[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 172 (Thursday, September 7, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42347-42348]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-18957]
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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
Agency Information Collection Activities: Announcement of Board
Approval Under Delegated Authority and Submission to OMB
AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
SUMMARY: The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board)
is adopting a proposal to extend for three years, without revision, the
mandatory Government-Administered, General-Use Prepaid Card Issuer
Survey (FR 3063a; OMB No. 7100-0343) and the voluntary Government-
Administered, General-Use Prepaid Card Government Survey (FR 3063b; OMB
No. 7100-0343).
On June 15, 1984, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
delegated to the Board authority under the Paperwork Reduction Act
(PRA) to approve of and assign OMB control numbers to collection of
information requests and requirements conducted or sponsored by the
Board. Board-approved collections of information are incorporated into
the official OMB inventory of currently approved collections of
information. Copies of the Paperwork Reduction Act Submission,
supporting statements and approved collection of information
instrument(s) are placed into OMB's public docket files. The Federal
Reserve may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required
to respond to, an information collection that has been extended,
revised, or implemented on or after October 1, 1995, unless it displays
a currently valid OMB control number.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Federal Reserve Board Clearance
Officer--Nuha Elmaghrabi--Office of the Chief Data Officer, Board of
[[Page 42348]]
Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551 (202)
452-3829. Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) users may
contact (202) 263-4869, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System, Washington, DC 20551.
OMB Desk Officer--Shagufta Ahmed--Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive
Office Building, Room 10235, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503
or by fax to (202) 395-6974.
Final Approval Under OMB Delegated Authority of the Extension for Three
Years, Without Revision, of the Following Report
Report title: Government-Administered, General-Use Prepaid Card
Surveys.
Agency form number: FR 3063a and FR 3063b.
OMB control number: 7100-0343.
Frequency: Annual.
Respondents: Issuers of government-administered, general-use
prepaid cards (FR 3063a) and governments that administer general-use
prepaid card programs (FR 3063b).
Estimated number of respondents: FR 3063a: 25; FR 3063b: 75.
Estimated average hours per response: FR 3063a: 25 hours; FR 3063b:
15 hours.
Estimated annual burden hours: FR 3063a: 625 hours; FR 3063b: 1,125
hours.
General Description of Report: The issuer survey (FR 3063a)
collects data from issuers of government-administered, general-use
prepaid cards including card program information, cards outstanding,
card funding, ATM transactions, purchase transactions, fees paid by
issuers to third parties, interchange fees, and cardholder fees. The
issuer survey (FR 3063a) is mandatory.
The government survey (FR 3063b) collects data from state
governments, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories
(collectively, state governments), and municipal government offices
located within the United States (local government offices) that
administer general-use prepaid card payment programs.\1\ Data collected
from government offices include program information, the number of
cards outstanding, and funding information. The government survey (FR
3063b) is voluntary.
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\1\ The issuer and government surveys request information on all
federal, state, or local government-administered payment programs
that provide a general-use prepaid card (or other debit card)
disbursement option to payment recipients. The government survey may
be distributed to federal government agencies in addition to state
and local governments, but collections of information from federal
government agencies are not subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act
and, thus, are not included in this discussion.
U.S. territories include American Samoa, Guam, Midway Islands,
Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands.
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The Board uses data from these surveys to support an annual report
to the Congress on the prevalence of use of general-use prepaid cards
in federal, state, and local government-administered payment programs
and on the interchange and cardholder fees charged with respect to such
use of such cards.
Legal authorization and confidentiality: The Board's Legal Division
has determined that both the issuer survey and the government survey
are authorized by subsection 920(a) of the Electronic Fund Transfer
Act, which was amended by section 1075(a) of the Dodd-Frank Act (15
U.S.C. 1693o-2). This subsection requires the Board to submit an annual
report to Congress on the prevalence of the use of general-use prepaid
cards in Federal, State or local government-administered payment
programs and the interchange transaction fees and card-holder fees
charged with respect to the use of such general-use prepaid cards (15
U.S.C. 1693o-2(a)(7)(D)). It also provides the Board with authority to
require issuers to provide information to enable the Board to carry out
the provisions of the subsection (15 U.S.C. 1693o-2(a)(3)(B)). The
obligation of issuers to respond to the issuer survey (FR 3063a) is
mandatory. However, the obligation of state governments and local
government offices to respond to the government survey (FR 3063b) is
voluntary. All of the information collected on the government survey
and a limited amount of information collected on the issuer survey is
publicly available, and thus, is not accorded confidential treatment.
However, most of the information collected on the issuer survey is not
publicly available and may be kept confidential under exemption (b)(4)
of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which exempts from disclosure
``trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a
person and privileged or confidential'' (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)). Such data
may be kept confidential under exemption 4 if the release of data would
cause substantial harm to the competitive position of the issuer. For
example, certain issuer survey responses would likely contain
information related to an organization's revenue structure and other
proprietary and commercial information and the release of such
information would cause substantial harm to the competitive position of
the issuer.
Current actions: On June 5, 2017, the Board published a notice in
the Federal Register (82 FR 25801) requesting public comment for 60
days on the proposal to extend, without revision, the FR 3063a and FR
3063b. The comment period for this notice expired on August 4, 2017.
The Board did not receive any comments. The information collection will
be extended as proposed.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, September 1,
2017.
Ann E. Misback,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2017-18957 Filed 9-6-17; 8:45 am]
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