[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 199 (Tuesday, October 14, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60699-60702]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-24296]



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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


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

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'').

ACTION: Notice.

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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. The FTC is seeking 
public comments on its proposal to extend through October 31, 2011, the 
current OMB clearance for the information collection requirements 
pertaining to the Commission's administrative activities. That 
clearance expires on October 31, 2008, and consists of: (a) 
applications to the Commission, including applications and notices 
contained in the Commission's Rules of Practice (primarily Parts I, II, 
and IV); (b) the FTC's consumer complaint systems; (c) the FTC's 
program evaluation activities and; (d) the FTC's Applicant Background 
Form.

DATES: Comments must be filed by November 13, 2008.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments 
electronically or in paper form. Comments should refer to 
``Administrative Activities: FTC File No. P911409'' to facilitate the 
organization of comments. Please note that comments will be placed on 
the public record of this proceeding--including on the publicly 
accessible FTC website, at (http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm) 
-- and therefore should not include any sensitive or confidential 
information. In particular, comments should not include any sensitive 
personal information, such as an individual'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. Comments also should 
not include any sensitive health information, such as medical records 
or other individually identifiable health information. In addition, 
comments should not include any ``[t]rade secrets and commercial or 
financial information obtained from a person and privileged or 
confidential. . . .,'' as provided in Section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 
U.S.C. 46(f), and Commission Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2). 
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).\1\
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    \1\ FTC Rule 4.2(d), 16 CFR 4.2(d). The comment must be 
accompanied by an explicit request for confidential treatment, 
including the factual and legal basis for the request, and must 
identify the specific portions of the comment to be withheld from 
the public record. The request will be granted or denied by the 
Commission's General Counsel, consistent with applicable law and the 
public interest. See FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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    Because paper mail addressed to the FTC is subject to delay due to 
heightened security screening, please consider submitting your comments 
in electronic form. Comments filed in electronic form should be 
submitted by using the following weblink: (https://secure.commentworks.com/ftc-adminactivitiespra2) (and following the 
instructions on the web-based form). To ensure that the Commission 
considers an electronic comment, you must file it on the web-based form 
at the weblink: (https://secure.commentworks.com/ftc-adminactivitiespra2). If this Notice appears at (http://www.regulations.gov/search/index.jsp), you may also file an electronic 
comment through that website. The Commission will consider all comments 
that regulations.gov forwards to it. You may also visit the FTC website 
at http://www.ftc.gov to read the Notice and the news release 
describing it.
    A comment filed in paper form should include the (https://secure.commentworks.com/ftc-adminactivitiespra2) reference both in the 
text and on the envelope, and should be mailed or delivered to the 
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 
Room H-135 (Annex J), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 
20580. The FTC is requesting that any comment filed in paper form be 
sent by courier or overnight service, if possible, because U.S. postal 
mail in the Washington area and at the Commission is subject to delay 
due to heightened security precautions.
    All comments should additionally be submitted to: Office of 
Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for the Federal Trade 
Commission. Comments should be submitted via facsimile to (202) 395-
6974 because U.S. Postal Mail is subject to lengthy delays due to 
heightened security precautions.
    The FTC Act and other laws 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, whether filed in paper or electronic 
form. Comments received will be available to the public on the FTC 
website, to the extent practicable, at (http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm). As a matter of discretion, the Commission makes 
every effort to remove home contact information for individuals from 
the public comments it receives before placing those comments on the 
FTC website. More information, including routine uses permitted by the 
Privacy Act, may be found in the FTC's privacy policy, at (http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.shtm).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be addressed to Nick Mastrocinque, Attorney; Edwin Acajabon, 
Program Manager, Division of Planning and Information, Bureau of 
Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., 
N.W., H-228, Washington, D.C. 20580, (202) 326-3188; (202) 326-3684.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA''), 
44 U.S.C. 3501-3520, federal agencies must obtain approval from OMB for 
each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. On July 21, 
2008, the FTC sought comment on the information collection requirements 
pertaining to the Commission's administrative activities (OMB Control 
Number 3084-0047).\2\ No comments were received. Pursuant to the OMB 
regulations that implement the PRA (5 CFR Part 1320), the FTC is 
providing this second opportunity for public comment while seeking OMB 
approval to extend the existing paperwork clearance for the 
Commission's administrative activities. All comments should be filed as 
prescribed in the ADDRESSES section above, and must be received on or 
before November 13, 2008.
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    \2\ 73 FR 42346.
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    The Commission's Administrative Activities clearance consists of: 
(a) applications to the Commission, including applications and notices 
contained in the Commission's Rules of Practice (primarily Parts I, II, 
and IV); (b) the FTC's consumer complaint systems; (c) FTC program 
evaluation activities; and (d) the FTC's Applicant Background Form.

