Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Extension, 42346-42349 [E8-16508]

Agencies

• FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 140 (Monday, July 21, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42346-42349]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-16508]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


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

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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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. The Federal Trade 
Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') is seeking public comments on 
its proposal to extend through October 31, 2011, the current OMB 
clearance for the information collection requirements pertaining to the 
Commission's administrative activities. That clearance expires on 
October 31, 2008, and consists of: (a) applications to the Commission, 
including applications and notices contained in the Commission's Rules 
of Practice (primarily Parts I, II, and IV); (b) the FTC's consumer 
complaint systems; (c) the FTC's program evaluation activities and; (d) 
the FTC's Applicant Background Form.

DATES: Comments must be filed by September 19, 2008.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments. 
Comments should refer to ``Administrative Activities: FTC File No. 
P911409'' 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/Office of the Secretary, Room H-135, Annex J, 
600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20580. The FTC 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 Commission is subject to delay due to heightened security 
precautions. Moreover, because paper mail in the Washington area and at 
the Agency 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.''\1\
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    \1\ FTC Rule 4.2(d), 16 CFR 4.2(d). The comment must be 
accompanied by an explicit request for confidential treatment, 
including the factual and legal basis for the request, and must 
identify the specific portions of the comment to be withheld from 
the public record. The request will be granted or denied by the 
Commission's General Counsel, consistent with applicable law and the 
public interest. See FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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    Comments filed in electronic form should be submitted via the 
following weblink: (https://secure.commentworks.com/ftc-
adminactivities). To ensure that the Commission considers an electronic 
comment, you must file it on the web-based form at the weblink: 
(https://secure.commentworks.com/ftc-adminactivities). 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 
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. The Commission will consider all timely and responsive 
public comments that it receives, whether filed in paper or electronic 
form. Comments received 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 (https://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.shtm).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be addressed to Nick Mastrocinque, Attorney; Edwin Acajabon, 
Program Manager, Division of Planning and Information, Bureau of 
Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., 
N.W., H-228, Washington, D.C. 20580, (202) 326-3188; (202) 326-3684.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA''), 
44 U.S.C. 3501-3520, 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 paperwork 
clearance for the information collection requirements pertaining to the 
Commission's administrative activities (OMB Control Number 3084-0047).
    The FTC 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, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses. All comments should be filed as prescribed in 
the ADDRESSES section above, and must be received on or before 
September 19, 2008.
    The Commission's Administrative Activities clearance consists of: 
(a)

[[Page 42347]]

applications to the Commission, including applications and notices 
contained in the Commission's Rules of Practice (primarily Parts I, II, 
and IV); (b) the FTC's consumer complaint systems; (c) FTC program 
evaluation activities; and (d) the FTC's Applicant Background Form.
Estimated annual hours burden: 380,295 hours.

    (a) Applications to the Commission, including applications and 
notices contained in the Commission's Rules of Practice: 100 hours

    Most applications to the Commission generally fall within the ``law 
enforcement'' exception to the PRA\2\ and are mostly found in Part III 
(Rules of Practice for Adjudicative Proceedings) of the Commission's 
Rules of Practice. See 16 CFR 3.1-3.83. Nonetheless, there are various 
applications and notices to the Commission contained in other rules 
(generally in Parts I, II, and IV of the Commission's Rule of 
Practice). For example, staff estimates that the FTC annually receives 
approximately 15 requests for clearance submitted by former FTC 
employees in order to participate in certain matters and 5 screening 
affidavits submitted by partners or legal or business associates of 
former employees pursuant to Rule 4.1, 16 CFR 4.1.\3\ There are also 
procedures set out in Rule 4.11(e) for agency review of outside 
requests for Commission employee testimony, through compulsory process 
or otherwise, in cases or matters to which the agency is not a party. 
Rule 4.11(e) requires that a person who seeks such testimony submit a 
statement in support of the request. Staff estimates that agency 
personnel receive approximately 1 request per month or 12 per year. 
Other types of applications and notices are either infrequent or 
difficult to quantify. Nonetheless, in order to cover any potential 
``collection of information'' for which separate clearance has not been 
sought, staff conservatively projects the FTC will receive 50 
applications or notices per year. Staff estimates each respondent will 
incur, on average, approximately 2 hours of burden to submit an 
application or notice, resulting in a cumulative annual total of 100 
burden hours (50 applications or notices x 2 burden hours).
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    \2\ The ``law enforcement'' exception to the PRA excludes most 
items in this subcategory because they involve collecting 
information during the conduct of a Federal investigation, civil 
action, administrative action, investigation, or audit with respect 
to a specific party, or subsequent adjudicative or judicial 
proceedings designed to determine fines or other penalties. See 44 
U.S.C. 3518(c)(1); 5 CFR 1320.4(a)(1)-(3).
    \3\ Staff's estimates do not include Rule 4.1 submissions that 
pertain to ongoing law enforcement matters. See supra note 2.
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Annual cost burden:

    Using the burden hours estimated above, staff estimates that the 
total annual labor cost, based on a conservative estimated average of 
$425/hour for executives' and attorneys' wages, would be approximately 
$42,500 (100 hours x $425). There are no capital, start-up, operation, 
maintenance, or other similar costs to respondents.

