[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 248 (Thursday, December 26, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 78305-78309]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-30633]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
16 CFR Part 305
[3084-AB15]
Energy and Water Use Labeling for Consumer Products Under the
Energy Policy and Conservation Act (``Energy Labeling Rule'')
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: The Commission proposes conforming amendments to the Energy
Labeling Rule (``Rule'') to require a new Department of Energy (DOE)
test procedure for televisions and establish data reporting
requirements for those products.
DATES: Comments must be received by February 10, 2014.
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 ``Television Labels,
Matter No. R611004'' on your comment, and file your comment online at
https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/televisionlabels 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 F), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Hampton Newsome, (202) 326-2889,
Attorney, Division of Enforcement, Bureau of Consumer Protection,
Federal Trade Commission, Room M-8102B, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.,
Washington, DC 20580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Commission's Energy Labeling Rule (Rule) (16 CFR Part 305),
issued pursuant to the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA),
requires energy labeling for major household appliances and other
consumer products to help consumers compare competing models. When
first published in 1979, the Rule applied to eight product categories:
Refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, freezers, dishwashers, water
heaters, clothes washers, room air conditioners, and furnaces. The
Commission has since expanded the Rule's coverage to include central
air conditioners, heat pumps, plumbing products, lighting products,
ceiling fans, certain types of water heaters, and televisions.
The Rule requires manufacturers to attach yellow EnergyGuide labels
on many of these products, and prohibits retailers from removing the
labels or rendering them illegible. In addition, the Rule directs
sellers, including retailers, to post label information on Web sites
and in paper catalogs from which consumers can order products.
EnergyGuide labels for covered appliances must contain three key
disclosures: Estimated annual energy cost (for most products); a
product's energy consumption or energy efficiency rating as determined
from Department of Energy (DOE) test procedures; and a comparability
range displaying the highest and lowest energy costs or efficiency
ratings for all similar models.\1\ For energy cost calculations, the
Rule specifies national average costs for applicable energy sources
(e.g., electricity, natural gas, oil) as calculated by DOE. The Rule
sets a five-year schedule for updating range of comparability and
average unit energy cost information.\2\ The Commission updates the
range information based on manufacturer data submitted pursuant to the
Rule's reporting requirements.
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\1\ Where no ``applicable'' DOE test exists for televisions,
EPCA authorizes the Commission to use ``adequate non-Department of
Energy test procedures'' to obtain information for energy
disclosures. 42 U.S.C. 6294(a)(2)(I)(ii). During FTC's television
labeling proceeding, DOE announced plans to develop a new test
procedure. 74 FR 53640, 53641 (Oct. 20, 2009).
\2\ 16 CFR 305.10.
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[[Page 78306]]
II. Proposed Amendments
The Commission now proposes conforming amendments to revise the
Rule's television testing and reporting requirements in response to a
new DOE television test procedure published on October 25, 2013 (78 FR
63823). These amendments will ensure the Rule's television labeling
requirements are consistent with EPCA, which mandates that FTC labels
reflect applicable DOE test procedures when available.\3\
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\3\ 42 U.S.C. 6294(c).
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When the Commission first issued labeling requirements for
televisions in 2011 (76 FR 1038 (Jan. 6, 2011)), no DOE test procedure
existed for such products. Accordingly, the FTC required manufacturers
to use the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) ENERGY STAR test
procedure to measure television energy use. However, as discussed in
several previous Federal Register Notices, the Commission has
anticipated that amendments would be necessary after completion of the
DOE test procedure.\4\ DOE's recently completed test procedure
supersedes the ENERGY STAR procedure and triggers EPCA's directive for
manufacturers to begin using the new procedure 180 days after its
issuance.\5\
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\4\ For example, the Commission explained in 2011 that ``[w]hen
DOE completes its own rulemaking to develop a television test
procedure for use in that agency's efficiency standards program, the
Commission will issue conforming amendments consistent with EPCA's
requirements that the labels use information from DOE test
procedures when such procedures are available.'' 76 FR 1038, 1040
(Jan. 6, 2011). See also 78 FR 43974, 43975 (July 23, 2013); 78 FR
1779, 1780 (Jan. 9, 2013).
\5\ Any energy representation, including those made on a label,
for a covered product must fairly reflect the results of a new DOE
test procedure 180 days after that test's issuance. See 42 U.S.C.
6293(c)(2). In its October 25, 2013 Notice, DOE identified April 23,
2014 as the date for revised representations.
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To conform the labeling rule to the new DOE test procedure, the
Commission proposes three amendments. First, consistent with EPCA's
mandate requiring DOE test procedures for labeling, the Commission
plans to remove the Rule's reference to the ENERGY STAR test in section
305.5 and replace it with the DOE procedure.\6\ Second, the Commission
proposes a new reporting requirement for televisions consistent with
requirements for most other labeled products, such as refrigerators and
clothes washers.\7\ Manufacturers may submit their new television data
through the DOE's web-based reporting tool, the Compliance and
Certification Management System (CCMS).\8\ To ensure that EPCA's 180-
day period (i.e., April 23, 2014) is complete before requiring the
first round of data reports, the Commission proposes a May 1 date for
annual submissions pursuant to the Rule's reporting schedule (section
305.8). After the Commission reviews the new data, it will consider
issuing updated comparability ranges for television labels.\9\ Finally,
the proposed amendments update the definition of ``television'' in
section 305.3 to incorporate DOE's definition of that term as well as
limit labeling coverage to the scope of DOE's test procedure. For the
most part, DOE's definition of ``television'' and the coverage of its
test procedure are consistent with FTC's current rule. However, DOE
determined not to cover very small models with screen sizes of 15
inches or fewer in its procedure because consumers often do not use
such devices as typical televisions.\10\
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\6\ EPCA gives Commission no discretion to retain the ENERGY
STAR procedure. 42 U.S.C. 6294(a)(2)(I).
\7\ The new DOE test procedure triggers EPCA's reporting
provisions, which require manufacturers to submit energy reports to
the Commission derived from DOE test procedures for all new models
and annually for models in current production. 42 U.S.C. 6296(b)(1)
and (4). Consistent with the Rule's required reports for other
covered products, the content for the television reports in the
proposed amendments include brand name; model number; screen size
(diagonal in inches); power (in watts) consumed in on mode, standby-
passive mode, in standby-active mode, low mode, and off mode; and
annual energy consumption (kWh/year) for each basic model in current
production.
\8\ See https://www.regulations.doe.gov/ccms.
\9\ Section 305.17 contains the television ranges.
\10\ See 10 CFR 430.2 and App. H, sec. 1; 78 FR at 63825-63826.
The proposed amendments also would delete obsolete Sec. 305.17(h),
which contains specific labeling directions for televisions of nine
inches or fewer. The Commission will consider revisions to the
ranges in Sec. 305.17 once data based on the DOE test procedure
becomes available.
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III. Paperwork Reduction Act
The current Rule contains recordkeeping, disclosure, testing, and
reporting requirements that constitute information collection
requirements as defined by 5 CFR 1320.3(c), the definitional provision
within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations that
implement the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). OMB has approved the
Rule's existing information collection requirements through February
29, 2016 (OMB Control No. 3084 0069). The Commission accounted for the
burden of testing and labeling televisions when it first issued the
labeling requirements (76 FR 1038 (Jan. 6, 2011)). However, the new DOE
test procedure triggers EPCA's requirement that manufacturers retest
their televisions for any energy representations made 180 days after
DOE publishes the test, including those on the FTC label. This creates
an additional, one-time burden. In issuing the television labels, FTC
staff estimated that 2,000 basic models exist in the marketplace, that
manufacturers test two units per model, and that testing requires one
hour per unit tested. Using these estimates, the Commission expects the
new testing will require a one-time burden of 4,000 additional hours of
burden. Annualized over a 3-year PRA clearance cycle, this one-time
burden amounts to 1,333 hours. Assuming further that this testing will
be implemented by electrical engineers, and applying an associated
hourly wage rate of $44.14 per hour, labor costs for testing would
annualized total of $58,839.\11\ In addition, the amendments would
increase the Rule's reporting requirements. Staff estimates that the
average reporting burden for these manufacturers is approximately two
minutes per basic model to enter information into DOE's online
database. Based on this estimate, multiplied by an estimated total of
2,000 basic television models, the annual reporting burden for
manufacturers is an estimated 67 hours (2 minutes x 2,000 models / 60
minutes per hour). Assuming further that these filing requirements will
be implemented by data entry workers at an hourly wage rate of $15.11
per hour, the associated labor cost for recordkeeping would be
approximately $1,012 per year.\12\ Any non-labor costs associated with
the amendments are likely to be minimal.
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\11\ See Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor,
Occupational Employment and Wages--May 2012, Table 1 (National
employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics
survey by occupation, May 2012), available at: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm.
\12\ See id.
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IV. Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), 5 U.S.C. 601-612, requires
that the Commission provide an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
(IRFA) with a Proposed Rule and a Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
(FRFA), if any, with the final Rule, unless the Commission certifies
that the Rule will not have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities.\13\
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\13\ 5 U.S.C. 603-605.
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The Commission does not anticipate that the Proposed Rule will have
a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities. Consistent with past analysis (76 FR at 1049), the Commission
estimates that these new requirements will apply to about 30 product
manufacturers. Out of these companies, the Commission expects that no
manufactures qualify as
[[Page 78307]]
small businesses.\14\ Furthermore, the Commission does not expect that
the requirements specified in the Proposed Rule will have a significant
impact on these entities. In addition, the Commission does not expect
that the label design and other requirements specified in the Proposed
Rule will have a significant economic impact on these entities.