Estimated annual hours burden: 380,295 hours.

    (a) Applications to the Commission, including applications and 
notices contained in the Commission's Rules of Practice: 100 hours

    Most applications to the Commission generally fall within the ``law

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enforcement'' exception to the PRA\3\ and are mostly found in Part III 
(Rules of Practice for Adjudicative Proceedings) of the Commission's 
Rules of Practice. See 16 CFR 3.1-3.83. Nonetheless, there are various 
applications and notices to the Commission contained in other rules 
(generally in Parts I, II, and IV of the Commission's Rule of 
Practice). For example, staff estimates that the FTC annually receives 
approximately 15 requests for clearance submitted by former FTC 
employees in order to participate in certain matters and 5 screening 
affidavits submitted by partners or legal or business associates of 
former employees pursuant to Rule 4.1, 16 CFR 4.1.\4\ There are also 
procedures set out in Rule 4.11(e) for agency review of outside 
requests for Commission employee testimony, through compulsory process 
or otherwise, in cases or matters to which the agency is not a party. 
Rule 4.11(e) requires that a person who seeks such testimony submit a 
statement in support of the request. Staff estimates that agency 
personnel receive approximately 1 request per month or 12 per year. 
Other types of applications and notices are either infrequent or 
difficult to quantify. Nonetheless, in order to cover any potential 
``collection of information'' for which separate clearance has not been 
sought, staff conservatively projects the FTC will receive 50 
applications or notices per year. Staff estimates each respondent will 
incur, on average, approximately 2 hours of burden to submit an 
application or notice, resulting in a cumulative annual total of 100 
burden hours (50 applications or notices x 2 burden hours).
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    \3\ The ``law enforcement'' exception to the PRA excludes most 
items in this subcategory because they involve collecting 
information during the conduct of a Federal investigation, civil 
action, administrative action, investigation, or audit with respect 
to a specific party, or subsequent adjudicative or judicial 
proceedings designed to determine fines or other penalties. See 44 
U.S.C. 3518(c)(1); 5 CFR 1320.4(a)(1)-(3).
    \4\ Staff's estimates do not include Rule 4.1 submissions that 
pertain to ongoing law enforcement matters. See supra note 3.

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    Annual cost burden

    Using the burden hours estimated above, staff estimates that the 
total annual labor cost, based on a conservative estimated average of 
$425/hour for executives' and attorneys' wages, would be approximately 
$42,500 (100 hours x $425). There are no capital, start-up, operation, 
maintenance, or other similar costs to respondents.

    (b) Complaint Systems: 379,728 hours

    Consumer Response Center

    Consumers can submit complaints about fraud and other practices to 
the FTC's Consumer Response Center by telephone or through the FTC's 
website. Telephone complaints and inquiries to the FTC are answered 
both by FTC staff and contractors. These telephone counselors ask for 
the same information that consumers would enter on the applicable forms 
available on the FTC's website. For telephone inquiries and complaints, 
the FTC staff retains its previous estimates that it takes 4.5 minutes 
per call to gather information, somewhat less time than the 5 minutes 
estimated for consumers to enter a complaint online. The burden 
estimate conservatively assumes that all of the phone call is devoted 
to collecting information from consumers, although frequently telephone 
counselors devote a small portion of the call to providing requested 
information to consumers.

