50218 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 156 / Friday, August 12, 2011 / Notices 

1 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). 

Order Published: FR: 7/25/11 (Volume 

76, No. 142, Pg. 44331–44332). 

Sandra L. Kusumoto, 

Director, Bureau of Certification and 

Licensing. 

[FR Doc. 2011–20492 Filed 8–11–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6730–01–P 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Proposed Collection; 

Comment Request 

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The information collection 

requirements described below will be 

submitted to the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) for review, as 

required by the Paperwork Reduction 

Act (PRA). The FTC is seeking public 

comments on its proposal to extend 

through November 30, 2014, the current 

PRA clearance for information 

collection requirements contained in the 

FTC rule on ‘‘Labeling and Advertising 

of Home Insulation’’ (R-value Rule or 

Rule). That clearance expires on 

November 30, 2011. 

DATES: Comments must be filed by 

October 11, 2011. 

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 ‘‘R-value Rule: FTC File 

No. R811001’’ on your comment, and 

file your comment online at https:// 

ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/ 

rvaluerulepra, 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 J), 600 

Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC 20580. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information 

should be addressed to Hampton 

Newsome, Attorney, Division of 

Enforcement, Bureau of Consumer 

Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 

600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC 20580, (202) 326–2889. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Proposed Information Collection 

Activities 

Under the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501–3521, 

Federal agencies must obtain approval 

from OMB for each collection of 

information they conduct or sponsor. 

‘‘Collection of information’’ means 

agency requests or requirements that 

members of the public submit reports, 

keep records, or provide information to 

a third party. 44 U.S.C. 3502(3), 5 CFR 

1320.3(c). Because the number of 

entities affected by the Commission’s 

requests will exceed ten, the 

Commission plans to seek OMB 

clearance under the PRA. As required 

by § 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, the 

Commission is providing this 

opportunity for public comment before 

requesting that OMB extend the existing 

paperwork clearance for the information 

collection requirements associated with 

the Commission’s R-value Rule, 16 CFR 

part 460 (OMB Control Number 3084– 

0109). 

The R-value Rule establishes uniform 

standards for the substantiation and 

disclosure of accurate, material product 

information about the thermal 

performance characteristics of home 

insulation products. The R-value of an 

insulation signifies the insulation’s 

degree of resistance to the flow of heat. 

This information tells consumers how 

well a product is likely to perform as an 

insulator and allows consumers to 

determine whether the cost of the 

insulation is justified. 

Request for Comments 

The FTC invites comments on: (1) 

Whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

agency, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(2) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate 

of the burden of the proposed collection 

of information, including the validity of 

the methodology and assumptions used; 

(3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, 

and clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (4) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on those who are to respond, including 

through the use of appropriate 

automated, electronic, mechanical, or 

other technological collection 

techniques or other forms of information 

technology, e.g., permitting electronic 

submission of responses. All comments 

should be filed as prescribed in the 

ADDRESSES section above, and must be 

received on or before October 11, 2011. 

You can file a comment online or on 

paper. For the Commission to consider 

your comment, we must receive it on or 

before October 11, 2011. Write ‘‘R-value 

Rule: FTC File No. R811001’’ 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 

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).1 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/ 

valuerulepra, by following the 

instructions 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 ‘‘R-value Rule: FTC File No. 

R811001’’ on your comment and on the 

envelope, and mail or deliver it to the 

following address: Federal Trade 

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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 156 / Friday, August 12, 2011 / Notices 50219 

2Based on U.S. census data for 2010. See http:// 

www.census.gov/const/startsan.pdf. 

3The wage rates for engineering technicians, 

except drafters (skilled technical personnel), file 

clerks (clerical personnel), and sales and related 

occupations (sales persons) are based on recent data 

from the Bureau of Labor Statistics National 

Compensation Survey. 

Commission, Office of the Secretary, 

Room H–113 (Annex J), 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 October 11, 2011. 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. 

R-value Rule Burden Statement 

Estimated annual hours burden: 

125,828 hours. 