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\14\ See also 78 FR at 63838 (DOE's conclusion that no
television manufacturers qualify as small businesses).
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Accordingly, this document serves as notice to the Small Business
Administration of the FTC's certification of no effect. To ensure the
accuracy of this certification, however, the Commission requests
comment on whether the Proposed Rule will have a significant impact on
a substantial number of small entities, including specific information
on the number of entities that would be covered by the Proposed Rule,
the number of these companies that are ``small entities,'' under the
RFA, and the average annual burden for each entity. Although the
Commission certifies under the RFA that the Rule proposed in this
Notice would not, if promulgated, have a significant impact on a
substantial number of small entities, the Commission has determined,
nonetheless, that it is appropriate to publish an IRFA in order to
inquire into the impact of the Proposed Rule on small entities.
Therefore, the Commission has prepared the following analysis:
A. Description of the Reasons That Action by the Agency Is Being Taken
The Commission is proposing amendments to conform the Rule to a
recently published DOE test procedure for televisions.
B. Statement of the Objectives of, and Legal Basis for, the Proposed
Rule
The objective of the Proposed Rule is to provide television energy
use information to consumers. EPCA provides the Commission with
authority to require energy disclosures for televisions and other
consumer electronics.
C. Small Entities To Which the Proposed Rule Will Apply
Under the Small Business Size Standards issued by the Small
Business Administration, television manufacturers qualify as small
businesses if they have fewer than 1,000 employees (for other household
appliances the figure is 500 employees) or if their sales are less than
$8.0 million annually. The Commission estimates that no manufacturers
subject to the Proposed Rule qualify as small businesses. The
Commission seeks comment and information with regard to the estimated
number or nature of small business entities for which the Proposed Rule
would have a significant economic impact
D. Projected Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Other Compliance
Requirements
The Commission recognizes that the proposed rule will involve some
increased costs related to reporting these products, and maintaining
test records. All of these burdens and the skills required to comply
are discussed in the previous section of this document, regarding the
Paperwork Reduction Act, and there should be no difference in that
burden as applied to small businesses. The Commission invites comment
and information on these issues.
E. Duplicative, Overlapping, or Conflicting Federal Rules
The Commission has not identified any other federal statutes,
rules, or policies that would duplicate, overlap, or conflict with the
Proposed Rule. The Commission invites comment and information on this
issue.
F. Significant Alternatives to the Proposed Rule
The Commission seeks comment and information on the need, if any,
for alternative compliance methods that would reduce the economic
impact of the Rule on such small entities. As one alternative to reduce
burden, the Commission could delay the proposed Rule's reporting date
to provide additional time for small business compliance. If the
comments filed in response to this Notice identify small entities that
would be affected by the Rule, as well as alternative methods of
compliance that would reduce the economic impact of the Rule on such
entities, the Commission will consider the feasibility of such
alternatives and determine whether they should be incorporated into the
final rule.
V. Request for Comments
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before February 10,
2014. Write ``Television Labels, Matter No. R611004'' 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 does not 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 does not include
any sensitive health information, such as medical records or other
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information
which is . . . privileged or confidential,'' as discussed in Sec. 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, do not 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). 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.
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/televisionlabels, by following the instruction on the web-based
form. If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov, you also
may file a comment through that Web site.
If you file your comment on paper, write ``Television Labels,
Matter No. R611004'' on your comment and on the envelope, and mail or
deliver it to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office
of the Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex F), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.,
Washington, DC 20580. If possible, submit your paper comment to the
Commission by courier or overnight service.
[[Page 78308]]
Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this
NPRM 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 February 10, 2014. 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.
Because written comments appear adequate to present the views of
all interested parties, the Commission has not scheduled an oral
hearing regarding these proposed amendments. Interested parties may
request an opportunity to present views orally. If such a request is
made, the Commission will publish a document in the Federal Register
stating the time and place for such oral presentation(s) and describing
the procedures that will be followed. Interested parties who wish to
present oral views must submit a hearing request, on or before January
15, 2014, in the form of a written comment that describes the issues on
which the party wishes to speak. If there is no oral hearing, the
Commission will base its decision on the written rulemaking record.
VI. Communications by Outside Parties to the Commissioners or Their
Advisors
Written communications and summaries or transcripts of oral
communications respecting the merits of this proceeding, from any
outside party to any Commissioner or Commissioner's advisor, will be
placed on the public record. See 16 CFR 1.26(b)(5).
