Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. et seq., 5 CFR 1320, Pub. L. 104-13)
 (Information Collection and Recordkeeping Requirements)

(1) See the FWS–PDM Information Collection website for detailed information on how to
comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA).  The Internet address is
http://www.fws.gov/r9pdm/home/infocol.html.  The FWS policy is contained in the FWS
Manual at 281 FW 4.1.  PDM's information collection clearance officer will provide guidance on
filling out the appropriate forms and supporting statement for PRA submissions.

(2) The PRA provides that the public may not be penalized, denied benefit, or required to submit
information that has not complied with the provisions of the Act.  Generally, that provision
means that you will need to obtain OMB approval to collect new information or revise an
existing information collection (e.g., including a new class of people).

(3) For any proposed collection of information contained in a proposed rule, notice and a 30-day
comment period for the information collection must be provided through the notice of proposed
rulemaking.

(4) At a minimum, the information collection package should be submitted to OMB through
PDM and the Department's Information Collection Clearance Officer no later than when you
submit the proposed rule for publication.

(5) Departmental guidance provides for approximately 150 days for Departmental and OMB
approvals of information collections.

(6) When OMB has approved the information collection, use the following statement in the ROC
and preamble:

"The Office of Management and Budget has approved the collections of information contained in
this rule under 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., and assigned clearance number (cite number)."

(7) If you must publish a rule prior to obtaining OMB clearance on the extension of a previously
approved or new information collection, use the following statement in the ROC and preamble:

"We have submitted the collections of information contained in this rule to the Office of
Management and Budget for [approval/renewal] as required under 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.  The
Service [will/will not] continue to collect this information until OMB has granted us approval.
Additionally, no person may be required to respond to a collection of information unless it
displays a currently valid OMB number."

(8) If the proposed regulations contain information collection requirements, such as application,
reporting, disclosure, or recordkeeping requirements, insert the following in the preamble,
combined into two or three paragraphs:

 (A) Title for information collection, including OMB number and expiration date (only in
the ROC);

 (B) Summary of the collection of information;

 (C) Description of the likely respondents;

 (D) Brief description of the Department's need for the information to be collected,
including the use to which the Department plans to put the information;

 (E) Proposed frequency of response;

 (F) Estimate of the total annual reporting and recordkeeping burden that will result from
the collection of information;

 (G) Estimated number of likely respondents;

 (H) Total annual reporting and recordkeeping burden hours; and

 (I) If the Department has requested or plans to request OMB to conduct its review on an
emergency basis, the time period within which the Department is requesting OMB to approve or
disapprove the collection of information.

"This rule does not contain collections of information that require approval by the Office of
Management and Budget under 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq."