[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 241 (Tuesday, December 16, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74722-74724]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-29441]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Extension
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'').
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The FTC intends to ask the Office of Management and Budget
(``OMB'') to extend for an additional three years the current Paperwork
Reduction Act (``PRA'') clearance for the FTC's enforcement of the
information collection requirements in its Fair Packaging and Labeling
Act regulations (``FPLA Rules''). That clearance expires on May 31,
2015.
DATES: Comments must be filed by February 17, 2015.
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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 ``FPLA Rules, PRA
Comment, P074200'' on your comment and file your comment online at
https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/fplaregspra by following the
instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file your comment
on paper, mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite
CC-5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary,
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex
J), Washington, DC 20024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Megan Gray, Attorney, Division of
Enforcement, Bureau of Consumer Protection, (202) 326-3405, 600
Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Room 9541, Washington, DC 20580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FPLA, 15 U.S.C. 1451-1461, was enacted
to eliminate consumer deception concerning product size and package
content. Section 4 of the FPLA specifically requires packages or labels
to be marked with: (1) A statement of identity; (2) a net quantity of
contents disclosure; and (3) the name and place of business of the
company responsible for the product. The FPLA regulations, 16 CFR parts
500-503, specify how manufacturers, packagers, and distributors of
``consumer commodities'' must do this.\1\
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\1\ ``The term consumer commodity or commodity means any
article, product, or commodity of any kind or class which is
customarily produced or distributed for sale through retail sales
agencies or instrumentalities for consumption by individuals, or use
by individuals for purposes of personal care or in the performance
of services ordinarily rendered within the household, and which
usually is consumed or expended in the course of such consumption or
use.'' 16 CFR 500.2(c). For the precise scope of the term's coverage
see 16 CFR 500.2(c); 503.2; 503.5. See also http://ftc.gov/enforcement/rules/rulemaking-regulatory-reform-proceedings/fair-packaging-labeling-act.
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Under the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521, federal agencies must get OMB
approval for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor.
``Collection of information'' includes agency requests or requirements
to submit reports, keep records, or provide information to a third
party. 44 U.S.C. 3502(3); 5 CFR 1320.3(c). The FTC seeks clearance for
the disclosure requirements under the FPLA Rules and the FTC's
associated PRA burden estimates that follow.\2\
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\2\ To the extent that the FPLA-implementing regulations require
sellers of consumer commodities to keep records that substantiate
``cents off,'' ``introductory offer,'' and/or ``economy size''
claims, Commission staff believes that most, if not all, of the
records that sellers maintain would be kept in the ordinary course
of business, regardless of the legal mandates.
A. Estimated number of respondents: 801,514 \3\
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\3\ Commission staff identified categories of entities under its
jurisdiction that supply consumer commodities as defined in the FPLA
Rules. Those categories include retailers, wholesalers, and
manufacturers. Commission staff estimated the number of retailers
(735,038) based on Census data (under NAICS subsectors 445, 452, and
453, respectively, for food and beverage stores, general merchandise
stores, and miscellaneous store retailers) compiled by
PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLC for the National Retail Federation
report, ``Retail's Impact Across America'': https://nrf.com/advocacy/retails-impact. Commission staff estimated the number of
wholesalers (42,160) and manufacturers (24,316) based on 2007 Census
data (comparable 2012 Census data for them have not yet been
released). See generally http://www.census.gov/econ/census/data/historical_data.html. Although the stated number of respondents
suggests precision, it is an estimate in that it aggregates the
number of establishments under industry codes that FTC staff
believes reflect entities subject to the FPLA. But, even allowing
for industries that may apply, the Census data do not separately
break out non-household products from household use. Accordingly,
the source information is over-inclusive and thus overstates what is
actually subject to the FPLA.
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B. Burden Hours: 8,015,140 hours, cumulative (yearly recurring burden
of 10 hours per respondent to modify and distribute notices x 801,514
respondents)
C. Labor Costs: $185,149,734
Labor costs are derived by applying appropriate estimated hourly
cost figures to the burden hours described above. The FTC assumes that
respondents will use employees to create compliant labels. Of the 10
hours spent by each respondent, Commission staff assumes the hour
breakdown will be as follows: 1 hour of managerial and/or professional
time per covered entity, at an hourly wage of $60,\4\ 2 hours of
specialized clerical support, at an hourly wage of $26,\5\ 7 hours of
clerical time per covered entity, at an hourly wage of $17,\6\ for a
total of $185,149,734 ($231 blended labor cost per covered entity x
801,514 entities).
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\4\ Based on an average of ``General and Operations Managers''
($55.81) and ($63.46), resulting in $59.64, rounded up to $60,
available from ``Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economic News Release,
April 1, 2014, Table 1, ``National employment and wage data from the
Occupational Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 2013.''
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.nr0.htm.
\5\ ``Specialized clerical support'' consists of computer
support personnel who design the appearance and layout of product
packaging, including appropriate display of the disclosures required
by the FPLA regulations. The wage estimate is based on mean hourly
wages for ``Computer support specialist.'' See Bureau of Labor
Statistics, Economic News Release, April 1, 2014, Table 1,
``National employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment
Statistics survey by occupation, May 2013.http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.nr0.htm.
\6\ See id. The clerical wage estimate is a rounded average of
mean hourly wages for ``computer operators'' ($19.25) and ``data
entry and information processing workers'' ($15.28).
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D. Capital/Non-Labor Costs: $0
Commission staff believes that the FPLA Rules impose negligible
capital or other non-labor costs, as the affected entities are likely
to have the necessary supplies and/or equipment already (e.g., offices
and computers) for the information collections discussed above.
Request for Comment: Pursuant to Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA,
the FTC invites comments on: (1) Whether the disclosure requirements
are necessary, including whether the information will be practically
useful; (2) the accuracy of our burden estimates, including whether the
methodology and assumptions used are valid; (3) ways to enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and
(4) ways to minimize the burden of providing the required information
to consumers.
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before February 17,
2015. Write ``FPLA Rules, PRA Comment, P074200'' 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, like 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, like 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
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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 treat your comment as confidential,
you must file it in paper form, with a request for confidentiality, and
you have to follow the procedure explained in FTC Rule 4.9(c).\7\ Your
comment will be kept confidential only if the FTC General Counsel
grants your request in accordance with the law and the public interest.
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\7\ 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/fplaregspra, by following the instructions 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 ``FPLA Rules, PRA Comment,
P074200'' on your comment and on the envelope, and mail it to the
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary,
600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC
20580, or deliver your comment to the following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th
Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC 20024. If
possible, submit your paper comment to the Commission by courier or
overnight service.
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 17,
2015. For information on the Commission's privacy policy, including
routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, see http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.
David C. Shonka,
Principal Deputy General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2014-29441 Filed 12-15-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P