[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 241 (Tuesday, December 16, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74722-74724]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-29441]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


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

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

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The FTC intends to ask the Office of Management and Budget 
(``OMB'') to extend for an additional three years the current Paperwork 
Reduction Act (``PRA'') clearance for the FTC's enforcement of the 
information collection requirements in its Fair Packaging and Labeling 
Act regulations (``FPLA Rules''). That clearance expires on May 31, 
2015.

DATES: Comments must be filed by February 17, 2015.

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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 ``FPLA Rules, PRA 
Comment, P074200'' on your comment and file your comment online at 
https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/fplaregspra 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: Megan Gray, Attorney, Division of 
Enforcement, Bureau of Consumer Protection, (202) 326-3405, 600 
Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Room 9541, Washington, DC 20580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FPLA, 15 U.S.C. 1451-1461, was enacted 
to eliminate consumer deception concerning product size and package 
content. Section 4 of the FPLA specifically requires packages or labels 
to be marked with: (1) A statement of identity; (2) a net quantity of 
contents disclosure; and (3) the name and place of business of the 
company responsible for the product. The FPLA regulations, 16 CFR parts 
500-503, specify how manufacturers, packagers, and distributors of 
``consumer commodities'' must do this.\1\
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    \1\ ``The term consumer commodity or commodity means any 
article, product, or commodity of any kind or class which is 
customarily produced or distributed for sale through retail sales 
agencies or instrumentalities for consumption by individuals, or use 
by individuals for purposes of personal care or in the performance 
of services ordinarily rendered within the household, and which 
usually is consumed or expended in the course of such consumption or 
use.'' 16 CFR 500.2(c). For the precise scope of the term's coverage 
see 16 CFR 500.2(c); 503.2; 503.5. See also http://ftc.gov/enforcement/rules/rulemaking-regulatory-reform-proceedings/fair-packaging-labeling-act.
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    Under the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521, federal agencies must get OMB 
approval for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. 
``Collection of information'' includes agency requests or requirements 
to submit reports, keep records, or provide information to a third 
party. 44 U.S.C. 3502(3); 5 CFR 1320.3(c). The FTC seeks clearance for 
the disclosure requirements under the FPLA Rules and the FTC's 
associated PRA burden estimates that follow.\2\
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    \2\ To the extent that the FPLA-implementing regulations require 
sellers of consumer commodities to keep records that substantiate 
``cents off,'' ``introductory offer,'' and/or ``economy size'' 
claims, Commission staff believes that most, if not all, of the 
records that sellers maintain would be kept in the ordinary course 
of business, regardless of the legal mandates.

A. Estimated number of respondents: 801,514 \3\
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    \3\ Commission staff identified categories of entities under its 
jurisdiction that supply consumer commodities as defined in the FPLA 
Rules. Those categories include retailers, wholesalers, and 
manufacturers. Commission staff estimated the number of retailers 
(735,038) based on Census data (under NAICS subsectors 445, 452, and 
453, respectively, for food and beverage stores, general merchandise 
stores, and miscellaneous store retailers) compiled by 
PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLC for the National Retail Federation 
report, ``Retail's Impact Across America'': https://nrf.com/advocacy/retails-impact. Commission staff estimated the number of 
wholesalers (42,160) and manufacturers (24,316) based on 2007 Census 
data (comparable 2012 Census data for them have not yet been 
released). See generally http://www.census.gov/econ/census/data/historical_data.html. Although the stated number of respondents 
suggests precision, it is an estimate in that it aggregates the 
number of establishments under industry codes that FTC staff 
believes reflect entities subject to the FPLA. But, even allowing 
for industries that may apply, the Census data do not separately 
break out non-household products from household use. Accordingly, 
the source information is over-inclusive and thus overstates what is 
actually subject to the FPLA.
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B. Burden Hours: 8,015,140 hours, cumulative (yearly recurring burden 
of 10 hours per respondent to modify and distribute notices x 801,514 
respondents)
C. Labor Costs: $185,149,734

    Labor costs are derived by applying appropriate estimated hourly 
cost figures to the burden hours described above. The FTC assumes that 
respondents will use employees to create compliant labels. Of the 10 
hours spent by each respondent, Commission staff assumes the hour 
breakdown will be as follows: 1 hour of managerial and/or professional 
time per covered entity, at an hourly wage of $60,\4\ 2 hours of 
specialized clerical support, at an hourly wage of $26,\5\ 7 hours of 
clerical time per covered entity, at an hourly wage of $17,\6\ for a 
total of $185,149,734 ($231 blended labor cost per covered entity x 
801,514 entities).
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    \4\ Based on an average of ``General and Operations Managers'' 
($55.81) and ($63.46), resulting in $59.64, rounded up to $60, 
available from ``Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economic News Release, 
April 1, 2014, Table 1, ``National employment and wage data from the 
Occupational Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 2013.'' 
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.nr0.htm.
    \5\ ``Specialized clerical support'' consists of computer 
support personnel who design the appearance and layout of product 
packaging, including appropriate display of the disclosures required 
by the FPLA regulations. The wage estimate is based on mean hourly 
wages for ``Computer support specialist.'' See Bureau of Labor 
Statistics, Economic News Release, April 1, 2014, Table 1, 
``National employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment 
Statistics survey by occupation, May 2013.http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.nr0.htm.
    \6\ See id. The clerical wage estimate is a rounded average of 
mean hourly wages for ``computer operators'' ($19.25) and ``data 
entry and information processing workers'' ($15.28).

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D. Capital/Non-Labor Costs: $0

    Commission staff believes that the FPLA Rules impose negligible 
capital or other non-labor costs, as the affected entities are likely 
to have the necessary supplies and/or equipment already (e.g., offices 
and computers) for the information collections discussed above.
    Request for Comment: Pursuant to Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, 
the FTC invites comments on: (1) Whether the disclosure requirements 
are necessary, including whether the information will be practically 
useful; (2) the accuracy of our burden estimates, including whether the 
methodology and assumptions used are valid; (3) ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
(4) ways to minimize the burden of providing the required information 
to consumers.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before February 17, 
2015. Write ``FPLA Rules, PRA Comment, P074200'' 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 doesn't 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

[[Page 74724]]

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 treat your comment as confidential, 
you must file it in paper form, with a request for confidentiality, and 
you have to follow the procedure explained in FTC Rule 4.9(c).\7\ Your 
comment will be kept confidential only if the FTC General Counsel 
grants your request in accordance with the law and the public interest.
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    \7\ 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).
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    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. To make sure that the Commission considers your 
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/fplaregspra, 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 ``FPLA Rules, PRA Comment, 
P074200'' 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 February 17, 
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.

David C. Shonka,
Principal Deputy General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2014-29441 Filed 12-15-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P