[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 75 (Tuesday, April 19, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23177-23181]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-08330]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Extension

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), 
the Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) is seeking public 
comment on its proposal to extend for an additional three years the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) clearance for information 
collection requirements contained in the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR 
or Rule). That clearance expires on September 30, 2022.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 21, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment online or on paper by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comments part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``Telemarketing Sales 
Rule; PRA Comment: FTC File No. P072108'' on your comment, and file 
your comment online at https://www.regulations.gov 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: Benjamin R. Davidson, Attorney, Bureau 
of Consumer Protection, (202) 326-3055, Federal Trade Commission, 600 
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR or Rule), 16 CFR part 310.
    OMB Control Number: 3084-0097.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Abstract: As required by the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and 
Abuse Prevention Act, 15 U.S.C. 6101-6108 (the ``Telemarketing Act''), 
the TSR mandates certain disclosures for telephone sales and requires 
telemarketers to retain certain records regarding advertising, sales, 
and employees. The required disclosures provide consumers with 
information necessary to make informed purchasing decisions. The 
required records are to be made available for inspection by the 
Commission and other law enforcement personnel to determine compliance 
with the Rule. Required records may also yield information helpful to 
measuring and redressing consumer injury stemming from Rule violations.
    Likely Respondents: Telemarketers to consumers.
    Estimated Annual Hours Burden: 1,228,050 hours.
    <bullet> Disclosures (for live telemarketing calls and prerecorded 
calls): 1,215,946 hours (which is derived from 826,389 hours for pre-
sales disclosures + 363,048 hours for general sales disclosures + 
26,509 hours for specific sales disclosures).
    <bullet> Reporting: 219 hours.
    <bullet> Recordkeeping: 11,885 hours.
    Estimated Annual Labor Cost Burden: $18,367,441 (which is derived 
from $441,169 (recordkeeping) + $17,923,044 (disclosure) + $3,228 
(reporting).\1\
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    \1\ The hourly wage rates for sales and related workers are 
based on mean hourly wages found at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm (``Occupational Employment and Wages-May 
2021,'' U.S. Department of Labor, released March 2022, Table 1 
(``National employment and wage data from the Occupational 
Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 2021'').
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    Estimated Annual Non-Labor Cost: $4,619,156 (which is derived from 
$241,750 (office supplies) + $4,377,406 (telephone charges)).
    As required by section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2)(A), the FTC is providing this opportunity for public comment 
before requesting that OMB extend the existing clearance for the 
information collection requirements contained in the TSR.

Burden Estimates

    Brief description of the need for and proposed use of the 
information.

Estimated Annual Hours Burden: 1,228,050 Hours

    The estimated burden for recordkeeping compliance is 11,885 hours 
for all industry members affected by the Rule. The estimated burden for 
the requisite disclosures for both live telemarketing calls and 
prerecorded calls is 1,215,946 hours for all affected industry members. 
Estimated burden for reporting requirements is 219 hours. Thus, the 
total PRA burden is 1,228,050 hours. These estimates are explained 
below.
    Number of Respondents:
    In calendar year 2021, 11,756 telemarketing entities accessed the 
Do Not Call Registry; however, 536 were ``exempt'' entities obtaining 
access to data.\2\ Of the 11,220 non-exempt entities, 8,034 sellers and 
3,186 telemarketers accessed the Registry. Of those, however, 4,843 
sellers and 1,992 telemarketers obtained data for just one state. Staff 
assumes that these 6,835 entities are operating solely intrastate, and 
thus would not be subject to the TSR.\3\ Therefore, Staff estimates 
that

[[Page 23178]]

4,385 telemarketing entities are currently subject to the TSR, of which 
3,191 (8,034-4,843) are sellers and 1,194 (3,186-1,992) are 
telemarketers.\4\
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    \2\ An exempt entity is one that, although not subject to the 
TSR, voluntarily chooses to scrub its calling lists against the data 
in the Registry.
    \3\ These entities would nonetheless likely be subject to the 
Federal Communications Commission's (``FCC'') Telephone Consumer 
Protection Act regulations, including the requirement that entities 
engaged in intrastate telephone solicitations access the Registry.
    \4\ For purposes of these calculations, staff assumes that 
telemarketers making prerecorded calls download telephone numbers 
listed on the Registry, rather than conduct online searches, because 
the latter may consume much more time. Other telemarketers not 
placing the high-volume of automated prerecorded calls may elect to 
search online, rather than to download.
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(a) Recordkeeping Hours

