37450 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 153 / Thursday, August 10, 2017 / Notices 

1E.g., 79 FR 47463 (Aug. 13, 2014); 79 FR 72176 

(Dec. 5, 2014). 

Matters relating to internal personnel 

decisions, or internal rules and 

practices. 

Information the premature disclosure 

of which would be likely to have a 

considerable adverse effect on the 

implementation of a proposed 

Commission action. 

Matters concerning participation in 

civil actions or proceedings or 

arbitration. 

* * * * * 

PERSON TO CONTACT FOR INFORMATION: 

Judith Ingram, Press Officer, Telephone: 

(202) 694–1220. 

Laura E. Sinram, 

Acting Deputy Secretary of the Commission. 

[FR Doc. 2017–17019 Filed 8–8–17; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 6715–01–P 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Proposed Collection; 

Comment Request 

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission 

(‘‘FTC’’ or ‘‘Commission’’). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The FTC seeks public 

comments on proposed information 

requests sent pursuant to 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 Office of 

Management and Budget (‘‘OMB’’) to 

conduct such information collection 

expires January 31, 2018. The 

Commission intends to ask OMB for 

renewed three-year clearance to collect 

this information. 

DATES: Comments on the proposed 

information requests must be received 

on or before October 10, 2017. 

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, and file the 

comment online at https://

ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/ 

tobaccoreportspra by following the 

instructions on the web-based form. If 

you prefer to file your comment on 

paper, mail or deliver 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 or 

copies of the proposed collection of 

information should be addressed to 

Michael Ostheimer, Division of 

Advertising Practices, Bureau of 

Consumer Protection, Federal Trade 

Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue 

NW., Mailstop CC–10507, Washington, 

DC 20580. Telephone: (202) 326–2699. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For fifty 

years, the FTC has published periodic 

reports containing data on domestic 

cigarette sales and marketing 

expenditures by the major U.S. cigarette 

manufacturers. The Commission has 

published comparable reports on 

smokeless tobacco sales and marketing 

expenditures for thirty years. Originally, 

both reports were issued pursuant to 

statutory mandates. After those statutory 

mandates were terminated, the 

Commission continued to collect and 

publish information obtained from the 

cigarette and smokeless tobacco 

industries pursuant to Section 6(b) of 

the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(b). As noted 

above, the current PRA clearance to 

collect this information is valid through 

January 31, 2018 (OMB Control No. 

3084–0134). 

The Commission plans to continue 

sending information requests annually 

to the ultimate parent company of 

several of the largest cigarette 

companies and smokeless tobacco 

companies in the United States 

(‘‘industry members’’). The information 

requests will seek data regarding, inter 

alia: (1) The tobacco sales of industry 

members; (2) how much industry 

members spend advertising and 

promoting their tobacco products, and 

the specific amounts spent in each of a 

number of specified expenditure 

categories; (3) whether industry 

members are involved in the appearance 

of their products or brand imagery in 

television shows, motion pictures, on 

the Internet, or on social media; (4) how 

much industry members spend on 

advertising intended to reduce youth 

tobacco usage; (5) the events, if any, 

during which industry members’ 

tobacco brands are televised; (6) how 

much industry members spend on 

public entertainment events promoting 

their companies but not specific tobacco 

products or tobacco products generally; 

and (7) for the cigarette industry, the 

‘‘tar’’, nicotine, and carbon monoxide 

yields of their cigarettes. The 

information will again be sought using 

compulsory process under Section 6(b) 

of the FTC Act. 

Under the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501–3521, 

federal agencies must obtain approval 

from OMB for each collection of 

information they conduct or sponsor. 

‘‘Collection of information’’ means 

agency requests or requirements that 

members of the public submit reports, 

keep records, or provide information to 

a third party. 44 U.S.C. 3502(3), 5 CFR 

1320.3(c). As required by section 

3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, the FTC is 

providing this opportunity for public 

comment before requesting that OMB 

extend the existing clearance for the 

proposed collection of information. 

The Commission 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 the collection of information 

on those who are to respond, including 

through the use of appropriate 

automated, electronic, mechanical, or 

other technological collection 

techniques or other forms of information 

technology. 

