83 FR 35054 - Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collections to OMB; Agency Request for Renewal of Previously Approved Information Collections: Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 142 (July 24, 2018)

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces that the Department of Transportation's (Department or DOT) Office of the Secretary (OST) is submitting a request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for renewal of the OMB control number 2105-0571, titled Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel, for the information collections described below. On April 18, 2018, the Department published a Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the information collections. See 83 FR 17221. The purpose of this notice is to allow for an additional 30 days of public comment.

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 142 (Tuesday, July 24, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35054-35056]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2018-15794]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

[Docket No. DOT-OST-2011-0177]


Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collections to OMB; 
Agency Request for Renewal of Previously Approved Information 
Collections: Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice announces that the Department of Transportation's (Department or 
DOT) Office of the Secretary (OST) is submitting a request to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for renewal of the OMB control 
number 2105-0571, titled Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability 
in Air Travel, for the information collections described below. On 
April 18, 2018, the Department published a Federal

[[Page 35055]]

Register Notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the 
information collections. See 83 FR 17221. The purpose of this notice is 
to allow for an additional 30 days of public comment.

DATES: Written comments should be submitted by August 23, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Send comments regarding the burden estimate, including 
suggestions for reducing the burden, to the Office of Management and 
Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for the Office of the Secretary of 
Transportation, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503. Comments may 
also be sent via email to OMB at the following address: 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John C. Wood, Office of the General 
Counsel, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation, 
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590, 202-366-9342 (Voice), 
202-366-7152 (Fax), or [email protected] (Email). Arrangements to 
receive this document in an alternative format may be made by 
contacting the above-named individual.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    OMB Control Number: 2105-0571.
    Title: Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel.
    Type of Review: Renewal of information collections.
    Background: This notice covers two information collection 
requirements in the Department's Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) 
implementing regulation, 14 CFR part 382 (Part 382), Nondiscrimination 
on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel. Specifically, pursuant to 
section 382.43(d), covered carriers must provide an online mechanism 
for passengers to request disability accommodation services (e.g., 
enplaning/deplaning assistance, deaf/hard of hearing communication 
assistance, escort to service animal relief area, etc.) for a 
particular flight. Pursuant to section 382.43(e), covered carriers must 
also ensure that when a user activates a link on a carrier's primary 
website to embedded third-party software or to an external website, a 
disclaimer is displayed notifying the user that the application or 
website may not be accessible. These requirements became effective on 
December 12, 2015, and December 12, 2016, respectively. Covered 
carriers are U.S. and foreign air carriers that operate at least one 
aircraft having a designed seating capacity of more than 60 passengers 
and own or control a primary website that markets passenger air 
transportation or a tour, or tour component that must be purchased with 
air transportation, to the general public in the United States.\1\
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    \1\ While there are approximately 190 U.S. and foreign air 
carriers that conduct passenger-carrying service to, from, or in the 
United States with at least one aircraft having a designed seating 
capacity of more than 60 seats, not all of those carriers have a 
primary website that markets passenger air transportation to the 
general public in the U.S. The Department estimates that 
approximately 165 of those 190 carriers are subject to the 
Department's web-accessibility requirements as they operate such 
aircraft and have a primary website that markets to U.S. consumers.
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    The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) and its implementing 
regulations, 5 CFR part 1320, require Federal agencies to issue two 
notices seeking public comment on information collection activities 
before OMB may approve paperwork packages. 44 U.S.C. 3506, 3507; 5 CFR 
1320.5, 1320.8(d)(1), 1320.12. On April 18, 2018, OST published a 
Federal Register Notice announcing its intention to renew OMB control 
number 2105-0571 and inviting interested persons to submit comments on 
these information collections for 60 days. See 83 FR 17221. During this 
time, the Department received one comment related to the information 
collections.
    The commenter, Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), supported both 
information collections and emphasized that carriers should provide an 
opportunity for passengers with disabilities to request disability 
accommodation in advance of arriving at the gate at an easy to locate 
place on an airline's website. PVA also stated that carriers should 
then use the information to make sure that passengers receive any 
needed assistance in a timely manner. PVA added that collecting service 
request information has the potential to benefit all stakeholders, 
including carriers, as it helps carriers understand the types and 
frequency of requests received across routes and travel periods. The 
PVA comment made no reference to the estimated number of respondents or 
burden hours for the information collections. The Department also 
received another comment, but that comment was outside the scope of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act. It did not address any issue related to the 
information collections that are the subject of this renewal.
    Accordingly, this notice announces that the information collection 
activities set forth in Part 382 have been re-evaluated and certified 
under 5 CFR 1320.5(a) and are being forwarded to OMB for review and 
approval pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.12(c). Before OMB decides whether to 
approve these proposed collections of information, it must provide 30 
days for public comment. 44 U.S.C. 3507(b); 5 CFR 1320.12(d). Federal 
law requires OMB to approve or disapprove paperwork packages between 30 
and 60 days after the 30-day notice is published. 44 U.S.C. 3507(b)-
(c); 5 CFR 1230.12(d); see also 60 FR 44983 (Aug. 29, 1995). Therefore, 
respondents should submit their respective comments to OMB within 30 
days of publication to best ensure their full consideration. 5 CFR 
1320.12(c); see also 60 FR 44983 (Aug. 29, 1995).
    The renewed OMB control number will be applicable to all the 
provisions set forth in this notice. The title, a description of the 
information collection, its need and proposed use, respondents, and the 
periodic reporting burden are set forth below for each of the 
information collections:

1. Online Request for Disability Accommodation

    Description of the need for the information and proposed use: 
Pursuant to 14 CFR 382.43(d), each covered carrier must provide a 
mechanism on its website for passengers to request a disability 
accommodation service for a future flight and provide advance notice of 
their request. Carriers may, but need not, require passengers to 
include contact information on the form in order to follow-up and 
request more specific information about the passengers' accommodation 
needs. Carriers may also use the aggregate data from the online service 
requests to understand and better plan for the volume and types of 
service requests they receive across time periods and routes, but also 
are not required to do so.
    While the content and design of the online service request form is 
up to the carriers, the Department anticipates that each covered U.S. 
and foreign carrier that markets scheduled air transportation to the 
general public in the United States would incur initial costs 
associated with developing and reviewing a design and implementation 
plan for the request form, developing, coding, and integrating the form 
into the website, as well as testing, debugging, and connecting the 
form with a backend database to store the information. The final 
regulatory analysis (FRA) for the final rule entitled Nondiscrimination 
on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel: Accessibility of websites and 
Automated Kiosks at U.S. Airports estimated that it will take an 
average of 32 labor hours per carrier to develop, implement, integrate, 
connect, and test the online request form. Initial costs are reduced 
for carriers that rely on a request form developed by another entity. 
There are no recordkeeping or

[[Page 35056]]

reporting requirements. However, carriers should use the service 
request information to facilitate appropriate, timely assistance to 
their passengers.
    Respondents: Certificated U.S. and foreign air carriers operating 
to, from, and within the United States that operate at least one 
aircraft having a seating capacity of more than 60 passengers and own 
or control a primary website that markets air transportation to the 
general public in the U.S.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 165 U.S. and foreign carriers, of 
which the Department expects all to have achieved compliance with the 
requirement in a prior year. The Department estimates that each year 
there will be 3 new respondent carriers.
    Estimated Annual Burden on Respondents: 0 hours per carrier 
compliant in a prior year, unless the carrier voluntarily elects to 
modify or improve its form, and 32 hours per carrier creating an online 
request form.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 96 hours. This estimate was 
calculated by multiplying the total number of labor hours per year that 
a carrier is estimated to spend to develop, implement, integrate, 
connect, and test the online request form (32) by the estimated number 
of new respondent carriers each year (3).
    Frequency: One-time requirement.

2. Website Accessibility Disclaimer Notice

    Description of the need for the information and proposed use: 
Pursuant to 14 CFR 382.43(e), covered carriers must provide a 
disclaimer notice for each link on their primary website that enables a 
user to access software or an external website that is not in the 
carrier's control. The disclaimer notice must be activated the first 
time a user clicks the link and must notify the user that the 
application/website is not within the carrier's control and may not 
follow the same accessibility policies as the primary website. The 
Department anticipates that each covered U.S. and foreign carrier will 
incur costs associated with identifying all links on their websites 
that may require a disclaimer such as developing and reviewing the 
design and language for the disclaimer notice, as well as developing, 
testing, and deploying the code to the appropriate web pages.
    The incremental labor hours associated with providing the required 
disclaimer may vary depending on the number of links on the website to 
which this requirement applies. The FRA estimated that it will take an 
average of 6 labor hours per carrier to identify the links and then 
develop, test, and deploy the disclaimer notice on the website. We also 
estimate that it will take less than 30 minutes per year for a carrier 
to associate the notice with any new links to external websites or 
third-party software added to their websites.
    There are no recordkeeping or reporting requirements associated 
with this information collection.
    Respondents: Certificated U.S. and foreign air carriers operating 
to, from, and within the United States that operate at least one 
aircraft having a seating capacity of more than 60 passengers and own 
or control a primary website that markets air transportation to the 
general public in the U.S.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 165 U.S. and foreign carriers, of 
which the Department expects all to have achieved compliance with the 
requirement in a prior year. The Department estimates that each year 
there will be 3 new respondent carriers.
    Estimated Annual Burden on Respondents: 6 hours for 3 new carrier 
respondents to create, test, and deploy the disclaimer. 30 minutes for 
165 carriers compliant in prior years to associate the notice with new 
links and third-party software.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 100.5 hours. This estimate was 
calculated by multiplying the total number of labor hours per year that 
a carrier is estimated to spend to develop, test, and deploy the 
disclaimer notice (6) by the estimated number of new respondent 
carriers each year (3). To that total we added the product of the 
number of hours that we estimated carriers may spend associating the 
notice with new weblinks (.5 hours) and the number of carriers that are 
expected to have achieved compliance in a prior year (165).
    Frequency: One-time and recurrent requirements.
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of 
this information collection, including: (a) Whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the Department's 
performance; (b) the accuracy of the estimated burden; (c) ways for the 
Department to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the 
information collection; and (d) ways that the burden could be minimized 
without reducing the quality of the collected information.

    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. 
chapter 35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1.48.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on July 18, 2018.
Blane A. Workie,
Assistant General Counsel for Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings.
[FR Doc. 2018-15794 Filed 7-23-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P