The Rule’s requirements include 

product testing, recordkeeping, and 

third-party disclosures on labels, fact 

sheets, advertisements, and other 

promotional materials. Based on 

information provided by members of the 

insulation industry, staff estimates that 

the Rule affects: (1) 150 insulation 

manufacturers and their testing 

laboratories; (2) 1,615 installers who sell 

home insulation; (3) 125,000 new home 

builders/sellers of site-built homes and 

approximately 5,500 dealers who sell 

manufactured housing; and (4) 25,000 

retail sellers who sell home insulation 

for installation by consumers. 

Under the Rule’s testing requirements, 

manufacturers must test each insulation 

product for its R-value. Based on past 

industry input, staff estimates that the 

test takes approximately 2 hours. 

Approximately 15 of the 150 insulation 

manufacturers in existence introduce 

one new product each year. Their total 

annual testing burden is therefore 

approximately 30 hours. 

Staff further estimates that most 

manufacturers require an average of 

approximately 20 hours per year 

regarding third-party disclosure 

requirements in advertising and other 

promotional materials. Only the five or 

six largest manufacturers require 

additional time, approximately 80 hours 

each. Thus, the annual third-party 

disclosure burden for manufacturers is 

approximately 3,360 hours [(144 

manufacturers × 20 hours) + (6 

manufacturers × 80 hours)]. 

While the Rule imposes 

recordkeeping requirements, most 

manufacturers and their testing 

laboratories keep their testing-related 

records in the ordinary course of 

business. Staff estimates that no more 

than one additional hour per year per 

manufacturer is necessary to comply 

with this requirement, for an annual 

recordkeeping burden of approximately 

150 hours (150 manufacturers × 1 hour). 

Installers are required to show the 

manufacturers’ insulation fact sheet to 

retail consumers before purchase. They 

must also disclose information in 

contracts or receipts concerning the Rvalue and the amount of insulation to 

install. Staff estimates that two minutes 

per sales transaction is sufficient to 

comply with these requirements. 

Approximately 2,000,000 retrofit 

insulations (an industry source’s 

estimate) are installed by approximately 

1,615 installers per year, and, thus, the 

related annual burden total is 

approximately 66,667 hours (2,000,000 

sales transactions × 2 minutes). Staff 

anticipates that one hour per year per 

installer is sufficient to cover required 

disclosures in advertisements and other 

promotional materials. Thus, the burden 

for this requirement is approximately 

1,615 hours per year. In addition, 

installers must keep records that 

indicate the substantiation relied upon 

for savings claims. The additional time 

to comply with this requirement is 

minimal—approximately 5 minutes per 

year per installer—for a total of 

approximately 134 hours. 

New home sellers must make contract 

disclosures concerning the type, 

thickness, and R-value of the insulation 

they install in each part of a new home. 

Staff estimates that no more than 30 

seconds per sales transaction is required 

to comply with this requirement, for a 

total annual burden of approximately 

4,872 hours (an estimated 586,900 new 

home sales 2 × 30 seconds). New home 

sellers who make energy savings claims 

must also keep records regarding the 

substantiation relied upon for those 

claims. Staff believes that the 30 

seconds covering disclosures would also 

encompass this recordkeeping element. 

The Rule requires that the 

approximately 25,000 retailers who sell 

home insulation make fact sheets 

available to consumers before purchase. 

This can be accomplished by, for 

example, placing copies in a display 

rack or keeping copies in a binder on a 

service desk with an appropriate notice. 

Replenishing or replacing fact sheets 

should require no more than 

approximately one hour per year per 

retailer, for a total of 25,000 annual 

hours, industry-wide. 

The Rule also requires specific 

disclosures in advertisements or other 

promotional materials to ensure that the 

claims are fair and not deceptive. This 

burden is very minimal because retailers 

typically use advertising copy provided 

by the insulation manufacturer, and 

even when retailers prepare their own 

advertising copy, the Rule provides 

some of the language to be used. 

Accordingly, approximately one hour 

per year per retailer should suffice to 

meet this requirement, for a total annual 

burden of approximately 25,000 hours. 