    Staff estimates that the 4,385 telemarketing entities subject to 
the Rule each require approximately one hour per year to file and store 
records required by the TSR for an annual total of 4,385 burden hours. 
The Commission staff also estimates that 75 new entrants per year would 
need to spend 100 hours each developing a recordkeeping system that 
complies with the TSR for an annual total of 7,500 burden hours. These 
figures, based on prior estimates, are consistent with staff's current 
knowledge of the industry. Thus, the total estimated annual 
recordkeeping burden for new and existing telemarketing entities \5\ is 
11,885 hours.
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    \5\ The recordkeeping requirements for prerecorded calls are de 
minimis, and are subsumed within the PRA estimates above for 
existing and new telemarketing entities. As in its prior estimates, 
staff continues to believe that any ongoing incremental burden on 
sellers to create and retain electronic records of written 
agreements by new customers to receive prerecorded calls should not 
be material since the agreements may be obtained and recorded 
electronically pursuant to the Electronic Signatures In Global and 
National Commerce Act (commonly, ``E-SIGN''). Although telemarketers 
(and telefunders) that place prerecorded calls on behalf of sellers 
or charities must capture and transmit to the seller any requests 
they receive to place a consumer's telephone number on the seller's 
entity-specific do-not-call list, this obligation extends both to 
live and prerecorded telemarketing calls, and is also subsumed 
within the PRA estimates above.
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(b) Disclosure Hours

