[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 19 (Wednesday, January 29, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 4290]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-2208]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Commission Divestiture 
Orders Information Collection Requirement

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Notice of application to The Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) for 
clearance of a telephone survey, requests for documents, and a 
questionnaire in conjunction with a study of Commission divestiture 
orders in merger cases.

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SUMMARY: The application for OMB review concerns information collection 
to be undertaken in a study to assess the effectiveness of Commission 
divestiture orders in merger cases. The study will assist the 
Commission in evaluating the effectiveness of its merger enforcement 
actions. Specifically, the study will inform the Commission about 
whether to modify its current divestiture procedures so as to make 
divestitures more timely and effective. The study includes some 
collection of information from the public by means of telephone 
interviews, requests for documents, and a limited questionnaire. All 
interviews will be conducted on a voluntary basis. All information will 
be collected on a voluntary basis.
    Staff will study a total of 49 divestitures arising out of 36 
orders. Staff have already contacted nine buyers. Staff, thus, will 
contact another 40 buyers (plus any subsequent buyers of the divested 
assets), 36 respondents, and 147 third-parties (on average, three per 
divestiture), for a total of 223 telephone interviews. Each interview 
should take about one hour and 30 minutes to complete, for a total 
burden estimate of approximately 335 hours.
    After the telephone interviews, the buyers of divested assets and 
the respondents will be asked to submit financial documents for a five-
year period beginning the year before the divestiture occurred. Only 
documents prepared in the ordinary course of business will be 
requested. To the extent that no such financial documents exist, staff 
will not request that such documents be prepared. Because only 
documents already in existence will be requested, the anticipated 
burden of producing these documents will be minimal, approximately two 
hours, per participant, for a total of 170 hours (49 + 36 = 85  x  2 = 
170).
    Staff will also ask that the respondents and buyers complete a two-
question chart that will request sales in dollars and units of the 
product that was the subject of the Commission's initial concern in the 
case over a five-year period beginning the year before the divestiture. 
Staff estimate that the burden on each participant to provide this 
information will be 4 hours, for a total of 392 hours (49 buyers + 36 
respondents asked about 49 divested products = 98  x  4 = 392). The 
total cumulative burden of the document production will be 562 hours 
(392 + 170). The estimated total burden for the entire study is 
therefore calculated to be 897 hours (335 + 562), which has been 
rounded to 1000 hours to allow for small additions such as subsequent 
buyers of divested assets.

DATES: Comments on the proposed study must be submitted on or before 
February 28, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Send comments both to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive 
Office Building, Room 3228, Washington, D.C. 20503, ATN: Desk Officer 
of the Federal Trade Commission and to the Federal Trade Commission, 
Compliance Division, ATN: Kenneth Davidson, Room S 2122, N.W., 
Washington, D.C. 20508.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kenneth Davidson, Compliance Division, Bureau of Competition, Federal 
Trade Commission, Washington, D.C. 20580 (202) 326-2863.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 97-2208 Filed 1-28-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-M