Retailers who make energy savings 

claims in advertisements or other 

promotional materials must keep 

records that indicate the substantiation 

they are relying upon. Because few 

retailers make these types of 

promotional claims and because the 

Rule permits retailers to rely on the 

insulation manufacturer’s substantiation 

data for any claims that are made, the 

additional recordkeeping burden is de 

minimis. The time calculated for 

disclosures, above, would be more than 

adequate to cover any burden imposed 

by this recordkeeping requirement. 

To summarize, staff estimates that the 

Rule imposes a total of 116,790 burden 

hours, as follows: 150 recordkeeping 

and 3,390 testing and disclosure hours 

for manufacturers; 134 recordkeeping 

and 68,282 disclosure hours for 

installers; 4,872 disclosure hours for 

new home sellers; and 50,000 disclosure 

hours for retailers. The estimated total 

burden is approximately 125,828 

burden hours. 

Estimated annual cost burden: 

$2,548,200 (solely related to labor 

costs). 

The total annual labor cost for the 

Rule’s information collection 

requirements is $2,883,088, derived as 

follows: Approximately $800 for testing, 

based on 30 hours for manufacturers (30 

hours × $26 per hour for skilled 

technical personnel); $4,000 for 

manufacturers’ and installers’ 

compliance with the Rule’s 

recordkeeping requirements, based on 

284 hours (284 hours × $14 per hour for 

clerical personnel); $47,000 for 

manufacturers’ compliance with thirdparty disclosure requirements, based on 

3,360 hours (3,360 hours × $14 per hour 

for clerical personnel); and $2,500,000 

for disclosure compliance by installers, 

new home sellers, and retailers (123,262 

hours × $20 per hour for sales persons).3

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50220 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 156 / Friday, August 12, 2011 / Notices 

There are no significant current 

capital or other non-labor costs 

associated with this Rule. Because the 

Rule has been in effect since 1980, 

members of the industry are familiar 

with its requirements and already have 

in place the equipment for conducting 

tests and storing records. New products 

are introduced infrequently. Because the 

required disclosures are placed on 

packaging or on the product itself, the 

Rule’s additional disclosure 

requirements do not cause industry 

members to incur any significant 

additional non-labor associated costs. 

Willard K. Tom, 

General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2011–20372 Filed 8–11–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6750–01–M 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Availability of Draft ICCVAM 

Recommendations on Using Fewer 

Animals to Identify Chemical Eye 

Hazards: Revised Criteria Necessary to 

Maintain Equivalent Hazard 

Classification; Request for Comments 

AGENCY: Division of the National 

Toxicology Program (DNTP), National 

Institute of Environmental Health 

Sciences (NIEHS), National Institutes of 

Health, HHS. 

ACTION: Availability of 

Recommendations; Request for 

Comments. 

SUMMARY: The NTP Interagency Center 

for the Evaluation of Alternative 

Toxicological Methods (NICEATM), in 

collaboration with the Interagency 

Coordinating Committee on the 

Validation of Alternative Methods 

(ICCVAM), conducted an analysis to 

determine classification criteria using 

results from 3-animal tests that would 

provide eye hazard classification 

equivalent to testing conducted in 

accordance with current U.S. Federal 

Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA) 

regulations, which require the use of 6 

to 18 animals. The results showed that 

using a classification criterion of at least 

1 positive animal in a 3-animal test to 

identify eye hazards will provide the 

same or greater level of eye hazard 

classification as current FHSA 

requirements, while using 50% to 83% 

fewer animals. ICCVAM developed draft 

recommendations based on the results 

of this analysis. NICEATM invites 

public comments on these draft 

ICCVAM recommendations. 

DATES: Written comments on the draft 

recommendations should be received by 

September 26, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: NICEATM prefers that 

comments be submitted electronically 

via the NICEATM–ICCVAM Web site 

(http://iccvam.niehs.nih.gov/contact/ 

FR_pubcomment.htm) or via e-mail to 

niceatm@niehs.nih.gov. Written 

comments may also be sent by mail or 

fax to Dr. William S. Stokes, Director, 

NICEATM, NIEHS, P.O. Box 12233, 

Mail Stop: K2–16, Research Triangle 

Park, NC 27709; (fax) 919–541–0947. 