    Complaints Concerning the National Do Not Call Registry

    To receive complaints from consumers of possible violations of the 
rules governing the National Do Not Call Registry, 16 CFR 310.4(b), the 
FTC maintains both an online form and a toll free hotline with 
automated voice response system. Consumer complainants must provide 
either the name or telephone number of the company about which they are 
complaining, the phone number that was called, and the date of the 
call. They may also provide their name and address so they can be 
contacted for additional information, as well as for a brief comment 
regarding their complaint. In addition, online complainants have the 
option of answering three yes-or-no questions to help law enforcement 
investigating complaints; this option will also soon be made available 
to phone complainants. The FTC staff estimates that the time required 
of consumer complainants is 3.5 minutes for phone complaints and 2.5 
minutes for online complaints.\5\
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    \5\ This is a slight increase from staff's 2005 estimates 
because of additional information collected, such as comments and 
three optional yes-or-no questions.

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    Identity Theft

    To handle complaints about identity theft, the FTC must obtain more 
detailed information than is required of other complainants. Identity 
theft complaints generally require more information (such as a 
description of actions complainants have taken with credit bureaus, 
companies, and law enforcement, and the identification of multiple 
suspects) than general consumer complaints and fraud complaints. In 
addition, the FTC has expanded the information required on its online 
complaint form (such as collecting additional information about the 
fraudulent activity at affected companies and creating an attachment 
summarizing all of the fraudulent account activity as well as all 
fraudulent information on the consumer's credit report). Consumers can 
print out a copy of the revised form and use it to assist them in 
completing a police report, if appropriate, and, as also may be 
necessary, an identity theft report. See 16 CFR 603.3 (defining the 
term ``identity theft report''). FTC staff continues to estimate that 
the revised online form takes consumers up to 13 minutes to complete.
    The FTC also made some revisions in the information it collects 
from consumers who call the Consumer Response Center (``CRC'') with 
identity theft complaints. Moreover, in order to better serve consumers 
who are unable to file complaints online, staff will send those who 
call the CRC with identify theft complaints a blank complaint form 
(identical to the online printed form) to assist them with completing a 
police or identify theft report as appropriate. Staff estimates that it 
will take 14 minutes per call to obtain identity theft-related 
information.\6\ A substantial portion of identity theft-related calls 
typically consists of counseling consumers on other steps they should 
consider taking to obtain relief (which may include directing consumers 
to a revised online complaint form). The time needed for counseling is 
excluded from the estimate.
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    \6\ This is a 5 minute increase from staff's 2005 estimate in 
order to account for the time it will take consumers to fill out the 
blank complaint form.

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    Surveys

    Consumer customer satisfaction surveys give the agency information 
about the overall effectiveness and timeliness of the CRC. The CRC 
surveys roughly 1 percent of complainants who file identity theft or 
general consumer complaints. Subsets of consumers contacted throughout 
the year are questioned about specific aspects of CRC customer service. 
Each consumer surveyed is asked several questions chosen from a list 
prepared by staff. The questions are designed to elicit information 
from consumers about the overall effectiveness of the call center. Half 
of the questions ask consumers to rate CRC performance on a scale or 
require a yes-or-no response. The second half of the survey asks more

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open-ended questions seeking a short written or verbal answer. In 
addition, the CRC may survey a sample of consumers immediately after 
they file their complaints regarding the services they received. Staff 
retains its previous estimate that each respondent will require 4 
minutes to answer the questions (approximately 20-30 seconds per 
question).
    Finally, Consumer Sentinel user surveys give the agency information 
about the overall effectiveness of its Consumer Sentinel Network. 
Consumer Sentinel allows federal, state and local law enforcement 
organizations common access to a secure database containing over six 
million complaints from victims of consumer fraud and identity theft, 
as well as other complaints the FTC collects. To date, Consumer 
Sentinel has over 1,700 members, including law enforcement agencies 
from Canada and Australia. FTC staff plan to survey a sizeable number 
of Consumer Sentinel users each year about such things as overall 
satisfaction, performance, and possible improvements. Staff retains its 
previous estimate that the surveys should generally take approximately 
10 minutes per respondent.
    What follows are staff's estimates of burden for these various 
collections of information, including the surveys. The figures for the 
online forms and consumer hotlines are an average of annualized volume 
for the respective programs including both current and projected 
volumes over the 3-year clearance period sought and the number of 
respondents for each activity has been rounded to the nearest thousand.