    Staff believes that in the ordinary course of business, a 
substantial majority of sellers and telemarketers make the disclosures 
the Rule requires because to do so constitutes good business practice. 
To the extent this is so, the time and financial resources needed to 
comply with disclosure requirements do not constitute ``burden.'' 5 CFR 
1320.3(b)(2). Moreover, many state laws require the same or similar 
disclosures as the Rule mandates. Thus, the disclosure hours burden 
attributable solely to the Rule is far less than the total number of 
hours associated with the disclosures overall. As when the FTC last 
sought OMB clearance, staff estimates that most of the Rule disclosures 
would be made in at least 75 percent of telemarketing calls even absent 
the Rule.\6\ Accordingly, staff has continued to estimate that the 
hours of burden for most of the Rule's disclosure requirements is 25 
percent of the total hours.
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    \6\ 84 FR at 22,845.
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Pre-Sale Disclosures
    Consistent with its past practice, staff necessarily has made 
additional assumptions in estimating burden. Based on industry data and 
further FTC extrapolations,\7\ staff estimates that 2.3 billion 
outbound telemarketing calls are subject to FTC jurisdiction and 
attributable to direct orders, that 450 million of these calls result 
in direct sales,\8\ and that there are 1.8 billion inbound calls that 
result in direct sales. Staff retains its longstanding estimate that, 
in a telemarketing call involving the sale of goods or services, it 
takes 7 seconds \9\ for telemarketers to recite the required pre-sale 
disclosures plus 3 additional seconds \10\ to disclose the information 
required in the case of an upsell.\11\ Staff also retains its 
longstanding estimates that at least 60 percent of sales calls result 
in ``hang-ups'' before the telemarketer can make all the required 
disclosures and that ``hang-up'' calls allow for only 2 seconds of 
disclosures.\12\
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    \7\ Staff employs the methodology, assumptions, and studies it 
has consistently used since their development for the 2003 TSR 
amendments to determine, indirectly from external sales data and the 
relative percentages of inbound and outbound calls, the number of 
telemarketing calls and resulting number of sales because no call or 
sales number totals are otherwise available. Staff relies on its own 
prior estimates that of the $134.7 billion of sales from outbound 
calls to consumers in 2012 (DMA 2013 Statistical Fact Book, at 5), 
92.8% of those sales, or $125 billion, are subject to FTC 
jurisdiction, with the average value of a sale being $85 and 20% of 
outbound calls resulting in a sale.
    \8\ For staff's PRA burden calculations, only direct sales 
orders by telephone are relevant. That is, sales generated through 
leads or customer traffic are excluded from these calculations 
because such sales are not subject to the TSR's recordkeeping and 
disclosure provisions. The direct sales transactions total of 450 
million is based on an estimated 1.5 billion sales transactions from 
outbound calls being subject to FTC jurisdiction reduced by an 
estimated 30 percent attributable to direct orders. This percentage 
estimate is derived from the only known available outside direct 
sales data for telephone marketing to consumers. See DMA Statistical 
Fact Book (2001), p. 301.
    \9\ See, e.g., 60 FR 32,682, 32,683 (June 23, 1995); 63 FR 
40,713, 40,714 (July 30, 1998); 66 FR 33,701, 33,702 (June 25, 
2001); 71 FR 28,698, 28,700 (May 17, 2006); 74 FR 11,952, 11,955 
(Mar. 20, 2009); 78 FR 19,483 19,485 (Apr. 1, 2013); 84 FR at 22,845 
(May 20, 2019).
    \10\ See, e.g., 71 FR 3302, 3304 (Jan. 20, 2006); 71 FR at 
28,700; 78 FR at 19,485; 84 FR at 22,845.
    \11\ Upselling is when a seller or telemarketer ``solicit[s] the 
purchase of goods or services following an initial transaction 
during a single telephone call.'' 16 CFR 310.2(hh).
    \12\ See, e.g., 60 FR at 32,683; 78 FR at 19,485; 84 FR at 
22,845.
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    Staff bases all ensuing upsell calculations on the volume of 
additional sales after an initial sale, with the assumption that a 
consumer is unlikely to be predisposed to an upsell if he or she 
rejects an initial offer--whether through an outbound or an inbound 
call. Using industry information, staff assumes an upsell conversion 
rate of 40% for inbound calls as well as outbound calls.\13\ Moreover, 
staff assumes that consumers who agree to an upsell will not terminate 
an upsell before the seller or telemarketer makes the full required 
disclosures.
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    \13\ This assumption originated with industry response to the 
Commission's 2003 Final Amended TSR. See 68 FR 4580, 4597 n.183 
(Jan. 29, 2003). Although the comment provided an estimate 
specifically regarding inbound calls, FTC staff will continue to 
apply this assumption to outbound calls as well, absent the receipt 
of any information to the contrary.
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    Based on the above, staff estimates that the total time associated 
with these pre-sale disclosure requirements is 826,389 hours per year: 
[(2.3 billion outbound calls x 40% lasting the duration x 7 seconds of 
full pre-sale disclosures / 3,600 (conversion of minutes to hours) x 
25% burden = 447,222 hours) + (2.3 billion outbound calls x 60% 
terminated prematurely x 2 seconds of disclosures / 3,600 x 25% burden 
= 191,667 hours) + (450 million outbound calls resulting in direct 
sales x 40% upsell conversions x 3 seconds of related disclosures / 
3,600 x 25% burden = 37,500 hours) + (1.8 billion inbound calls x 40% 
upsell conversions x 3 seconds / 3,600 x 25% burden = 150,000 hours)] = 
826,389 hours).
General Sales Disclosures
    The TSR also requires several general sales disclosures in 
telemarketing calls before the customer pays for goods or services.\14\ 
These disclosures, which FTC staff estimates takes eight seconds, 
include the total costs of the offered goods or services, all material 
restrictions, and all material terms and conditions of the seller's 
refund, cancellation, exchange, or repurchase policies (if a 
representation about such a policy is a part of the sales offer).
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    \14\ 16 CFR 310.3(a)(1)(i)-(iii).
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    Staff estimates that the general sales disclosures for 
telemarketing calls require 351,680 hours annually. This figure 
includes the burden for written disclosures (672 inbound telemarketing 
entities estimated to use direct mail \15\ x

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10 hours \16\ per year x 25% burden = 1,680), as well as oral 
disclosures [(450 million outbound calls x 8 seconds / 3,600 x 25% 
burden = 250,000 hours) + (450 million outbound calls x 40% upsell 
attempts x 20% sales conversion x 8 seconds / 3,600 x 25% burden 
=20,000 hours) + (1.8 billion inbound calls x 40% upsell attempts x 20% 
sales conversion x 8 seconds / 3,600 x 25% burden = 80,000 hours)] = 
351,680 hours.\17\
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    \15\ Based on previous assumptions, staff estimates that of the 
4,385 telemarketing entities, 2,015 conduct inbound telemarketing. 
Consistent with its previous analyses, staff estimates that, of the 
2,015 entities that conduct inbound telemarketing, approximately 
one-third (672) will choose to incorporate written disclosures in 
their direct mail solicitations. Because it is likely that industry 
members make the requisite disclosures in direct mail solicitation 
in an effort to qualify for a Rule exemption, Commission staff 
believes it is appropriate to include those written disclosures in 
the burden hour calculation.
    \16\ FTC staff believes a typical firm will spend approximately 
10 hours per year engaged in activities ensuring compliance with 
this provision of the Rule; this, too, has been stated in prior FTC 
notices inviting comment on PRA estimates. No comments were 
received, and staff believes this estimate remains reasonable.
    \17\ The percentage and unit of time measurements are FTC staff 
estimates. (For more information regarding the 25% apportionment 
appearing above see supra note 12 and surrounding text.)
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Disclosures for Debt Relief Services
    To estimate the time required to provide the general sales 
disclosures for calls offering debt relief services, staff employs 
different assumptions and calculations.\18\ Employing that analysis, as 
modified in response to a public comment to account for inbound debt 
relief sales,\19\ staff continues to assume that outbound calls to sell 
and inbound calls to buy debt relief services are made only to 
consumers who are delinquent on one or more credit cards.\20\ Staff 
further assumes that each such consumer will receive one outbound call 
and place one inbound call for these services.
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    \18\ 75 FR at 48,504-05.
    \19\ Debt relief sales in outbound calls have always been 
subject to the general sales disclosure requirements, and are 
subsumed in the outbound general sales disclosure totals.
    \20\ By extension, upsells on these initial calls would not be 
applicable. Moreover, staff believes that few, if any, upsells on 
initial outbound and inbound calls would be for debt relief.
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    To estimate the number of consumers who are delinquent on one or 
more credit cards, staff assumes that couples constitute a single 
decision-making unit, as do single adults (widowed, divorced, 
separated, never married) within each household. According to the most 
current U.S. Census Bureau data available, there are 167,360,000 
decision-making units.\21\ Of these, 120,833,920 have one or more 
credit cards,\22\ and there are 2,984,598 decision-making units with at 
least one delinquent credit card account.\23\
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    \21\ U.S. Census Bureau, Income and Poverty in the United 
States: 2020 (September 2021), Table A1, available at https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-273.html 
reflecting 129,931,000 households in 2021); U.S. Census Bureau, 
Sharing a Household: Household Composition and Economic Well Being: 
2007-2010 (June 2012), Table 2, p. 4, available at https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2012/demo/p60-242.pdf 
(reflecting 37,429,000 adults living with a householder who is 
neither a spouse nor cohabiting partner in 2010 and includes adults 
enrolled in school). Commission staff was unable to locate more 
current data for the latter source.
    \22\ The estimated number of consumers with one or more credit 
cards is derived by multiplying the estimated decision making units 
(167,360,000) by the percentage of consumers with one or more credit 
cards: 72.2%. The percentage of consumers with one or more credit 
card is based on a study conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of 
Boston. See Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Consumer Payments 
Research Center, The 2009 Survey of Consumer Payment Choice (April 
2011), screen pp. 8, 48 available at www.bostonfed.org/economic/ppdp/2011/ppdp1101.pdf. Commission staff have not found percentage 
updates of a comparable nature. Later versions of such data differ 
in how they present consumer adoption of payment instruments, e.g., 
combining, rather than presenting as separate percentages, consumer 
purchases through credit and charge card use.
    \23\ The estimated number of consumers with a delinquent account 
is derived by multiplying the estimate of consumers with one or more 
credit cards (120,833,920) by the delinquency rate for credit cards 
(2.47%). Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Charge 
Off and Delinquency Rates on Loans and Leases at Commercial Banks, 
available at https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/chargeoff/delallsa.htm (reporting a 2.47% delinquency rate for credit cards 
for the second quarter of 2018).
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    Accordingly, allowing for the above-stated FTC staff estimate of 
eight seconds per general sales disclosures, staff estimates further 
that the general sales disclosure burden for inbound debt relief calls 
is 1,658 hours (2,984,598 inbound debt relief calls to decision-making 
units with at least one delinquent credit card account x 8 seconds / 
3,600 x 25% burden).
Disclosures for Non-Exempt Inbound Calls
    The TSR general sales disclosures must also be made by sellers and 
telemarketers for inbound calls in response to ads for investment 
opportunities, certain business opportunities, credit card loss 
protection (``CCLP''),\24\ credit repair,\25\ loss recovery 
services,\26\ and advance fee loans.\27\
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    \24\ 16 CFR 310.3(a)(1)(vi).
    \25\ 16 CFR 310.4(a)(2).
    \26\ 16 CFR 310.4(a)(3).
    \27\ 16 CFR 310.4(a)(4).
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    Staff's estimate for each of these types of non-exempt inbound 
calls is determined by comparing the number of complaints reported to 
the FTC's Consumer Sentinel system in the most recent complete year to 
the total number of reported fraud complaints for that year. In 2021, 
there were 2,789,161 fraud complaints.\28\ The resulting percentage of 
total fraud complaints must be adjusted to reflect the fact that only a 
relatively small percentage of telemarketing calls are fraudulent. To 
extrapolate the percentage of fraudulent telemarketing calls, staff 
divides a Congressional estimate of annual consumer injury from 
telemarketing fraud ($40 billion) \29\ by available data on total 
consumer and business-to-business telemarketing sales ($310.0 billion 
projected for 2016),\30\ or 13%. The two percentages are then 
multiplied together to determine the percentage of the 1.8 billion 
annual inbound telemarketing calls represented by each type of fraud 
complaint. That number is then rounded to the nearest ten.
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    \28\ See FTC, Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2021 (February 
2022) (``Sentinel Data'') at 9, available at https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/CSN%20Annual%20Data%20Book%202021%20Final%20PDF.pdf.
    \29\ House Committee on Government Operations, The Scourge of 
Telemarketing Fraud: What Can Be Done Against It, H.R. Rep. 421, 
102nd Cong., 1st Sess. at 7 (Dec. 18, 1991). The FBI believes that 
this estimate overstates telemarketing fraud losses as a result of 
its investigations and closings of once massive telemarketing boiler 
room operations. See FBI, A Byte Out of History: Turning the Tables 
on Telemarketing Fraud (Dec. 8, 2010), available at https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2010/december/telemarketing_120810/telemarketing_120810. See also internet Crime Complaint Center, 2020 
Annual Report on internet Crime (citing $4.1 billion of losses 
claimed in consumer complaints for 2020), available at https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2020_IC3Report.pdf.
    \30\ DMA 2013 Statistical Fact Book (January 2013) projection up 
through 2016, p. 5 (no associated DMA updates made or otherwise 
found thereafter).
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    Thus, for the 4,678 Sentinel complaints in 2021 about investment 
opportunities covered by the TSR,\31\ the general sales disclosure 
burden is 870 hours (1.8 billion inbound calls x the percentage of 
fraud complaints for investment opportunities (4,678/2,789,161) x the 
percentage of telemarketing calls that are estimated to be fraudulent 
(.13) x the length of the disclosures (8 seconds per disclosure) / 
3,600 to convert to hours). Likewise, the burden for business 
opportunity sales (23,274 complaints), including complaints for multi-
level marketing/pyramids/chain letters) \32\ is 4,340 hours

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(1.8 billion x [23,274/2,789,161] x 0.13 x 8 seconds / 3,600); for 
advance fee loan sales (20,540 complaints) \33\ is 3,830 hours (1.8 
billion x [20,540/2,789,161] x 0.13 x 8 seconds / 3,600); for credit 
repair sales (3,151 complaints) \34\ is 590 hours (1.8 billion x 
[3,151/2,789,161] x 0.13 x 8 seconds / 3,600); 60 hours for loss 
recovery services (339 complaints) \35\ (1.8 billion x [339/2,789,161] 
x 0.13 x 8 seconds / 3,600); and 20 hours for CCLP sales (124 
complaints) \36\ (1.8 billion x [124/2,789,161] x .13 x 8 seconds / 
3,600). The exceptions to the TSR's inbound call exemptions add an 
additional 9,710 hours to the general sales disclosure burden.
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    \31\ See FTC, Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2021 (February 
2022) (``Sentinel Data''), Appendix B3, p. 86, available at https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/consumer-sentinel-network-data-book-2020/csn_annual_data_book_2020.pdf. The figure 
above tallies the number of complaints under the subcategories 
``Advice, Seminars'' and ``Art\Gems\Rare Coins.'' The remaining 
subcategories under the ``Investment Related'' category are not 
covered by either the FTC Act or the TSR.
    \32\ Sentinel Data at 85. While this total excludes 
``Franchises/Distributorships'' covered by the Franchise Rule and 
thus not subject to the TSR, the data cannot additionally be 
segregated to omit ``Work-At-Home'' opportunities now covered by the 
Business Opportunity Rule and thus also not subject to the TSR. 
Staff therefore believes this total significantly overstates the 
opportunities subject to the TSR.
    \33\ Id.
    \34\ Id.
    \35\ Id.
    \36\ Id.
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    Altogether, the general sales disclosure burden is 363,048 hours 
(351,680 hours for outbound sales + 1,658 hours for debt relief inbound 
sales + 9,710 hours for non-exempt inbound sales).
Specific Transaction Disclosures
    Additional specific disclosures are required if the call involves a 
prize promotion,\37\ the sale of credit card loss protection 
products,\38\ an offer with a negative option feature,\39\ or the sale 
of a debt relief service.\40\ Staff estimates that the specific sales 
disclosures other than for debt relief services will require 22,363 
hours annually [(450 million direct sales transactions from outbound 
calls x 5% [estimate of percentage of sales transactions involving 
prize promotions] x 3 seconds / 3,600 x 25% burden = 4,688 hours) + 
(450 million direct sales transactions from outbound calls x 0.1% 
[estimate of percentage of sales transactions involving CCLP] x 4 
seconds / 3,600 x 25% burden = 125 hours) + (450 million sales 
transactions from outbound calls x 40% attempted upsell conversions x 
20% sales conversions x 0.1% [estimate of percentage of outbound calls 
involving CCLP upsells] x 4 seconds x 25% burden / 3,600 = 10 hours) + 
(1.8 billion inbound calls x 40% attempted upsell conversions x 20% 
sales conversions x 0.1% [estimate of percentage of inbound calls 
involving CCLP upsells] x 4 seconds x 25% burden / 3,600 = 40 hours) + 
(450 million sales transactions from outbound calls x 10% [estimate of 
percentage of outbound calls involving negative options] x 4 seconds / 
3,600 x 25% burden = 12,500 hours) + (450 million sales transactions 
from outbound calls x 40% attempted upsell conversions x 20% sales 
conversions x 10% [estimate of percentage of outbound calls involving 
negative option upsells] x 4 seconds x 25% burden / 3,600 = 1,000 
hours) + (1.8 billion inbound calls x 40% attempted upsell conversions 
x 20% sales conversions x 10% [estimate of percentage of inbound calls 
involving negative option upsells] x 4 seconds / 3,600 x 25% burden = 
4,000 hours).
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    \37\ 16 CFR 310.3(a)(1)(iv)-(v).
    \38\ 16 CFR 310.3(a)(1)(vi). It is neither staff's understanding 
nor belief that CCLP sales occur through inbound calls. Staff 
anticipates, however, the potential for such sales in an upsell 
following an inbound call.
    \39\ 16 CFR 310.3(a)(1)(vii).
    \40\ 16 CFR 310.3(a)(1)(viii).
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    Staff estimates that reciting the specific sales disclosures in 
each debt relief sales call will take ten seconds, and therefore the 
disclosure burden associated with the debt relief disclosures is 4,146 
hours (2,984,598 outbound debt relief calls x 10 seconds / 3,600 x 25% 
burden = 2,073 hours) + (2,984,598 inbound debt relief calls x 10 
seconds / 3,600 x 25% burden = 2,073 hours). Thus, the total specific 
transaction disclosure burden is 26,509 hours annually (22,363 for non-
debt-relief calls) + 4,146 (for debt relief calls).
    Cumulatively, therefore, the total annual burden for all of the 
disclosures is 1,215,946 (826,389 hours pre-sales disclosures + 363,048 
hours general sales disclosures + 26,509 hours specific sales 
disclosures).

(c) Reporting Hours

    Finally, any entity that accesses the Registry must submit minimal 
identifying information to the operator of the Registry. This basic 
information includes the name, address, and telephone number of the 
entity; a contact person for the organization; and information about 
the manner of payment. The entity also must submit a list of the area 
codes for which it requests information and certify that it is 
accessing the Registry solely to comply with the provisions of the TSR. 
If the entity is accessing the Registry on behalf of other seller or 
telemarketer clients, it has to submit basic identifying information 
about those clients, a list of the area codes for which it requests 
information on their behalf, and a certification that the clients are 
accessing the Registry solely to comply with the TSR.
    As it has since the Commission's initial proposal to implement user 
fees under the TSR, FTC staff estimates that affected entities will 
require no more than two minutes for each entity to submit this basic 
information, and anticipates that each entity will have to submit the 
information annually.\41\ Based on the number of entities accessing the 
Registry that are subject to the TSR, this requirement will result in 
146 burden hours (4,385 entities x 2 minutes per entity). In addition, 
FTC staff continues to estimate that up to one-half of those entities 
may need, during the course of their annual period, to submit their 
basic identifying information more than once in order to obtain 
additional area codes of data. Thus, this would result in an additional 
73 burden hours. Accordingly, accessing the Registry will impose a 
total burden of approximately 219 hours per year.
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    \41\ See 67 FR 37366 (May 29, 2002). The two-minute estimate 
likely is conservative. The OMB regulation defining ``information'' 
under the PRA generally excludes disclosures that require persons to 
provide facts necessary simply to identify themselves, e.g., the 
respondent, the respondent's address, and a description of the 
information the respondent seeks in detail sufficient to facilitate 
the request. See 5 CFR 1320.3(h)(1).
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    Thus, total recordkeeping, disclosure, and reporting burden is 
1,228,050 hours (11,885 hours + 1,215,946 hours + 219 hours).

Estimated Annual Labor Cost: $18,367,441

(a) Recordkeeping Labor Cost

    As indicated above, staff estimates that existing telemarketing 
entities require 11,885 hours, cumulatively, to maintain compliance 
with the TSR's recordkeeping provisions. Applying a clerical wage rate 
of $18.75/hour,\42\ recordkeeping maintenance for existing 
telemarketing entities would amount to an annual cost of approximately 
$222,844. Assuming also from the above a cumulative burden of 7,500 
hours for 75 new telemarketing entities per year to set up compliant 
recordkeeping systems (75 new entrants/year x 100 hours each), and 
applying to that a skilled labor rate of $29.11/hour,\43\ cumulative 
labor costs for them would approximate $218,325 yearly. Thus, the 
estimated labor cost for recordkeeping associated with the TSR for both 
new and existing telemarketing entities, including prerecorded and debt 
relief calls, is $441,169.
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    \42\ This figure is derived from the mean hourly wage shown for 
Office Clerks, General. See ``Occupational Employment and Wages--May 
2021,'' U.S. Department of Labor, released March 2022, Table 1 
(``National employment and wage data from the Occupational 
Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 2021''), available 
at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm.
    \43\ This figure is derived from the mean hourly wage shown for 
``Computer Support Specialist.'' See id.

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[[Page 23181]]

(b) Disclosure Labor Cost

    The estimated annual labor cost for disclosures for all 
telemarketing entities is $17,923,044. This total is the product of 
applying an assumed hourly wage rate of $14.74 \44\ to the earlier 
stated estimate of 1,215,946 hours pertaining to the pre-sale, general 
and specific disclosures.
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    \44\ This figure is derived from the mean hourly wage shown for 
Telemarketers. See supra note 42. It is applied additionally to the 
ensuing calculation of reporting labor cost regarding the Registry 
operator.
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(c) Reporting Labor Cost

    Estimated labor cost supplying basic identifying information to the 
Registry operator is $3,228 (219 hours x $14.74 per hour).
    Thus, cumulatively for both new and existing telemarketing entities 
total labor costs are $18,367,441 [($441,169 recordkeeping) + 
($17,923,044 disclosure) + ($3,228 reporting)].

Estimated Annual Non-Labor Cost: $4,642,347

(a) Recordkeeping

    Staff believes that the capital and start-up costs associated with 
the TSR's recordkeeping provisions are de minimis. Although staff 
believes that most affected entities would maintain the required 
records in the ordinary course of business, consistent with its prior 
analyses, staff estimates that the estimated 4,835 telemarketing 
entities subject to the Rule continue to spend an annual amount of $50 
each on office supplies as a result of the Rule's recordkeeping 
requirements, for a total recordkeeping cost burden of $241,750.

(b) Disclosure

    Applying the disclosure estimates of 1,215,946 hours to an 
estimated commercial calling rate of 6 cents per minute ($3.60 per 
hour), staff estimates a total of $4,377,406 in telephone charges.\45\ 
Thus, total capital and/or other non-labor costs are $4,619,156 
($241,750 (office supplies)) + $4,377,406 (telephone charges)).
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    \45\ Staff believes that other non-labor costs would be incurred 
largely by affected entities in the ordinary course of business and, 
beyond that, would not materially exceed those ordinary costs.
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Request for Comments

    Pursuant to Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, 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 maintaining records and providing disclosures to 
consumers. All comments must be received on or before June 21, 2022.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the FTC to consider 
your comment, we must receive it on or before June 21, 2022. Write 
``Telemarketing Sales Rule; PRA Comment: FTC File No. P072108'' on your 
comment. Your comment--including your name and your state--will be 
placed on the public record of this proceeding, including the https://www.regulations.gov website.
    Due to the public health emergency in response to the COVID-19 
outbreak and the agency's heightened security screening, postal mail 
addressed to the Commission will be subject to delay. We encourage you 
to submit your comments online through the https://www.regulations.gov 
website.
    If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``Telemarketing 
Sales Rule; PRA Comment: FTC File No. P072108'' on your comment and on 
the envelope, and 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. If possible, submit your paper 
comment to the Commission by courier or overnight service.
    Because your comment will become publicly available at https://www.regulations.gov, you are solely responsible for making sure that 
your comment does not include any sensitive or confidential 
information. In particular, your comment should not include any 
sensitive personal information, such as your or anyone else'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 does not include 
any sensitive health information, such as medical records or other 
individually identifiable health information. In addition, your comment 
should not include any ``trade secret or any commercial or financial 
information which . . . . is privileged or confidential'' --as provided 
by 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)--including in particular competitively 
sensitive information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, 
formulas, patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer 
names.
    Comments containing material for which confidential treatment is 
requested must be filed in paper form, must be clearly labeled 
``Confidential,'' and must comply with FTC Rule 4.9(c). 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). Your comment will be kept 
confidential only if the General Counsel grants your request in 
accordance with the law and the public interest. Once your comment has 
been posted publicly at www.regulations.gov, we cannot redact or remove 
your comment unless you submit a confidentiality request that meets the 
requirements for such treatment under FTC Rule 4.9(c), and the General 
Counsel grants that request.
    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 June 21, 2022. 
For information on the Commission's privacy policy, including routine 
uses permitted by the Privacy Act, see https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/privacy-policy.

Josephine Liu,
Assistant General Counsel for Legal Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2022-08330 Filed 4-18-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P