Estimated hours burden: The FTC 

staff’s estimate of the hours burden is 

based on the time required each year to 

respond to the Commission’s 

information request. Although the FTC 

currently anticipates sending 

information requests each year to the 

four largest cigarette companies and the 

five largest smokeless tobacco 

companies, the burden estimate is based 

on up to 15 information requests being 

issued per year to take into account any 

future changes in these industries. 

These companies vary greatly in size, in 

the number of products they sell, and in 

the extent and variety of their 

advertising and promotion. 

The companies have not taken issue 

with the staff’s burden estimates in prior 

requests for PRA reauthorization,1

suggesting that the time most companies 

would require to gather, organize, 

format, and produce their responses 

would range from 30 to 80 hours per 

information request for the smaller 

companies, to as much as hundreds of 

hours for the very largest companies. As 

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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 153 / Thursday, August 10, 2017 / Notices 37451 

2Commission staff believes this estimate is 

conservative: According to data from the Bureau of 

Labor Statistics, the mean hourly wages for these 

three occupations are as follows: $25.57 for 

paralegals; $44.36 for computer and information 

analysts; and $67.25 for lawyers. Economic News 

Release, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table 1— 

National employment and wage data from the 

Occupational Employment Statistics survey by 

occupation, May 2016 (Mar. 31, 2011) (Table 1), 

available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ 

ocwage.t01.htm. Even if employees of the major 

cigarette and smokeless tobacco manufacturers earn 

more than these hourly wages, the staff believes its 

$100/hour estimate is appropriate. 

an approximation, staff continues to 

assume a per company average of 180 

hours for the nine largest recipients of 

the Commission’s information requests 

to comply—cumulatively, 1,620 hours 

per year. 

Staff anticipates that if the 

Commission decides to issue 

information requests to any additional 

companies, those companies would be 

smaller than the primary nine recipients 

and that the response burden per 

additional recipient would be less than 

for the larger companies. Staff believes 

that the burden should not exceed 60 

hours per entity for the smaller 

recipients of the information requests. 

Cumulatively, then, the total burden for 

six additional respondents should not 

exceed 360 hours per year. Thus, the 

overall estimated burden for a 

maximum of 15 recipients of the 

information requests is 1,980 hours per 

year. These estimates include any time 

spent by separately incorporated 

subsidiaries and other entities affiliated 

with the ultimate parent company that 

has received the information request. 

Estimated cost burden: Commission 

staff cannot calculate with precision the 

labor costs associated with this data 

production, as those costs entail varying 

compensation levels of management 

and/or support staff among companies 

of different sizes. The staff assumes that 

paralegals and computer analysts will 

perform most of the work involved in 

responding to the Commission Orders, 

although in-house legal personnel will 

be involved in reviewing the actual 

submission to the Commission. The staff 

continues to use a combined hourly 

wage of $100/hour for the combined 

efforts of these individuals.2 Using this 

figure, staff’s best estimate for the total 

labor costs for up to 15 information 

requests is $198,000 per year. Staff 

believes that the capital or other nonlabor costs associated with the 

information requests are minimal. 

Although the information requests may 

necessitate that industry members 

maintain the requested information 

provided to the Commission, they 

should already have in place the means 

to compile and maintain business 

records. 

Request for comment: You can file a 

comment online or on paper. For the 

Commission to consider your comment, 

we must receive it on or before October 

10, 2017. 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. 

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/ 

tobaccoreportspra, by following the 

instructions on the web-based form. 

When 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 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, Washington, DC 

20024. If possible, submit your paper 

comment to the Commission by courier 

or overnight service. 

Because your comment will be placed 

on the publicly accessible FTC Web site 

at https://www.ftc.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 on the public FTC Web 

site—as legally required by FTC Rule 

4.9(b)—we cannot redact or remove 

your comment from the FTC Web site, 

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 October 10, 2017. 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. 

David C. Shonka, 

Acting General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2017–16898 Filed 8–9–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6750–01–P 

GENERAL SERVICES 

ADMINISTRATION 

[Notice–ID–2017–02; Docket 2017–0002; 

Sequence No. 14] 

Privacy Act of 1974; System of 

Records 

AGENCY: General Services 

Administration (GSA). 

ACTION: Notice of a modified system of 

records. 

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