For purposes of implementing the Act and this Part, the following terms are defined as follows:
(a)
(1) The General Accounting Office;
(2) Federal Election Commission;
(3) The governments of the District of Columbia and the territories and possessions of the United States, and their various subdivisions; or
(4) Government-owned contractor-operated facilities, including laboratories engaged in national defense research and production activities.
(b)(1)
(i) Reviewing instructions;
(ii) Developing, acquiring, installing, and utilizing technology and systems for the purpose of collecting, validating, and verifying information;
(iii) Developing, acquiring, installing, and utilizing technology and systems for the purpose of processing and maintaining information;
(iv) Developing, acquiring, installing, and utilizing technology and systems for the purpose of disclosing and providing information;
(v) Adjusting the existing ways to comply with any previously applicable instructions and requirements;
(vi) Training personnel to be able to respond to a collection of information;
(vii) Searching data sources;
(viii) Completing and reviewing the collection of information; and
(ix) Transmitting, or otherwise disclosing the information.
(2) The time, effort, and financial resources necessary to comply with a collection of information that would be incurred by persons in the normal course of their activities (e.g., in compiling and maintaining business records) will be excluded from the “burden” if the agency demonstrates that the reporting, recordkeeping, or disclosure activities needed to comply are usual and customary.
(3) A collection of information conducted or sponsored by a Federal agency that is also conducted or sponsored by a unit of State, local, or tribal government is presumed to impose a Federal burden except to the extent that the agency shows that such State, local, or tribal requirement would be imposed even in the absence of a Federal requirement.
(c)
(1) A “collection of information” may be in any form or format, including the use of report forms; application forms; schedules; questionnaires; surveys; reporting or recordkeeping requirements; contracts; agreements; policy statements; plans; rules or regulations; planning requirements; circulars; directives; instructions; bulletins; requests for proposal or other procurement requirements; interview guides; oral communications; posting, notification, labeling, or similar disclosure requirements; telegraphic or telephonic requests; automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques; standard questionnaires used to monitor compliance with agency requirements; or any other techniques or technological methods used to monitor compliance with agency requirements. A “collection of information” may implicitly or explicitly include related collection of information requirements.
(2) Requirements by an agency for a person to obtain or compile information for the purpose of disclosure to members of the public or the public at large, through posting, notification, labeling or similar disclosure requirements constitute the “collection of information” whenever the same requirement to obtain or compile information would be a “collection of information” if the information were directly provided to the agency. The public disclosure of information originally supplied by the Federal government to the recipient for the purpose of disclosure to the public is not included within this definition.
(3) “Collection of information” includes questions posed to agencies, instrumentalities, or employees of the United States, if the results are to be used for general statistical purposes, that is, if the results are to be used for statistical compilations of general public interest, including compilations showing the status or implementation of Federal activities and programs.
(4) As used in paragraph (c) of this section, “ten or more persons” refers to the persons to whom a collection of information is addressed by the agency within any 12-month period, and to any independent entities to which the initial addressee may reasonably be expected to transmit the collection of information during that period, including independent State, territorial, tribal or local entities and separately incorporated subsidiaries or affiliates. For the purposes of this definition of “ten or more persons,” “persons” does not include employees of the respondent acting within the scope of their employment, contractors engaged by a respondent for the purpose of complying with the collection of information, or current employees of the Federal government (including military reservists and members of the National Guard while on active duty) when acting within the scope of their employment, but it does include retired and other former Federal employees.
(i) Any recordkeeping, reporting, or disclosure requirement contained in a rule of general applicability is deemed to involve ten or more persons.
(ii) Any collection of information addressed to all or a substantial majority of an industry is presumed to involve ten or more persons.
(d)
(1) The recipient of a grant is conducting the collection of information at the specific request of the agency; or
(2) The terms and conditions of the grant require specific approval by the agency of the collection of information or collection procedures.
(e)
(f)
(1) In the case of forms, questionnaires, instructions, and other written collections of information sent or made available to potential respondents (other than in an electronic format), to place the currently valid OMB control number on the front page of the collection of information;
(2) In the case of forms, questionnaires, instructions, and other written collections of information sent or made available to potential respondents in an electronic format, to place the currently valid OMB control number in the instructions, near the title of the electronic collection instrument, or, for on-line applications, on the first screen viewed by the respondent;
(3) In the case of collections of information published in regulations, guidelines, and other issuances in the
(4) In other cases, and where OMB determines in advance in writing that special circumstances exist, to use other means to inform potential respondents of the OMB control number.
(g)
(h)
(1) Affidavits, oaths, affirmations, certifications, receipts, changes of address, consents, or acknowledgments; provided that they entail no burden other than that necessary to identify the respondent, the date, the respondent's address, and the nature of the instrument (by contrast, a certification would likely involve the collection of
(2) Samples of products or of any other physical objects;
(3) Facts or opinions obtained through direct observation by an employee or agent of the sponsoring agency or through nonstandardized oral communication in connection with such direct observations;
(4) Facts or opinions submitted in response to general solicitations of comments from the public, published in the
(5) Facts or opinions obtained initially or in follow-on requests, from individuals (including individuals in control groups) under treatment or clinical examination in connection with research on or prophylaxis to prevent a clinical disorder, direct treatment of that disorder, or the interpretation of biological analyses of body fluids, tissues, or other specimens, or the identification or classification of such specimens;
(6) A request for facts or opinions addressed to a single person;
(7) Examinations designed to test the aptitude, abilities, or knowledge of the persons tested and the collection of information for identification or classification in connection with such examinations;
(8) Facts or opinions obtained or solicited at or in connection with public hearings or meetings;
(9) Facts or opinions obtained or solicited through nonstandardized follow-up questions designed to clarify responses to approved collections of information; and
(10) Like items so designated by OMB.
(i)
(j)
(k)
(l)
(m)
(1) Retain such records;
(2) Notify third parties, the Federal government, or the public of the existence of such records;
(3) Disclose such records to third parties, the Federal government, or the public; or
(4) Report to third parties, the Federal government, or the public regarding such records.