    (b) Complaint Systems: 379,728 hours

Consumer Response Center

    Consumers can submit complaints about fraud and other practices to 
the FTC's Consumer Response Center by telephone or through the FTC's 
website. Telephone complaints and inquiries to the FTC are answered 
both by FTC staff and contractors. These telephone counselors ask for 
the same information that consumers would enter on the applicable forms 
available on the FTC's website. For telephone inquiries and complaints, 
the FTC staff retains its previous estimates that it takes 4.5 minutes 
per call to gather information, somewhat less time than the 5 minutes 
estimated for consumers to enter a complaint online. The burden 
estimate conservatively assumes that all of the phone call is devoted 
to collecting information from consumers, although frequently telephone 
counselors devote a small portion of the call to providing requested 
information to consumers.

Complaints Concerning the National Do Not Call Registry

    To receive complaints from consumers of possible violations of the 
rules governing the National Do Not Call Registry, 16 CFR 310.4(b), the 
FTC maintains both an online form and a toll free hotline with 
automated voice response system. Consumer complainants must provide 
either the name or telephone number of the company about which they are 
complaining, the phone number that was called, and the date of the 
call. They may also provide their name and address so they can be 
contacted for additional information, as well as for a brief comment 
regarding their complaint. In addition, online complainants have the 
option of answering three yes-or-no questions to help law enforcement 
investigating complaints; this option will also soon be made available 
to phone complainants. The FTC staff estimates that the time required 
of consumer complainants is 3.5 minutes for phone complaints and 2.5 
minutes for online complaints.\4\

Identity Theft
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    \4\ This is a slight increase from staff's 2005 estimates 
because of additional information collected, such as comments and 
three optional yes-or-no questions.
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    To handle complaints about identity theft, the FTC must obtain more 
detailed information than is required of other complainants. Identity 
theft complaints generally require more information (such as a 
description of actions complainants have taken with credit bureaus, 
companies, and law enforcement, and the identification of multiple 
suspects) than general consumer complaints and fraud complaints. In 
addition, the FTC has expanded the information required on its online 
complaint form (such as collecting additional information about the 
fraudulent activity at affected companies and creating an attachment 
summarizing all of the fraudulent account activity as well as all 
fraudulent information on the consumer's credit report). Consumers can 
print out a copy of the revised form and use it to assist them in 
completing a police report, if appropriate, and, as also may be 
necessary, an identity theft report. See 16 CFR 603.3 (defining the 
term ``identity theft report''). FTC staff continues to estimate that 
the revised online form takes consumers up to 13 minutes to complete.
    The FTC also made some revisions in the information it collects 
from consumers who call the Consumer Response Center (``CRC'') with 
identity theft complaints. Moreover, in order to better serve consumers 
who are unable to file complaints online, staff will send those who 
call the CRC with identify theft complaints a blank complaint form 
(identical to the online printed form) to assist them with completing a 
police or identify theft report as appropriate. Staff estimates that it 
will take 14 minutes per call to obtain identity theft-related 
information.\5\ A substantial portion of identity theft-related calls 
typically consists of counseling consumers on other steps they should 
consider taking to obtain relief (which may include directing consumers 
to a revised online complaint form). The time needed for counseling is 
excluded from the estimate.

