81 FR 80054 - Information Collection Being Reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 220 (November 15, 2016)

As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or the Commission) invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the following information collection. Comments are requested concerning: Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including whether the information shall have practical utility; the accuracy of the Commission's burden estimate; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on the respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and ways to further reduce the information collection burden on small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees. The FCC may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid control number. No person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information subject to the PRA that does not display a valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 220 (Tuesday, November 15, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 80054-80055]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-27332]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[OMB 3060-XXXX]


Information Collection Being Reviewed by the Federal 
Communications Commission

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, 
and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, the 
Federal Communications Commission (FCC or the Commission) invites the 
general

[[Page 80055]]

public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment 
on the following information collection. Comments are requested 
concerning: Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary 
for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, 
including whether the information shall have practical utility; the 
accuracy of the Commission's burden estimate; ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; ways to 
minimize the burden of the collection of information on the 
respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology; and ways to further reduce the 
information collection burden on small business concerns with fewer 
than 25 employees. The FCC may not conduct or sponsor a collection of 
information unless it displays a currently valid control number. No 
person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a 
collection of information subject to the PRA that does not display a 
valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number.

DATES: Written PRA comments should be submitted on or before January 
17, 2017. If you anticipate that you will be submitting comments, but 
find it difficult to do so within the period of time allowed by this 
notice, you should advise the contact listed below as soon as possible.

ADDRESSES: Direct all PRA comments to Nicole Ongele, FCC, via email 
[email protected] and to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information about the 
information collection, contact Nicole Ongele at (202) 418-2991.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    OMB Control Number: 3060-XXXX.
    Title: Improving Reporting for Submarine Cables and Enhanced 
Submarine Outage Data.
    Form Number: FCC Form 5623.
    Type of Review: New collection.
    Respondents: Business or other for-profit.
    Number of Respondents and Responses: 63 respondents; 50 responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: 2 hours.
    Frequency of Response: Recurring reporting requirement if reporting 
thresholds are met, we estimate each respondent will file 0.79 reports 
per year.
    Obligation To Respond: Mandatory. Statutory authority for this 
information collection is contained in 47 U.S.C. 1, 4(j), 4(o), 34-39, 
151, 154(i)-(j), 3 U.S.C. 301, and Executive Order No. 10530.
    Total Annual Burden: 100 hours.
    Total Annual Cost: No Cost.
    Privacy Act Impact Assessment: No impact(s).
    Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: Outage reports filed with the 
Commission pursuant to part 4 are presumed confidential. The 
information in those filings may be shared with the Department of 
Homeland Security only under appropriate confidential disclosure 
protections. Other persons seeking disclosure must follow the 
procedures delineated in 47 CFR 0.457 and 0.459 of the Commission's 
rules for requests for and disclosure of information. The information 
collection discussed here does not affect the confidential treatment of 
information provided to the FCC through NORS reports.
    Needs and Uses: Section 151 of the Communications Act of 1934 
(Act), as amended, requires the Commission to promote the safety of 
life and property through the use of wire and radio communications. 
Additionally, the Cable Landing License Act, Cable Landing License Act 
(47 U.S.C. 34-39), and Executive Order 10530, provide the Commission 
with authority to grant, withhold, condition and revoke submarine cable 
landing licenses. In concert, the Cable Landing License Act and 
Executive Order provide that the Commission may place conditions on the 
grant of a submarine cable landing license in order to assure just and 
reasonable rates and service in the operation and use of cables so 
licensed. ``Just and reasonable service'' entails assurance that the 
cable infrastructure will be reasonably available. Availability of 
submarine cables is also critically important for national security, 
and the economy, because submarine cables carry approximately 95 
percent of international communications traffic, and are the primary 
means of connectivity for numerous U.S. states and territories. The 
data collection requires all submarine cable licensees to report 
outages through the network outage reporting system (NORS). The general 
purpose of NORS reporting is to gather sufficient information regarding 
disruptions to telecommunications to facilitate FCC monitoring, 
analysis, and investigation of the reliability and security of 
networks, and to identify and act on potential threats to our Nation's 
telecommunications infrastructure. The FCC uses this information 
collection to identify the duration, magnitude, root causes, 
contributing factors, and preventive measures taken with respect to 
significant outages, and to take swift remedial action as required in 
appropriate circumstances. The Commission also maintains an ongoing 
dialogue with reporting entities, as well as with the industry at 
large, generally regarding lessons learned from the information 
collection in order to foster better understanding of the root causes 
of significant outages, and to explore preventive measures in the 
future so as to mitigate the potential impact of such outages on the 
Nation and the American public.
    The data will provide the Commission with greater visibility into 
the availability and health of these networks, allowing it to better 
track and analyze submarine cable resiliency, and suggest or take 
appropriate actions when the data so indicate, i.e. before there is a 
significant problem. Thus, the data will ensure that submarine cable 
service is just and reasonable, and that critical communications 
carried across submarine cables continue to promote the safety of life 
and property, fulfilling the aforementioned statutory obligations.
    The NORS information collection (OMB Control No. 3060-0484) is 
administered by the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau 
(PSHSB), which maintains an Internet portal for the electronic 
submission of NORS reports. This electronic filing requirement entails 
entering the required information using Commission-approved Web-based 
outage report templates that are available online at the NORS Internet 
Web portal. The completion of these online templates results in the 
information being electronically entered into the Commission's NORS 
reporting data base in real-time.

Federal Communications Commission.
Gloria J. Miles,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-27332 Filed 11-14-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6712-01-P