[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 79 (Tuesday, April 24, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24492-24494]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-9853]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Notice and request for comment.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, 
the FTC is seeking public comments on its request to OMB for a three-
year extension of the current PRA clearance for the information 
collection requirements contained in the Pay-Per-Call Rule (Rule). That 
clearance expires on May 31, 2012 (OMB Control No. 3084-0102).

DATES: Comments must be received by May 24, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment online or on paper, by

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following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of the proposed information requirements should be addressed to 
Gary Ivens, Attorney, Division of Marketing Practices, Bureau of 
Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue 
NW., Washington, DC 20580, (202) 326-2330.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Trade Regulation Rule Pursuant to the Telephone Disclosure 
and Dispute Resolution Act of 1992 (``Pay-Per-Call Rule''), 16 CFR part 
308.
    OMB Control Number: 3084-0102.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Abstract: The existing reporting and disclosure requirements of the 
Pay-Per-Call Rule are mandated by the TDDRA to help prevent unfair and 
deceptive acts and practices in the advertising and operation of pay-
per-call services and in the collection of charges for telephone-billed 
purchases. The information obtained by the Commission pursuant to the 
reporting requirement is used for law enforcement purposes. The 
disclosure requirements ensure that consumers are told about the costs 
of using a pay-per-call service, that they will not be liable for 
unauthorized non-toll charges on their telephone bills, and how to deal 
with disputes about telephone-billed purchases.
    On February 1, 2012, the Commission sought comment on the 
information collection requirements in the Pay-Per-Call Rule. 77 FR 
5017. No comments were received. As required by OMB regulations, 5 CFR 
Part 1320, the FTC is providing this second opportunity for public 
comment.
    Likely Respondents: Telecommunications common carriers (subject to 
the reporting requirement only, unless acting as a billing entity), 
information providers (vendors) offering one or more pay-per-call 
services or programs, and billing entities.
    Estimated Annual Hours Burden: 2,379,796 hours (21+ 2,379,775).
    Reporting: 21 hours for reporting by common carriers.
    Disclosure: 2,379,775 hours [(49,680 hours for advertising by 
vendors + 50,635 hours for preamble disclosure which applies to every 
pay-per-call service + 16,560 burden hours for telephone-billed charges 
in billing statements (applies to vendors; applies to common carriers 
if acting as billing entity) + 7,800 burden hours for dispute 
resolution procedures in billing statements (applies to billing 
entities) + 2,255,100 hours for disclosures related to consumers 
reporting a billing error (applies to billing entities).
    Estimated Annual Cost Burden: $130,263,530 (solely relating to 
labor costs).\1\
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    \1\ Non-labor (e.g., capital/other start-up) costs are generally 
subsumed in activities otherwise undertaken in the ordinary course 
of business (e.g., business records from which only existing 
information must be reported to the Commission, pay-per-call 
advertisements or audiotext to which cost or other disclosures are 
added, etc.). To the extent that entities incur operating or 
maintenance expenses, or purchase outside services to satisfy the 
Rule's requirements, staff believe those expenses are also included 
in (or, if contracted out, would be comparable to) the annual burden 
hour and cost estimates provided below (where such costs are labor-
related), or are otherwise included in the ordinary cost of doing 
business (regarding non-labor costs).
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Request For Comment

    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before May 24, 2012. 
Write ``Pay-Per-Call Rule: FTC File No. R611016'' 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, 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). 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, or to send them to the Commission by courier or 
overnight service. To make sure that the Commission considers your 
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/ppcrulepra2, 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 ``Pay-Per-Call Rule: FTC 
File No. R611016'' 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 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. 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 May 24, 2012. 
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.shtm.
    Comments on the information collection requirements subject to 
review under the PRA should also be submitted to OMB. If sent by U.S. 
mail, address comments to: Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for 
the Federal Trade Commission, New Executive Office Building, Docket 
Library, Room 10102, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503. 
Comments sent to OMB by U.S. postal mail, however, are subject to 
delays due to heightened security precautions. Thus, comments

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instead should be sent by facsimile to (202) 395-5167.

Willard K. Tom,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2012-9853 Filed 4-23-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P