Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2008/07/07/E8-15143/agency-information-collection-activities-proposed-collection-comment-request-extension
Timestamp: 2016-07-28 00:54:27
Document Index: 588377068

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 437', 'art 437', 'art 436', 'art 437', 'art 437', 'art 436']

Dates: Comments must be submitted on or before September 5, 2008.
-38453 (3 pages)
Document Number: E8-15143
Shorter URL: https://federalregister.gov/a/E8-15143 Action
Interested parties are invited to submit written comments. Comments should refer to “16 CFR Part 437: Paperwork Comment, FTC File No. R511993” to facilitate the organization of comments. A comment filed in paper form should include this reference both in the text and on the envelope and should be mailed or delivered to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Room H-135 (Annex J), 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. The Commission 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 FTC is subject to delay due to heightened security precautions. Moreover, because paper mail in the Washington area and at the FTC is subject to delay, please consider submitting your comments in electronic form, as prescribed below. If, however, the comment contains any material for which confidential treatment is requested, it must be filed in paper form, and the first page of the document must be clearly labeled “Confidential.”
Comments filed in electronic form should be submitted by following the instructions on the web-based form at (https://secure.commentworks.com/ftc-bizopPRA) 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: (https://secure.commentworks.com/ftc-bizopPRA). If this notice appears at www.regulations.gov, you may also file an electronic comment through that website. The Commission will consider all comments that www.regulations.gov forwards to it.
The FTC Act and other laws the Commission administers permit the collection of public comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. All timely and responsive public comments will be considered by the Commission and will be available to the public on the FTC website, to the extent practicable, at www.ftc.gov. As a matter of discretion, the FTC 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).
The Rule is designed to ensure that prospective purchasers of a business opportunity receive information that will help them evaluate the opportunity that is presented to them. Part 437 was promulgated in March of 2007, concurrently with the amendment of the Franchise Rule, Part 436. Part 437 mirrors the requirements and prohibitions of the original Franchise Rule, and imposes no additional disclosure or recordkeeping obligations or prohibitions.
The Rule requires business opportunity sellers to furnish to prospective purchasers a disclosure document that provides information relating to the seller, the seller’s business, the nature of the proposed business opportunity, as well as additional information regarding any claims about actual or potential sales, income, or profits for a prospective business opportunity purchaser. The seller must also preserve information that forms a reasonable basis for such claims. These requirements are subject to the PRA. The FTC is seeking to extend the current PRA clearance to October 31, 2011.
Estimated annual hours burden: 16,750 hours Back to Top
The burden estimates for compliance will vary depending on the particular business opportunity seller’s prior experience with the original Franchise Rule. Staff estimates that 250 or so new business opportunity sellers will enter the market each year, requiring approximately 30 hours each to develop a Rule-compliant disclosure document. Thus, staff estimates that the cumulative annual disclosure burden for new business opportunity sellers will be approximately 7,500 hours. Staff further estimates that the remaining 2,250 established business opportunity sellers will require no more than approximately 3 hours each to update their disclosure document. Accordingly, staff estimates that the cumulative annual disclosure burden for established business opportunity sellers will be approximately 6,750 hours.
Estimated annual labor cost: $3,595,000 Back to Top
Estimated non-labor cost: $3,887,500 Back to Top
2. In March of 2008, the Commission published the Business Opportunity Rule Revised Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 73 FR 16110 (March 26, 2008) (“Notice”). The Notice proposed amending the Business Opportunity Rule substantially, and would, among other things, reduce the number of required disclosures by sellers of business opportunities to prospective purchasers. Conversely, the Notice proposed amending the rule to expand the coverage of entities required to make disclosures to include a broader array of business opportunities than those covered by the original Franchise Rule. For now, however, only those businesses opportunities covered by the original Franchise Rule — such as vending machine and rack display opportunities — remain covered under part 437.
3. The current clearance under recently assigned OMB Control Number 3084-0142 covers the terms of the original Franchise Rule as applied to business opportunity sellers. The portion of clearance applicable to franchisors under Part 436 is separately assigned to pre-existing OMB Control Number 3084-0107.