Surveys
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    \5\ This is a 5 minute increase from staff's 2005 estimate in 
order to account for the time it will take consumers to fill out the 
blank complaint form.
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    Consumer customer satisfaction surveys give the agency information 
about the overall effectiveness and

[[Page 42348]]

timeliness of the CRC. The CRC surveys roughly 1 percent of 
complainants who file identity theft or general consumer complaints. 
Subsets of consumers contacted throughout the year are questioned about 
specific aspects of CRC customer service. Each consumer surveyed is 
asked several questions chosen from a list prepared by staff. The 
questions are designed to elicit information from consumers about the 
overall effectiveness of the call center. Half of the questions ask 
consumers to rate CRC performance on a scale or require a yes-or-no 
response. The second half of the survey asks more open-ended questions 
seeking a short written or verbal answer. In addition, the CRC may 
survey a sample of consumers immediately after they file their 
complaints regarding the services they received. Staff retains its 
previous estimate that each respondent will require 4 minutes to answer 
the questions (approximately 20-30 seconds per question).
    Finally, Consumer Sentinel user surveys give the agency information 
about the overall effectiveness of its Consumer Sentinel Network. 
Consumer Sentinel allows federal, state and local law enforcement 
organizations common access to a secure database containing over six 
million complaints from victims of consumer fraud and identity theft, 
as well as other complaints the FTC collects. To date, Consumer 
Sentinel has over 1,700 members, including law enforcement agencies 
from Canada and Australia. FTC staff plan to survey a sizeable number 
of Consumer Sentinel users each year about such things as overall 
satisfaction, performance, and possible improvements. Staff retains its 
previous estimate that the surveys should generally take approximately 
10 minutes per respondent.
    What follows are staff's estimates of burden for these various 
collections of information, including the surveys. The figures for the 
online forms and consumer hotlines are an average of annualized volume 
for the respective programs including both current and projected 
volumes over the 3-year clearance period sought and the number of 
respondents for each activity has been rounded to the nearest thousand.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           
       Activity                    minutes/       Total Hours
                         respondents        activity
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Misc. and fraud-       396,000          4.5              29,700
 related consumer
 complaints (phone)*
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Misc. and fraud-       520,000          5                43,333
 related consumer
 complaints
 (online)**
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Identity theft         385,700          14               89,997
 complaints (phone)*
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Identity theft         170,000          13               36,833
 complaints
 (online)**
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Do-Not-Call related    531,000          3.5              30,975
 consumer complaints
 (phone)
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Do-Not-Call related    3,548,000        2.5              147,833
 consumer complaints
 (online)
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Customer Satisfaction  9,600            4                640
 Questionnaire
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Consumer Sentinel      2,500            10               417
 User Surveys
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Totals                 5,562,800        ...............  379,728
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* Number of consumer calls calculated by projecting over the 3-year
  clearance period sought 5% annual growth and a telephone contractor
  response rate of 95% (contracted level of service) with regard to
  consumers who call the toll free lines and opt to talk to a counselor.
** Number of online collections projected from number of consumers who
  use the FTC's online complaint forms noted in the text above. These
  figures also assume 5% annual growth for miscellaneous and fraud-
  related complaints, and 8% annual growth for identity theft online
  complaints, over the 3-year clearance period requested.

Annual cost burden:

    The cost per respondent should be negligible. Participation is 
voluntary and will not require any labor expenditures by respondents. 
There are no capital, start-up, operation, maintenance, or other 
similar costs to the respondents.

    (c) Program Evaluations: 175 hours

Review of Divestiture Orders

    The Commission issues, on average, approximately 10-15 orders in 
merger cases per year that require divestitures. As a result of a 1999 
study authorized by the OMB and conducted by the staffs of the Bureau 
of Competition (``BC'') and the Bureau of Economics,\6\ BC monitors 
these required divestitures by interviewing representatives of the 
Commission-approved buyers of the divested assets within the first year 
after the divestiture is completed.
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    \6\ The Staff of the Bureau of Competition of the Federal Trade 
Commission compiled its findings from the study in its report: A 
Study of the Commission's Divestiture Process, 1999, available at 
(https://www.ftc.gov/os/1999/08/divestiture.pdf.)
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    BC staff interviews representatives of the buyers to ask whether 
all assets required to be divested were, in fact, divested;\7\ whether 
the buyer has used the divested assets to enter the market of concern 
to the Commission and, if so, the extent to which the buyer is 
participating in the market; whether the divestiture met the buyer's 
expectations; and whether the buyer believes the divestiture has been 
successful. In some cases, BC staff may also interview other 
participants, including customers or trustee monitors, as appropriate. 
In all these interviews, staff seeks to learn about pricing and other 
basic facts regarding competition in the markets of concern to the FTC.
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    \7\ To the extent that the staff interviews focus on a law 
enforcement activity (whether the party to the order complied with 
all its obligations), the interviews are not subject to the 
requirements of the PRA. See supra note 2.
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    Participation by the buyers is voluntary. Each responding company 
designates the company representative most likely to have the necessary 
information; typically, a company executive and a lawyer represents the 
company. Each interview takes approximately one hour to complete. BC 
staff further estimates that it takes each