List of Subjects in 16 CFR Part 305
Advertising, Energy conservation, Household appliances, Labeling,
reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Proposed Rule Language
For the reasons set out above, the Commission proposes to amend 16
CFR Part 305 as follows:
PART 305--ENERGY AND WATER USE LABELING FOR CONSUMER PRODUCTS UNDER
THE ENERGY POLICY AND CONSERVATION ACT (``ENERGY LABELING RULE'')
0
1. The authority citation for Part 305 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 6294.
0
2. In Sec. 305.3, revise paragraph (y) and add paragraph (z) to read
as follows:
Sec. 305.3 Description of covered products.
* * * * *
(y) Television means a product that is designed to produce dynamic
video, contains an internal TV tuner encased within the product
housing, and is capable of receiving dynamic visual content from wired
or wireless sources including but not limited to:
(1) Broadcast and similar services for terrestrial, cable,
satellite, and/or broadband transmission of analog and/or digital
signals; and/or
(2) Display-specific data connections, such as HDMI, Component
video, Svideo, Composite video; and/or
(3) Media storage devices such as a USB flash drive, memory card,
or a DVD; and/or
(4) Network connections, usually using Internet Protocol, typically
carried over Ethernet or Wi-Fi.
(z) The requirements of this part are limited to those televisions
for which the Department of Energy has adopted and published test
procedures for measuring energy use.
0
3. In Sec. 305.5, remove paragraph (d), redesignate paragraph (e) as
paragraph (d), and revise newly redesignated paragraph (d) to read as
follows:
Sec. 305.5 Determinations of estimated annual energy consumption,
estimated annual operating cost, and energy efficiency rating, water
use rate, and other required disclosure content.
* * * * *
(d) Representations for ceiling fans under Sec. 305.13 and
televisions under Sec. 305.17 must be derived from applicable
procedures in 10 CFR parts 429, 430, and 431.
0
4. In Sec. 305.8, revise paragraph (a)(1); redesignate paragraph
(a)(3) as paragraph (a)(4); add new paragraph (a)(3), and revise newly
redesignated paragraph (a)(4) and paragraph (b)(1) to read as follows:
Sec. 305.8 Submission of data.
(a)(1) Except as provided in paragraphs (a)(2) through (4) of this
section, each manufacturer of a covered product subject to the
disclosure requirements of this part and subject to Department of
Energy certification requirements in 10 CFR part 429 shall submit
annually a report for each model in current production containing the
same information that must be submitted to the Department of Energy
pursuant to 10 CFR part 429 for that product, and that the Department
has identified as public information pursuant to 10 CFR part 429. In
lieu of submitting the required information to the Commission as
required by this section, manufacturers may submit such information to
the Department of Energy via the Compliance and Certification
Management System (CCMS) at https://regulations.doe.gov/ccms as
provided by 10 CFR 429.12.
* * * * *
(3) Manufacturers of televisions shall submit annually a report
containing the brand name; model number; screen size (diagonal in
inches); power (in watts) consumed in on mode, standby-passive mode, in
standby-active mode, low mode, and off mode; and annual energy
consumption (kWh/year) for each basic model in current production. The
report should also include a starting serial number, date code, or
other means of identifying the date of manufacture with the first
submission for each basic model. In lieu of submitting the required
information to the Commission as required by this section,
manufacturers may submit such information to the Department of Energy
via the Compliance and Certification Management System (CCMS) at
https://regulations.doe.gov/ccms as provided by 10 CFR 429.12.
(4) This section does not require reports for general service
light-emitting diode (LED or OLED) lamps.
(b)(1) All data required by Sec. 305.8(a) except serial numbers
shall be submitted to the Commission annually, on or before the
following dates:
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Deadline for data
Product category submission
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Refrigerators.............................. Aug. 1.
Refrigerators-freezers..................... Aug. 1.
Freezers................................... Aug. 1.
Central air conditioners................... July 1.
Heat pumps................................. July 1.
Dishwashers................................ June 1.
Water heaters.............................. May 1.
Room air conditioners...................... July 1.
Furnaces................................... May 1.
Pool heaters............................... May 1.
Clothes washers............................ Oct. 1.
Fluorescent lamp ballasts.................. Mar. 1.
Showerheads................................ Mar. 1.
Faucets.................................... Mar. 1.
Water closets.............................. Mar. 1.
Ceiling fans............................... Mar. 1.
Urinals.................................... Mar. 1.
Metal halide lamp fixtures................. Sept. 1.
General service fluorescent lamps.......... Mar. 1.
Medium base compact fluorescent lamps...... Mar. 1.
General service incandescent lamps......... Mar. 1.
Televisions................................ May 1.
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Sec. 305.17 [Amended]
0
5. In Sec. 305.17, remove paragraph (h).
[[Page 78309]]
By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2013-30633 Filed 12-24-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P