Agency Information Collection Activities: Announcement of Board Approval Under Delegated Authority and Submission to OMB, 42347-42348 [2017-18957]

Agencies

• FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 172 (Thursday, September 7, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42347-42348]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-18957]


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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM


Agency Information Collection Activities: Announcement of Board 
Approval Under Delegated Authority and Submission to OMB

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

SUMMARY: The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) 
is adopting a proposal to extend for three years, without revision, the 
mandatory Government-Administered, General-Use Prepaid Card Issuer 
Survey (FR 3063a; OMB No. 7100-0343) and the voluntary Government-
Administered, General-Use Prepaid Card Government Survey (FR 3063b; OMB 
No. 7100-0343).
    On June 15, 1984, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
delegated to the Board authority under the Paperwork Reduction Act 
(PRA) to approve of and assign OMB control numbers to collection of 
information requests and requirements conducted or sponsored by the 
Board. Board-approved collections of information are incorporated into 
the official OMB inventory of currently approved collections of 
information. Copies of the Paperwork Reduction Act Submission, 
supporting statements and approved collection of information 
instrument(s) are placed into OMB's public docket files. The Federal 
Reserve may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required 
to respond to, an information collection that has been extended, 
revised, or implemented on or after October 1, 1995, unless it displays 
a currently valid OMB control number.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Federal Reserve Board Clearance 
Officer--Nuha Elmaghrabi--Office of the Chief Data Officer, Board of

[[Page 42348]]

Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551 (202) 
452-3829. Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) users may 
contact (202) 263-4869, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
System, Washington, DC 20551.
    OMB Desk Officer--Shagufta Ahmed--Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive 
Office Building, Room 10235, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503 
or by fax to (202) 395-6974.

Final Approval Under OMB Delegated Authority of the Extension for Three 
Years, Without Revision, of the Following Report

    Report title: Government-Administered, General-Use Prepaid Card 
Surveys.
    Agency form number: FR 3063a and FR 3063b.
    OMB control number: 7100-0343.
    Frequency: Annual.
    Respondents: Issuers of government-administered, general-use 
prepaid cards (FR 3063a) and governments that administer general-use 
prepaid card programs (FR 3063b).
    Estimated number of respondents: FR 3063a: 25; FR 3063b: 75.
    Estimated average hours per response: FR 3063a: 25 hours; FR 3063b: 
15 hours.
    Estimated annual burden hours: FR 3063a: 625 hours; FR 3063b: 1,125 
hours.
    General Description of Report: The issuer survey (FR 3063a) 
collects data from issuers of government-administered, general-use 
prepaid cards including card program information, cards outstanding, 
card funding, ATM transactions, purchase transactions, fees paid by 
issuers to third parties, interchange fees, and cardholder fees. The 
issuer survey (FR 3063a) is mandatory.
    The government survey (FR 3063b) collects data from state 
governments, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories 
(collectively, state governments), and municipal government offices 
located within the United States (local government offices) that 
administer general-use prepaid card payment programs.\1\ Data collected 
from government offices include program information, the number of 
cards outstanding, and funding information. The government survey (FR 
3063b) is voluntary.
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    \1\ The issuer and government surveys request information on all 
federal, state, or local government-administered payment programs 
that provide a general-use prepaid card (or other debit card) 
disbursement option to payment recipients. The government survey may 
be distributed to federal government agencies in addition to state 
and local governments, but collections of information from federal 
government agencies are not subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act 
and, thus, are not included in this discussion.
    U.S. territories include American Samoa, Guam, Midway Islands, 
Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands.
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    The Board uses data from these surveys to support an annual report 
to the Congress on the prevalence of use of general-use prepaid cards 
in federal, state, and local government-administered payment programs 
and on the interchange and cardholder fees charged with respect to such 
use of such cards.
    Legal authorization and confidentiality: The Board's Legal Division 
has determined that both the issuer survey and the government survey 
are authorized by subsection 920(a) of the Electronic Fund Transfer 
Act, which was amended by section 1075(a) of the Dodd-Frank Act (15 
U.S.C. 1693o-2). This subsection requires the Board to submit an annual 
report to Congress on the prevalence of the use of general-use prepaid 
cards in Federal, State or local government-administered payment 
programs and the interchange transaction fees and card-holder fees 
charged with respect to the use of such general-use prepaid cards (15 
U.S.C. 1693o-2(a)(7)(D)). It also provides the Board with authority to 
require issuers to provide information to enable the Board to carry out 
the provisions of the subsection (15 U.S.C. 1693o-2(a)(3)(B)). The 
obligation of issuers to respond to the issuer survey (FR 3063a) is 
mandatory. However, the obligation of state governments and local 
government offices to respond to the government survey (FR 3063b) is 
voluntary. All of the information collected on the government survey 
and a limited amount of information collected on the issuer survey is 
publicly available, and thus, is not accorded confidential treatment. 
However, most of the information collected on the issuer survey is not 
publicly available and may be kept confidential under exemption (b)(4) 
of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which exempts from disclosure 
``trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a 
person and privileged or confidential'' (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)). Such data 
may be kept confidential under exemption 4 if the release of data would 
cause substantial harm to the competitive position of the issuer. For 
example, certain issuer survey responses would likely contain 
information related to an organization's revenue structure and other 
proprietary and commercial information and the release of such 
information would cause substantial harm to the competitive position of 
the issuer.
    Current actions: On June 5, 2017, the Board published a notice in 
the Federal Register (82 FR 25801) requesting public comment for 60 
days on the proposal to extend, without revision, the FR 3063a and FR 
3063b. The comment period for this notice expired on August 4, 2017. 
The Board did not receive any comments. The information collection will 
be extended as proposed.

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, September 1, 
2017.
Ann E. Misback,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2017-18957 Filed 9-6-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6210-01-P