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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 194 / Tuesday, October 12, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
manufacturers to test at least two units per model to determine ratings, DOE
estimates this optional re-testing cost would be $9,000 per re-tested model.34
DOE has determined that these other amendments would not require changes to the designs of refrigeration products, and that the amendments would not impact the utility or availability of these products. The other amendments would not impact the representations of energy efficiency or energy use of refrigeration products. As a result, manufacturers would be able to rely on data generated under the current test procedure.
Manufacturers would not be required to re-test refrigeration products as a result of DOEs adoption of the other amendments to the test procedure.
IV. Procedural Issues and Regulatory Review A. Review Under Executive Order 12866
The Office of Management and Budget OMB has determined this test procedure rulemaking does not constitute significant regulatory actions 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.
B. Review Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act The Regulatory Flexibility Act 5
U.S.C. 601 et seq. requires preparation of a final regulatory flexibility analysis FRFA for any final rule where the agency was first required by law to publish a proposed rule 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 adopted rule to amend the test procedures for 34 Based on the initial $5,000 per unit testing cost estimate and the $500 savings due to the stabilization criteria proposed in this amended test procedure. DOE estimates that the stabilization period time savings would apply to most consumer refrigeration products.

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refrigeration products under the provisions of the Regulatory Flexibility Act and the procedures and policies published on February 19, 2003. This final rule amends DOEs refrigeration products test procedures to incorporate by reference AHAM HRF12019, which includes the following substantive changes compared to the existing test procedures: 1 Clarifying test setup provisions; 2 specifying certain test condition measurements and applicability to data recording periods;
3 allowing for stabilization data to also serve as test data for certain product types; 4 specifying stabilization requirements for products not able to meet the existing requirements; 5
revising the automatic icemaking energy consumption adder; and 6 requiring connected function communication modules to be on, but not connected to a network, for testing. DOE concludes that this final rule will not have a significant impact on a substantial number of small entities, and 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.35 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 2017 NAICS code for refrigeration products is 335220, major household appliance manufacturing.36 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 refrigeration products are large multinational corporations. DOE
conducted a focused inquiry into small business manufacturers of products covered by this rulemaking. DOE used the CCMS Database 37 for miscellaneous refrigeration products and for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers to create a list of companies that sell refrigeration products covered by this rulemaking in the United States.
35 Available online at: https www.sba.gov/
document/support--table-size-standards.
36 The NAICS Association updated its industry classification codes in early 2017. The previous 2012 NAICS code for consumer refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers was 335222, household refrigerator and home freezer manufacturing.
37 www.regulations.doe.gov/certification-data.
Accessed September, 2020.

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DOE identified a total of 42 original equipment manufacturers that sell refrigeration products in the United States market.
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 offer products covered by this rulemaking, do not meet the definition of a small business, or are foreignowned and operated. Based on this review, DOE has identified five domestic manufacturers of refrigeration products that are potential small businesses. Through this analysis, DOE
has determined the expected effects of this rulemaking on these covered small businesses and whether a FRFA was needed i.e., whether DOE could certify that this rulemaking would not have a significant impact.
As described, DOE is incorporating by reference the latest version of the industry standard HRF12019, which results in certain substantive changes in the test procedure compared to the existing approach, some of which may impact costs incurred by manufacturers.
DOE is combining the stabilization period with the test period for certain products. This change would likely decrease test duration by at least 6 hours for these models reflecting the 3-hour minimum test period duration at two temperature settings and up to 48 hours reflecting 24-hour test periods at each setting. 84 FR 70842, 70862. DOE
estimated that this would translate to a cost savings of $500 per test for these models an estimated 10 percent of total testing costs. Id. Based on review of the CCMS Database, DOE identified 325
models affected by the amendment of the stabilization period, representing five small domestic manufacturers. Id.
Additionally, based on data from DOEs CCMS Database, DOE anticipated that small domestic manufacturers would replace or modify existing models every 3.5 years; therefore, on average, small domestic manufacturers would introduce approximately 93 new or modified models each year that would use these shorter overall testing periods.
Id. Given that DOE requires manufacturers to test at least two units per model, small manufacturers would on average conduct 186 tests annually using these shorter overall testing periods. Id. Using these estimates, DOE
anticipated the stabilization amendment would save small domestic manufacturers approximately $93,000
per year. Id. Therefore, DOE determined that this proposed amendment to the test procedure would lead to cost savings for small domestic manufacturers. Id.

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