72176 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 234 / Friday, December 5, 2014 / Notices 

1CTFK and Legacy also urged the Commission to 

collect and report sales and marketing data for 

cigars and electronic cigarettes, as well as for 

conventional tobacco cigarettes and smokeless 

tobacco. CTFK, at 2–3; Legacy, at 5–6. The 

Commission will consider those recommendations. 

2The Commission will consider Altria’s 

recommendation that all cigarette manufacturers be 

required to provide yield data if the major 

manufacturers are required to do so, although it 

believes that the five major cigarette manufacturers 

Closed Session 

1. Staff Briefing Concerning 

International Affairs. 

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: 

Karen V. Gregory, Secretary, (202) 523 

5725. 

Karen V. Gregory, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2014–28726 Filed 12–3–14; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 6730–01–P 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Submission for OMB 

Review; Comment Request 

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission 

(‘‘FTC’’ or ‘‘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 seeks public 

comments on proposed information 

requests by compulsory process to a 

combined ten or more of the largest 

cigarette manufacturers and smokeless 

tobacco manufacturers. The information 

sought would include, among other 

things, data on manufacturer annual 

sales and marketing expenditures. The 

current FTC clearance from the OMB to 

conduct such information collection 

expires January 31, 2015. The 

Commission intends to ask OMB for 

renewed three-year clearance to collect 

this information. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted by 

January 5, 2015. 

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 ‘‘Tobacco Reports: 

Paperwork Comment, FTC File No. 

P054507’’ on your comment. File your 

comment online at https://

ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/

tobaccoreportspra2 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: 

Requests for additional information 

should be addressed to Shira Modell, 

Division of Advertising Practices, 

Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal 

Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania 

Avenue NW., Mailstop CC–10528, 

Washington, DC 20580. Telephone: 

(202) 326–3116. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: FTC Cigarette and Smokeless 

Tobacco Data Collection. 

OMB Control Number: 3084–0134. 

Type of Review: Extension of 

currently approved collection. 

On August 13, 2014, the Commission 

sought comment on the information 

collection requirements associated with 

the Cigarette and Smokeless Tobacco 

Data Collection. 79 FR 47463 (‘‘August 

13, 2014 Notice’’). Pursuant to the OMB 

regulations, 5 CFR part 1320, that 

implement the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et 

seq., the FTC is providing a second 

opportunity for the public to comment 

while seeking OMB approval to renew 

the pre-existing clearance for the 

information the FTC proposes to seek 

from cigarette manufacturers and 

smokeless tobacco manufacturers. 

In response to the August 13, 2014 

Notice, the Commission received 

comments from Altria Client Services 

(‘‘Altria’’), the Campaign for TobaccoFree Kids (‘‘CTFK’’), Legacy, and 

Professor M. Jane Lewis (‘‘Lewis’’) of the 

Rutgers School of Public Health. 

Three of the comments (Legacy, 

Lewis, and CTFK) specifically noted the 

utility and importance of the 

Commission’s Cigarette and Smokeless 

Tobacco Reports, and urged the agency 

to continue collection and reporting 

industry sales and marketing 

expenditure data.1 Legacy and CTFK 

also noted that these data are not 

available from other sources. 

Three of the commenters (Altria, 

CTFK, and Legacy) responded to 

questions raised in the Commission’s 

60-day notice concerning the future 

collection of data on cigarette tar, 

nicotine, and carbon monoxide yields. 

Altria stated that the Commission 

should not require the manufacturers to 

provide yield data on all varieties of 

cigarettes they sell and should cease 

requiring the cigarette manufacturers to 

report any smoke constituent data, given 

the Food and Drug Administration’s 

(‘‘FDA’’) new statutory authority to 

collect such data. Altria stated further 

that if the Commission retains or 

expands the existing reporting 

requirements (which require the 

companies to provide yield data only for 

those varieties for which such data 

already exist), it should require all 

cigarette manufacturers, not just the 

major companies, to submit those data. 

Altria, at 3. 

CTFK acknowledged that tar, 

nicotine, and carbon monoxide yield 

data may be important for researchers 

and regulatory agencies, but noted that 

‘‘the tobacco industry’s history of 

manipulating this self-reported data 

raises concerns about its accuracy and 

validity,’’ and urged the Commission to 

coordinate with FDA ‘‘to establish a 

coherent set of product testing 

requirements that will best serve the 

statutory missions of both agencies.’’ 