Courier address: NICEATM, NIEHS, 

Room 2034, 530 Davis Drive, 

Morrisville, NC 27560. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

William S. Stokes: (telephone) 919–541– 

2384, (fax) 919–541–0947, or (e-mail) 

niceatm@niehs.nih.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Testing requirements necessary to 

determine the eye hazard potential for 

substances regulated under the FHSA 

(FHSA, 2008) are provided in 16 CFR 

1500.42 (U.S. Consumer Product Safety 

Commission [CPSC], 2010). Current 

FHSA regulations provide procedures to 

determine the eye hazard classification 

and labeling requirements for chemicals 

and products to which consumers may 

be exposed. The current procedure 

requires a minimum of 6 animals per 

test and may require up to 3 sequential 

tests for each substance, thus requiring 

6, 12, or 18 animals to reach a hazard 

classification decision. The requirement 

for second and third sequential tests is 

based on the number of positive 

responses in the previous test. 

In 2002, the Organisation for 

Economic Co-operation and 

Development (OECD) Test Guidelines 

Program adopted U.S. proposed 

revisions to Test Guideline 405: Acute 

Eye Irritation/Corrosion (OECD, 2002) 

that reduce the maximum number of 

required animals per test from 6 to 3. 

The Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2131 

et seq) and the Public Health Service 

(PHS) Policy (PHS, 2002) similarly 

require that only the minimum number 

of animals necessary to obtain 

scientifically valid results should be 

used and that a rationale for the 

appropriateness of the number of 

animals used be provided to and 

approved by the Institutional Animal 

Care and Use Committee. In light of this 

policy and regulations, most in vivo 

ocular safety testing is expected to 

adhere to the 3-animal procedure 

described in OECD Test Guideline 405 

(OECD, 2002) and in a test guideline 

issued by the U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency (EPA, 1998). 

However, current FHSA regulations do 

not provide criteria to classify results 

from a 3-animal test. Therefore, an 

analysis was conducted to determine 

classification criteria based on results 

from a 3-animal test that would provide 

eye hazard classification equivalent to 

procedures in current FHSA regulations 

(Haseman et al., 2011). The results 

showed that using a classification 

criterion of at least 1 positive in a 3- 

animal test to identify eye hazards will 

provide the same or greater level of eye 

hazard classification as current FHSA 

requirements, while using 50% to 83% 

fewer animals. Based on these results, 

ICCVAM developed draft 

recommendations to use this 

classification criterion for ocular safety 

testing procedures that use only a 

maximum of 3 animals per test 

substance. 

Availability of the Documents 

The draft ICCVAM recommendations 

and the supporting publication 

describing the results of the analysis are 

available on the NICEATM–ICCVAM 

Web site (http://iccvam.niehs.nih.gov/ 

methods/ocutox/reducenum.htm), and 

may also be obtained by contacting 

NICEATM (see FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT). 

Request for Public Comments 

NICEATM invites the submission of 

written comments on the draft ICCVAM 

recommendations and the extent to 

which the NICEATM analysis supports 

the recommendations by September 26, 

2011. When submitting written 

comments, please refer to this Federal 

Register notice and include appropriate 

contact information (name, affiliation, 

mailing address, phone, fax, e-mail, and 

sponsoring organization, if applicable). 

NICEATM will post all comments on 

the NICEATM–ICCVAM Web site 

(http://ntp-apps.niehs.nih.gov/ 

iccvampb/searchPubCom.cfm) 

identified by the individual’s name and 

affiliation or sponsoring organization (if 

applicable). ICCVAM will consider all 

public comments and comments made 

by the Scientific Advisory Committee 

on Alternative Toxicological Methods 

(SACATM) at the June 17–18, 2010 

meeting (75 FR 26757) when finalizing 

its recommendations. Final ICCVAM 

recommendations will be forwarded to 

relevant Federal agencies for their 

consideration. These recommendations 

will also be available to the public on 

the NICEATM–ICCVAM Web site 

(http://iccvam.niehs.nih.gov/methods/ 

ocutox/reducenum.htm). 

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