[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 86 (Friday, May 3, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 25908-25909]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-10405]
[[Page 25908]]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
16 CFR Part 435
RIN 3084-AB07
Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule; Staff Report
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'' or ``FTC'').
ACTION: Staff report; notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The FTC announces the publication of the Staff Report on the
Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule (``MTOR'' or ``Rule''). The
Staff Report sets forth the staff's recommendations to the Commission
on the various proposed amendments to the MTOR.
DATES: Comments on the Staff Report must be received on or before July
15, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment online or on paper, by
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``16 CFR Part 435--Mail
or Telephone Order Merchandise'' on your comment, and file your comment
online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/mtorstaffreport by
following the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file
your comment on paper, mail or deliver your comment to the following
address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113
(Annex N), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jock Chung, (202) 326-2984, Attorney,
Division of Enforcement, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade
Commission, Room M-8102B, 600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC
20580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The MTOR prohibits sellers from soliciting
mail or telephone order sales unless sellers have a reasonable basis to
expect that they will be able to ship, after receipt of a properly
completed order, the ordered merchandise within the time stated on the
solicitation or, if no time is stated, within 30 days. The MTOR further
requires a seller to seek the buyer's consent to the delayed shipment
when the seller learns that it cannot ship within the time stated or,
if no time is stated, within 30 days. If the buyer does not consent,
the seller must promptly refund all money paid for the unshipped
merchandise.
On September 11, 2007, as part of its rule review process,\1\ the
Commission published a request for public comment,\2\ which also served
as an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.\3\ It then published a
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM'') in 2011.\4\
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\1\ The Commission reviews all its rules and guides periodically
to ensure that they remain relevant. These periodic reviews seek
information about the costs and benefits of the Commission's rules
and guides as well as their economic and regulatory impact. The
information obtained assists the Commission in identifying rules and
guides that warrant modification or rescission.
\2\ 72 FR 51728 (Sept. 11, 2007).
\3\ 15 U.S.C. 57a(b)(2)(A).
\4\ 76 FR 60765 (Sept. 30, 2011).
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Pursuant to the Commission's Rules of Practice, and the rulemaking
procedures specified earlier in the NPRM, the Commission now announces
the availability of the Staff Report on the MTOR. The Staff Report
summarizes the rulemaking record to date, and sets forth the staff's
recommendation that the Commission revise the Rule to respond to new
methods of accessing the Internet and making payments and refunds. The
Staff Report has not been endorsed or adopted by the Commission.
The Staff Report to the Federal Trade Commission and Proposed
Revised Trade Regulation Rule for the Mail or Telephone Order
Merchandise Rule is available at the FTC's Web site at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/regreview/index.shtml. A paper copy can be obtained
from the FTC Public Reference Room, Room 130-H, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue
NW., Washington, DC 20580, either in person or by calling (202) 326-
2222.
The Commission invites interested parties to submit written data,
views, and arguments on the recommendations announced by the Staff
Report by following the instructions in the ADDRESSES section of this
notice. Comments previously submitted in the ongoing rulemaking
procedures are already part of the rulemaking record and need not be
repeated.
I. Request for Comment
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before July 15, 2013.
Write ``16 CFR Part 435--Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise'' on your
comment. Your comment--including your name and your state--will be
placed on the public record of this proceeding, including, to the
extent practicable, on the public Commission Web site, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of discretion, the
Commission tries to remove individuals' home contact information from
comments before placing them on the Commission Web site.
Because your comment will be made public, you are solely
responsible for making sure that your comment doesn't include any
sensitive personal information, such as anyone's Social Security
number, date of birth, driver's license number or other state
identification number or foreign country equivalent, passport number,
financial account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also
solely responsible for making sure that your comment doesn't include
any sensitive health information, such as medical records or other
individually identifiable health information. In addition, don't
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information
which is obtained from any person and which is privileged or
confidential,'' as provided in Section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C.
46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2). In particular, don't
include competitively sensitive information such as costs, sales
statistics, inventories, formulas, patterns, devices, manufacturing
processes, or customer names.
If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\5\ Your comment will be kept
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the
public interest.
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\5\ In particular, the written request for confidential
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/mtorstaffreport by following the instruction on the web-based form.
If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also
may file a comment through that Web site.
If you file your comment on paper, write ``16 CFR Part 435--Mail or
Telephone Order Merchandise'' on your comment and on the envelope, and
mail or deliver it to the following address: Federal Trade Commission,
Office of the
[[Page 25909]]
Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex N), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.,
Washington, DC 20580. If possible, submit your paper comment to the
Commission by courier or overnight service.
Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that
it receives on or before July 15, 2013. You can find more information,
including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in the
Commission's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.
Upon completion of the comment period, the staff will make final
recommendations to the Commission about the Rule. If the Commission
adopts the proposed revised Rule as recommended by the staff, or
alternatively determines to make changes to the proposed revised Rule,
it will publish in a future Federal Register notice the final text of
the Rule, statement of Basis and Purpose on the Rule, and an
announcement of when the revised Rule will become effective.
II. Communications to Commissioners and Commissioner Advisors by
Outside Parties
Pursuant to Commission Rule 1.18(c)(1), the Commission has
determined that communications with respect to the merits of this
proceeding from any outside party to any Commissioner or Commissioner
advisor shall be subject to the following treatment. Written
communications and summaries or transcripts of oral communications
shall be placed on the rulemaking record if the communication is
received before the end of the comment period on the Staff Report. They
shall be placed on the public record if the communication is received
later. Unless the outside party making an oral communication is a
member of Congress, such communications are permitted only if advance
notice is published in the Weekly Calendar and Notice of ``Sunshine''
Meetings.\6\
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\6\ See 15 U.S.C. 57a(i)(2)(A), 45 FR 50814 (1980), 45 FR 78626
(1980).
By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2013-10405 Filed 5-2-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P