CTFK, at 3. 

Legacy encouraged the Commission to 

cease its collection and reporting of 

these cigarette yield data, citing their 

potential to mislead consumers about 

health risks, the limitations of existing 

testing methodologies to produce yield 

results consistent with those actually 

experienced by smokers, and the 

‘‘potential unintended consequences 

among people of low literacy and low 

numeracy’’ to understand information 

on smoke constituent yields. Legacy, at 

2–3. Instead, Legacy noted, the 

Commission and the FDA should work 

together to determine the best 

methodology for determining the yields 

of harmful or potentially harmful smoke 

constituents, and the best means of 

disseminating that information in a way 

that protects public health. 

The FTC and FDA staff have long 

worked together on the many areas 

where the two agencies share 

jurisdiction, and the Commission fully 

expects this tradition to continue now 

that the agencies share jurisdiction over 

cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. The 

Commission further agrees that FDA 

should be the primary agency to 

determine the best test methodology. 

The Commission is not aware, however, 

of another means of preserving the 

existing record of cigarette yield trends 

unless it continues to collect these data. 

Freedom of Information Act requests 

filed with the Commission also suggest 

that researchers remain interested in 

these data. Accordingly, the 

Commission intends to continue 

collecting the data to the extent 

recipients of the 6(b) Orders possess 

them.2


wreier-aviles on DSK5TPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 234 / Friday, December 5, 2014 / Notices 72177 

that have received its Orders in recent years already 

represent at least 95% of domestic cigarette sales. 

3For example, the Commission reported spending 

on a single ‘‘promotional allowances’’ category 

through 2001, at which time separate categories 

were created for price discounts and promotional 

allowances paid to retailers, wholesalers, and 

others. 

4Both the cigarette and smokeless tobacco Orders 

require submission of data on ‘‘Public 

entertainment events (including, but not limited to, 

concerts and sporting events) bearing or otherwise 

displaying the name of the Company or any 

variation thereof but not bearing or otherwise 

displaying the name, logo, or an image of any 

portion of the package’’ of any of its cigarettes or 

smokeless tobacco products, or otherwise referring 

to those products. 

5As noted above, CTFK also asked about the 

reporting of coupons obtained online. 

6Lewis correctly noted that the category for 

spending other than on the company’s Web site 

specifically references ‘‘direct mail advertising 

using electronic mail messages.’’ Based on her 

review of recent Commission reports, however, she 

questioned whether the companies might actually 

be reporting those costs as direct mail. 

7For example, companies do not report the costs 

of employing full-time employees. If those 

employees are producing the electronic mail 

messages, their salaries would not show up in the 

companies’ submissions to the Commission. 

Two commenters (CTFK and Lewis) 

suggested modifications to the 

Commission’s reports. CTFK 

recommended that the Commission: (1) 

Report price discount expenditures for 

retailers and wholesalers separately; (2) 

clarify the definitions of certain 

expenditure categories—specifically, in 

which category coupons obtained online 

are to be counted; (3) report data on a 

company-specific or brand-specific 

basis, rather than on a fully aggregated 

basis, and on a state-level basis, as well 

as nationally; and (4) require 

manufacturers to report expenditures 

related to corporate sponsorships and 

advertisements, and expenditures 

related to promotion of their youth 

tobacco prevention programs. CTFK, at 

2. 

The Commission agrees that 

separating the existing category for price 

discounts (which have accounted for 

more than 70% of cigarette industry 

expenditures and more than 20% of 

smokeless tobacco industry 

expenditures in recent years) into two 

separate categories would be useful, and 

consistent with past decisions to 

disaggregate certain expenditure 

categories when they represent a 

significant proportion of overall 

spending.3 Regarding CTFK’s suggestion 

that data be reported on other than a 

fully aggregated, nationwide basis, the 

cigarette and smokeless tobacco 

companies assert that those data are 

confidential and, as CTFK 

acknowledges, the Commission cannot 

publicly release trade secrets or certain 

commercial or financial information. Id. 

at 2 n.2. CTFK’s contention that much 

of the information that the companies 

claim to be confidential is actually 

available from other sources seems 

inconsistent with its assertion that: 

The FTC is currently the primary source for 

data on cigarette and smokeless tobacco 

companies’ marketing and promotional 

expenditures. No other agency collects and 

publishes such information directly from the 

companies, making the FTC reports the most 

accurate and reliable assessment of tobacco 

marketing and promotion expenditures 

available. 

