exclusion.
IV. Regulatory Flexibility Act The Regulatory Flexibility Act RFA, 5 U.S.C. 601612, requires that agencies review a proposed rule and a final rule for the rules potential economic impact on small entities, including small businesses. Section 604 of the RFA
generally requires that agencies prepare a final regulatory flexibility analysis
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FRFA when promulgating final rules, unless the head of the agency certifies that the rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. In this case, we noted in the NPR that neither the Administrative Procedure Act APA
nor the FOIA statute required CPSC to issue an NPR, but CPSC voluntarily chose to follow notice-and-comment rulemaking.
For the NPR, CPSC staff reviewed the potential impact of the changes proposed in the NPR on small entities.
Staffs analysis compared the number of fiscal year FY 2018 FOIA requesters to the number of small entities in the relevant North American Industrial Classification System NAICS sectors.
Based on this analysis, staff concluded it was unlikely that a substantial number of small entities would be impacted by the proposed rule. Staff also concluded that the impact on noncommercial entities would remain essentially unchanged, unless noncommercial requesters opt to receive their documents in paper format, rather than electronically. Staff found that the costs for commercial firms increased more than for other entities; however, requesters would be alerted if costs were expected to be greater than $25; and commercial firms would be expected to proceed with the request in whole or in part, only if the perceived benefit at least balanced the cost. Finally, staff noted that requesting firms can avoid duplication costs by electing to receive the requested documents electronically.
The Commission sought comment on staffs regulatory analysis in the NPR, and it received none. Because we have no information that would change staffs analysis, the Commission concludes that the final rule will not have a significant impact on a substantial number of small entities.
V. Paperwork Reduction Act The Paperwork Reduction Act PRA
establishes certain requirements when an agency conducts or sponsors a collection of information. 44 U.S.C.
35013520. The final rule amends CPSCs regulations to conform to the 2016 Act, updates certain CPSCs procedures by codifying them, and makes other technical changes and corrections. The final rule does not impose any information-collection requirements. Thus, the PRA is not implicated by this final rule.
VI. Executive Order 12988 Preemption According to Executive Order 12988
February 5, 1996, agencies must state in clear language the preemptive effect, if any, of new regulations. Section 26 of
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