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participant no more than one hour to prepare for the interview. In some 
instances, staff may do additional interviews with customers of the 
responding company or the monitor. Staff conservatively estimates that 
for each interview, two individuals (a company executive and a lawyer) 
will devote two hours (one hour preparing and one hour participating) 
each to responding to questions for a total of four hours. In addition, 
for approximately half of the divestitures, staff will seek to question 
two additional respondents, adding four participants (a company 
executive and a lawyer for each of the two additional respondents) 
devoting two hours each, for a total of eight additional hours. 
Assuming that staff evaluates up to 20 divestitures per year during the 
three-year clearance period, the total hours burden for the responding 
companies will be approximately 160 hours per year ((20 divestiture 
reviews x 4 hours for preparing and participating) + (10 divestiture 
reviews x 8 hours for preparing and participating)).

Annual cost burden:

    Using the burden hours estimated above, staff estimates that the 
total annual labor cost, based on a conservative estimated average of 
$425/hour for executives' and attorneys' wages, would be approximately 
$68,000 (160 hours x $425). There are no capital, start-up, operation, 
maintenance, or other similar costs to respondents.

Review of Competition Advocacy Program

    The FTC's competition advocacy program draws on the Commission's 
expertise in competition and consumer protection matters to encourage 
federal and state legislators, courts and other state and federal 
agencies to consider the competitive effects of their proposed actions. 
The FTC Office of Policy Planning (``OPP'') sends approximately 20 
letters or written comments to different state and federal government 
officials annually, which provide guidance on the likely competitive 
effects of various laws or regulations.
    In the past, OPP has evaluated the effectiveness of these advocacy 
comments by surveying comment recipients and other relevant decision 
makers. OPP intends to continue this evaluation by sending a written 
questionnaire to relevant parties between six and nine months after an 
advocacy comment is sent. Most of the questions ask the respondent to 
agree or disagree with a statement concerning the advocacy comment that 
they received. Specifically, these questions inquire as to the 
applicability, value, persuasive influence, public effect, and 
informative value of the FTC's comments. The questionnaire also 
provides respondents with an opportunity to provide additional remarks 
related either to the written comments received or the FTC's advocacy 
program in general. Participation is voluntary.
    OPP staff estimates that on average, respondents will take 30 
minutes or less to complete the questionnaire and 15 minutes of 
administrative time to prepare the response for mailing. Accordingly, 
staff estimates that each respondent will incur 45 minutes of burden 
resulting in a cumulative total of 15 burden hours per year (45 minutes 
of burden per respondent x 20 respondents per year). OPP staff does not 
intend to conduct any follow-up activities that would involve the 
respondents' participation.

Annual cost burden:

    OPP staff estimates a conservative hourly labor cost of $100 for 
the time of the survey participants (primarily state representatives 
and senators) and an hourly labor cost of $16 for administrative 
support time. Thus, staff estimates a total labor cost of $54 for each 
response (30 minutes of burden at $100 per hour plus 15 minutes of 
burden at $16 per hour). Assuming 20 respondents will complete the 
questionnaire on an annual basis, staff estimates the total annual 
labor costs will be approximately $1,080 ($54 per response x 20 
respondents). There are no capital, start-up, operation, maintenance, 
or other similar costs to respondents.

    (d) Applicant Tracking Form: 292 hours

    The FTC's Human Resources Management Office surveys job applicants 
on their ethnicity, race, and disability status in order to determine 
if recruitment is effectively reaching all aspects of the relevant 
labor pool, in compliance with management directives from the Equal 
Opportunity Employment Commission. Response by applicants is optional. 
The information obtained is used for evaluating recruitment only and 
plays no part in the selection of who is hired. The information is not 
provided to selecting officials. Instead, the information is used in 
summary form to determine trends over many selections within a given 
occupational or organizational area. The information is treated in a 
confidential manner. No information from the form is entered into the 
official personnel file of the individual selected and all forms are 
destroyed after the conclusion of the selection process. The format of 
the questions on ethnicity and race are compliant with OMB requirements 
and comparable to those used by other agencies.
    Based upon past activity, the FTC staff estimates that up to 7,000 
applicants will submit the form as part of the new online application 
process and that the form will require approximately 2.5 minutes to 
complete, for an annual burden total of approximately 292 hours (7000 
applicants x 2.5 minutes to complete the form).

Annual cost burden:

    The cost per respondent should be negligible. Participation is 
voluntary and will not require any labor expenditures by respondents. 
There are no capital, start-up, operation, maintenance, or other 
similar costs to the respondents.

William Blumenthal,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. E8-16508 Filed 7-18-08: 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-S