Id. at 1. Similarly, when the 

Commission has previously inquired 

about the feasibility of requiring 

expenditures to be reported on a stateby-state basis, rather than nationally, the 

major cigarette companies have stated 

that this was not possible. The 

Commission again asks for comment on 

this question. 

The Commission already requires the 

recipients of its 6(b) Orders to report 

certain expenditures made in the name 

of the company, rather than any of its 

brands,4 although it does not include 

them in its Cigarette and Smokeless 

Tobacco Reports. The Commission will 

consider whether those expenditures 

should be reported in the future. 

Similarly, the companies do report to 

the Commission the amount they spend 

on advertising directed to youth or their 

parents that are intended to reduce 

youth smoking or smokeless tobacco use 

(depending on the Order). The 

Commission includes this information 

in the textual portions of its industry 

Reports (unless only one company 

reported such spending), not in the 

annual expenditure-by-category tables. 

Lewis noted that the Commission’s 

reports do not define the term 

‘‘expenditure,’’ and she recommended 

that the reports clearly state what costs 

(e.g., contracted outside services, inhouse costs, and personnel) are covered. 

Lewis, at 2. The Commission agrees that 

this would be a useful addition to its 

Reports. 

Lewis stated that the Commission’s 

reports underestimate direct mail 

spending because the costs of items 

distributed by direct mail (e.g., coupons 

and specialty items) are reported in 

other categories, and recommended that 

the Commission require the companies 

to include the costs of those items in 

their calculations of their direct mail 

expenditures.5 Lewis also recommended 

that the Commission clarify whether 

spending for brand-specific Web sites 

should be reported as advertising on the 

company’s Web site, or as spending on 

the Internet other than on the 

company’s own Web site, and specify 

whether expenditures for electronic 

mail messages should be reported as 

direct mail or as advertising on the 

Internet other than on the company’s 

own Internet Web site.6 Lewis, at 2–3. 

The Commission will clarify in future 

Orders that spending on brand-specific 

Web sites should be counted as 

spending on the company’s Web sites. 

However, the Commission does not 

believe that its Orders should 

distinguish between, for example, 

expenditures on coupons delivered 

through direct mail and coupons 

delivered by other means. The full 

impact of couponing by the major 

cigarette and smokeless tobacco 

manufacturers can be seen only if 

expenditures for all coupons are 

reported together, regardless of how 

those coupons are delivered to 

consumers. 

The Commission believes that its 

Orders have been clear that spending on 

electronic mail messages should be 

reported as advertising expenditures on 

the Internet other than on the 

company’s Web site, and that the 

absence of reported expenditures does 

not mean that those costs are being 

categorized incorrectly.7 However, 

Lewis’s comment raises a question 

about whether spending on electronic 

mail messages should continue to be 

reported in the ‘‘other Internet’’ category 

or should be reported as direct mail 

expenditures. The Commission requests 

comment on that question. 

Finally, the Commission requests 

comment on two additional subjects: (1) 

Its intention to have the cigarette and 

smokeless tobacco companies that 

receive these Orders submit two 

separate datafiles (one containing salesrelated data, the other containing data 

on marketing expenditures), rather than 

one; and (2) whether it should cease 

collecting expenditure data on transit 

advertising. 

The Commission’s Orders require that 

sales data be reported in actual dollars, 

while advertising and promotional 

expenditures are reported in thousands 

of dollars; sales data are also reported 

for each individual variety of cigarette 

and smokeless tobacco sold by the 

company, while expenditure data are 

reported at the brand level. The 

Commission believes that requiring the 

recipients of these Orders to submit 

separate datafiles for sales and 

marketing expenditure data will both 

help avoid errors in the preparation of 

the companies’ submissions and 

expedite the agency staff’s processing of 

those data, without imposing additional 

costs on the Order recipients. 


wreier-aviles on DSK5TPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
72178 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 234 / Friday, December 5, 2014 / Notices 

8See Federal Trade Commission Cigarette Report 

for 2011 (2013), at Tables 2B—2E, available at 

http://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/

reports/federal-trade-commission-cigarette-report2011/130521cigarettereport.pdf; Federal Trade 

Commission Smokeless Tobacco Report for 2011 

(2013), at Tables 3B—3H, available at http://

www.ftc.gov/reports/federal-trade-commissionsmokeless-tobacco-report-2011. 