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                                                                                      <dbl-dagger>
                               Activity                                 <dbl-dagger>    minutes/     Total Hours
                                                                         respondents    activity
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Misc. and fraud-related consumer complaints (phone)*                        396,000           4.5        29,700
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Misc. and fraud-related consumer complaints (online)**                      520,000             5        43,333
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Identity theft complaints (phone)*                                          385,700            14        89,997
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Identity theft complaints (online)**                                        170,000            13        36,833
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Do-Not-Call related consumer complaints (phone)                             531,000           3.5        30,975
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Do-Not-Call related consumer complaints (online)                          3,548,000           2.5       147,833
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Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire                                           9,600             4           640
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Consumer Sentinel User Surveys                                                2,500            10           417
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Totals                                                                    5,562,800   ............      379,728
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* Number of consumer calls calculated by projecting over the 3-year clearance period sought 5% annual growth and
  a telephone contractor response rate of 95% (contracted level of service) with regard to consumers who call
  the toll free lines and opt to talk to a counselor.
** Number of online collections projected from number of consumers who use the FTC's online complaint forms
  noted in the text above. These figures also assume 5% annual growth for miscellaneous and fraud-related
  complaints, and 8% annual growth for identity theft online complaints, over the 3-year clearance period
  requested.


    Annual cost burden

    The cost per respondent should be negligible. Participation is 
voluntary and will not require any labor expenditures by respondents. 
There are no capital, start-up, operation, maintenance, or other 
similar costs to the respondents.

    (c) Program Evaluations: 175 hours

    Review of Divestiture Orders

    The Commission issues, on average, approximately 10-15 orders in 
merger cases per year that require divestitures. As a result of a 1999 
study authorized by the OMB and conducted by the staffs of the Bureau 
of Competition (``BC'') and the Bureau of Economics,\7\ BC monitors 
these required divestitures by interviewing representatives of the 
Commission-approved buyers of the divested assets within the first year 
after the divestiture is completed.
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    \7\ The Staff of the Bureau of Competition of the Federal Trade 
Commission compiled its findings from the study in its report: A 
Study of the Commission's Divestiture Process, 1999, available at 
http://www.ftc.gov/os/1999/08/divestiture.pdf.
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    BC staff interviews representatives of the buyers to ask whether 
all assets required to be divested were, in fact, divested;\8\ whether 
the buyer has used the divested assets to enter the market of concern 
to the Commission and, if so, the extent to which the buyer is 
participating in the market; whether the divestiture met the buyer's 
expectations; and whether the buyer believes the divestiture has been 
successful. In some cases, BC staff may also interview other 
participants, including customers or trustee monitors, as appropriate. 
In all these interviews, staff seeks to learn about pricing and other 
basic facts regarding competition in the markets of concern to the FTC.
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    \8\ To the extent that the staff interviews focus on a law 
enforcement activity (whether the party to the order complied with 
all its obligations), the interviews are not subject to the 
requirements of the PRA. See supra note 3.
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    Participation by the buyers is voluntary. Each responding company 
designates the company representative most likely to have the necessary 
information; typically, a company executive and a lawyer represents the 
company. Each interview takes approximately one hour to complete. BC 
staff further estimates that it takes each participant no more than one 
hour to prepare for the interview. In some instances, staff may do 
additional interviews with customers of the responding company or the 
monitor. Staff conservatively estimates that for each interview, two 
individuals (a company executive and a lawyer) will devote two hours 
(one hour preparing and one hour participating) each to responding to 
questions for a total of four hours. In addition, for approximately 
half of the divestitures, staff will seek to question two additional 
respondents, adding four participants (a company executive and a lawyer 
for each of the two additional respondents) devoting two hours each, 
for a total of eight additional hours. Assuming that staff evaluates up 
to 20 divestitures per year during the three-year clearance period, the 
total hours burden for the responding companies will be approximately 
160 hours per year ((20 divestiture reviews x 4 hours for preparing and 
participating) + (10

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divestiture reviews x 8 hours for preparing and participating)).

