Notice2025-14471
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Emergency Beacon Registrations
Primary source
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Published
July 31, 2025
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 145 (Thursday, July 31, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 145 (Thursday, July 31, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36025-36026]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-14471]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment
Request; Emergency Beacon Registrations
The Department of Commerce will submit the following information
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the
general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and
continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of
our information collection requirements and minimize the public's
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the
Federal Register on April 28, 2025 during a 60-day comment period. This
notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Commerce.
Title: Emergency Beacon Registrations.
OMB Control Number: 0648-0295.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Request: Regular; Revision and extension of an approved
collection.
Number of Respondents: 376,063.
Average Hours per Response: 15 minutes.
Total Annual Burden Hours: 94,016.
Needs and Uses: This is a request from NOAA's National
Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service for extension
and revision of an approved information collection: Emergency Beacon
Registrations (OMB Control Number 0648-0295).
The United States, Canada, France, and Russia operate the Search
and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking (COSPAS/SARSAT), a satellite system
with equipment that can detect and locate ships, aircraft and
individuals in distress if an emergency radio beacon is being carried.
This system is used to detect digitally encoded signals in the 406.000-
406.100 MHz range, coming from these emergency beacons. The 406.000-
406.100 MHz beacons transmit a unique identifier, making possible the
ability to combine previously collected data associated with that
beacon and transmit this vital data along with the beacon's position to
the appropriate rescue coordination center.
[[Page 36026]]
Persons buying 406.000-406.100 MHz emergency radio beacons are
required to register them with NOAA prior to installation. These
requirements are contained in Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
regulations at 47 CFR 80.1061, 47 CFR 87.199 and 47 CFR 95.1402.
The registration data is used to facilitate a rescue and to
suppress the costly consequences of false alarms, which if unsuppressed
would initiate the launch of a rescue mission and thereby deplete
limited resources and possibly result in the loss of lives. This is
accomplished through the use of the data provided to the rescue forces
from the beacon registration database maintained by the NOAA's United
States Mission Control Center (USMCC) for Search and Rescue, to contact
the distressed person(s) or alternate party via a phone call or radio
broadcast. Other data provides rescuers with descriptive material of
the element in distress. The registration information must be kept up-
to-date.
Four registration forms are used: (1) The EPIRB (Emergency Position
Indicating Radio Beacon) form is used for nautical beacons; (2) The ELT
(Emergency Locator Transmitter) form is used for aircraft beacons; (3)
The PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) form is used to register portable
beacons carried by individuals; and (4) Ship Security Alerting System
(SSAS) beacons are carried aboard ships, are similar to EPIRBs and are
used in the event of an emergency situation such as piracy or
terrorism.
The PLB form, used for both watercraft and aircraft, is being
updated to allow the collection and sharing of additional data with
search and rescue (SAR) forces in order to aid in a successful SAR
response. If the user checks that their ``VEHICLE TYPE'' is ``Boat'',
they are asked to complete the following additional fields: Vessel
Name, Federal/State Registration No., Home Port Marina/Dock, City and
State (ST). If the user checks that their ``VEHICLE TYPE'' is
``Aircraft'', they are asked to complete the following additional
fields: Airport Code, City and State (ST). The city and state of the
marina or airport is needed to help SAR forces to quickly locate the
airport/marina where the aircraft/boat is stored permanently. This
helps SAR forces to identify false alerts (i.e., if the beacon goes off
where the aircraft/boat is stored, it is likely to be a false alert).
Likewise, if a distress situation is suspected, SAR forces can call the
airport/marina to get more information on the owner and the owner's
whereabouts.
The EPIRB and SSAS forms were updated to have separate lines for
Inmarsat number and Iridium number. Inmarsat and Iridium are both
global satellite communication providers, but they utilize different
satellite constellations and offer varying coverage and features.
Mariners may use either option for emergency communications on board
vessels and listing both options allows registered owners to select the
option that is applicable to them. The EPIRB and SSAS forms were
updated to have two separate lines for Inmarsat number and Iridium
number.
In addition, all four forms are being updated to streamline
wording, update the instructions, and add the beacon registration email
address (<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0f6d6a6e6c6061217d6a68667c7b7d6e7b6660614f61606e6e21686079"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="b3d1d6d2d0dcdd9dc1d6d4dac0c7c1d2c7dadcddf3dddcd2d29dd4dcc5">[email protected]</span></a>).
Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit organizations; Not-for-profit institutions; State, Local, or
Tribal government; Federal government.
Frequency: As required.
Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
regulations at 47 CFR 80.1061, 47 CFR 87.199 and 47 CFR 95.1402.
This information collection request may be viewed at
<a href="http://www.reginfo.gov">www.reginfo.gov</a>. Follow the instructions to view the Department of
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of
this notice on the following website <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>.
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search
function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB
Control Number 0648-0295.
Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental PRA Compliance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2025-14471 Filed 7-30-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-HR-P
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