9The details and assumptions underlying these 

estimates were set forth in the August 13, 2014 

Federal Register notice. 

10The Commission intends to use this PRA 

clearance renewal to collect information from the 

companies concerning their marketing and sales 

activities for the years 2014, 2015, and 2016. The 

Commission expects to issue compulsory process 

orders seeking this information annually, but it is 

possible that orders might not be issued in any 

given year and that orders seeking information for 

two years would be issued the next year. The 

figures set forth in this notice for the estimated 

hours and labor costs associated with this 

information collection represent average annual 

burden over the course of the prospective PRA 

clearance. 

11 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). 

The Commission has collected and 

reported data on transit advertising 

(currently defined as ‘‘advertising on or 

within private or public vehicles and all 

advertisements placed at, on or within 

any bus stop, taxi stand, transportation 

waiting area, train station, airport or any 

other transportation facility’’) for 

decades. However, the 1998 Tobacco 

Master Settlement Agreement 

prohibited transit advertising, and the 

major cigarette manufacturers have 

reported no such spending since 2000, 

while the major smokeless tobacco 

companies have never reported any 

transit spending.8

Burden Statement: 9

Estimated Annual Burden: 2,100 

hours.10

Estimated Number of Respondents: 15 

maximum. 

The estimated number of respondents 

include any time spent by separately 

incorporated subsidiaries and other 

entities affiliated with the ultimate 

parent company that has received the 

information request. 

Estimated Average Burden per Year 

per Respondent: 140 hours. 

(a) Information requests to the five 

largest cigarette companies and five 

largest smokeless tobacco companies, at 

a per company average each year of 180 

hours = 1,800 hours, cumulatively, per 

year; and 

(b) Information requests to five 

additional respondents, of smaller size, 

at a per company average each year of 

60 hours = 300 hours, cumulatively, per 

year. 

Estimated Annual Labor Cost: 

$210,000. 

Estimated Capital or Other Non-Labor 

Cost: de minimis. 

Request for Comment: 

You can file a comment online or on 

paper. For the FTC to consider your 

comment, we must receive it on or 

before January 5, 2015. Write ‘‘Tobacco 

Reports: Paperwork Comment, FTC File 

No. P054507’’ 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 does 

not include any sensitive health 

information, like medical records or 

other individually identifiable health 

information. In addition, do not 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). 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).11 Your comment will be 

kept confidential only if the FTC 

General Counsel 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/

tobaccoreportspra2 by following the 

instructions on the web-based form. If 

this Notice appears at http://

www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also 

may file a comment through that Web 

site. 

If you file your comment on paper, 

write ‘‘Tobacco Reports: Paperwork 

Comment, FTC File No. P054507’’ on 

your comment and on the envelope, and 

mail it 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. 

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 January 5, 2015. For information 

on the Commission’s privacy policy, 

including routine uses permitted by the 

Privacy Act, see http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/ 

privacy.htm. For supporting 

documentation and other information 

underlying the PRA discussion in this 

Notice, see http://www.reginfo.gov/

public/jsp/PRA/praDashboard.jsp. 

Comments on the information 

collection requirements subject to 

review under the PRA should 

additionally be submitted to OMB. If 

sent by U.S. mail, they should be 

addressed 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 instead 

should be sent by facsimile to (202) 

395–5806. 

David C. Shonka, 

Principal Deputy General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2014–28597 Filed 12–4–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6750–01–P 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

[File No. 141 0141] 

GlaxoSmithKline, PLC and Novartis 

AG; Analysis of Proposed Consent 

Orders To Aid Public Comment 

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission. 

ACTION: Proposed Consent Agreement. 


wreier-aviles on DSK5TPTVN1PROD with NOTICES