    Annual cost burden

    Using the burden hours estimated above, staff estimates that the 
total annual labor cost, based on a conservative estimated average of 
$425/hour for executives' and attorneys' wages, would be approximately 
$68,000 (160 hours x $425). There are no capital, start-up, operation, 
maintenance, or other similar costs to respondents.

    Review of Competition Advocacy Program

    The FTC's competition advocacy program draws on the Commission's 
expertise in competition and consumer protection matters to encourage 
federal and state legislators, courts and other state and federal 
agencies to consider the competitive effects of their proposed actions. 
The FTC Office of Policy Planning (``OPP'') sends approximately 20 
letters or written comments to different state and federal government 
officials annually, which provide guidance on the likely competitive 
effects of various laws or regulations.
    In the past, OPP has evaluated the effectiveness of these advocacy 
comments by surveying comment recipients and other relevant decision 
makers. OPP intends to continue this evaluation by sending a written 
questionnaire to relevant parties between six and nine months after an 
advocacy comment is sent. Most of the questions ask the respondent to 
agree or disagree with a statement concerning the advocacy comment that 
they received. Specifically, these questions inquire as to the 
applicability, value, persuasive influence, public effect, and 
informative value of the FTC's comments. The questionnaire also 
provides respondents with an opportunity to provide additional remarks 
related either to the written comments received or the FTC's advocacy 
program in general. Participation is voluntary.
    OPP staff estimates that on average, respondents will take 30 
minutes or less to complete the questionnaire and 15 minutes of 
administrative time to prepare the response for mailing. Accordingly, 
staff estimates that each respondent will incur 45 minutes of burden 
resulting in a cumulative total of 15 burden hours per year (45 minutes 
of burden per respondent x 20 respondents per year). OPP staff does not 
intend to conduct any follow-up activities that would involve the 
respondents' participation.

    Annual cost burden

    OPP staff estimates a conservative hourly labor cost of $100 for 
the time of the survey participants (primarily state representatives 
and senators) and an hourly labor cost of $16 for administrative 
support time. Thus, staff estimates a total labor cost of $54 for each 
response (30 minutes of burden at $100 per hour plus 15 minutes of 
burden at $16 per hour). Assuming 20 respondents will complete the 
questionnaire on an annual basis, staff estimates the total annual 
labor costs will be approximately $1,080 ($54 per response x 20 
respondents). There are no capital, start-up, operation, maintenance, 
or other similar costs to respondents.

    (d) Applicant Tracking Form: 292 hours

    The FTC's Human Resources Management Office surveys job applicants 
on their ethnicity, race, and disability status in order to determine 
if recruitment is effectively reaching all aspects of the relevant 
labor pool, in compliance with management directives from the Equal 
Opportunity Employment Commission. Response by applicants is optional. 
The information obtained is used for evaluating recruitment only and 
plays no part in the selection of who is hired. The information is not 
provided to selecting officials. Instead, the information is used in 
summary form to determine trends over many selections within a given 
occupational or organizational area. The information is treated in a 
confidential manner. No information from the form is entered into the 
official personnel file of the individual selected and all forms are 
destroyed after the conclusion of the selection process. The format of 
the questions on ethnicity and race are compliant with OMB requirements 
and comparable to those used by other agencies.
    Based upon past activity, the FTC staff estimates that up to 7,000 
applicants will submit the form as part of the new online application 
process and that the form will require approximately 2.5 minutes to 
complete, for an annual burden total of approximately 292 hours (7000 
applicants x 2.5 minutes to complete the form).

    Annual cost burden

    The cost per respondent should be negligible. Participation is 
voluntary and will not require any labor expenditures by respondents. 
There are no capital, start-up, operation, maintenance, or other 
similar costs to the respondents.

William Blumenthal,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. E8-24296 Filed 10-10-08: 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-S