Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request, 7466-7469 [2015-02703]

Agencies

• FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 27 (Tuesday, February 10, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7466-7469]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-02703]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (FTC or 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 (PRA). The FTC seeks public 
comments on its proposal to extend for three years the current PRA 
clearance for information collection requirements contained in the Pay-
Per-Call Rule (Rule). That clearance expires on May 31, 2015.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 13, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment online or on paper by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comments part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``Pay-Per-Call Rule: FTC 
File No. R611016'' on your comment, and file your comment online at 
https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/ppcrulepra, 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 copies of the collection 
of information and supporting documentation should be addressed to 
Daniel O. Hanks, Attorney, Division of Marketing Practices, Bureau of 
Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue 
NW., Mail Drop CC-8528, Washington, DC 20580, (202) 326-2472.

[[Page 7467]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Proposed Information Collection Activities

    Under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520, 
federal agencies must get OMB approval for each collection of 
information they conduct, sponsor, or require. ``Collection of 
information'' means 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). 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 PRA clearance for the 
information collection requirements associated with the Commission's 
Pay-Per-Call Rule, 16 CFR part 308 (OMB Control Number 3084-0102). The 
FTC is again seeking a three-year clearance for the Rule as was done in 
2012.\1\
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    \1\ On October 30, 1998, the Commission published a Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking (``NPRM''), 63 FR 58524, to amend its Pay-Per-
Call Rule, 16 CFR part 308. The Rule, which implements Titles II and 
III of the Telephone Disclosure and Dispute Resolution Act 
(``TDDRA''), 15 U.S.C. 5711-14, 5721-24, requires the disclosure of 
cost and other information regarding pay-per-call services and 
establishes dispute resolution procedures for telephone-billed 
purchases (i.e., charges for pay-per-call services or other charges 
appearing on a telephone bill other than telecommunications 
charges). As was explained in the NPRM, the Rule contains certain 
reporting and disclosure requirements that are subject to OMB review 
under the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521. Accordingly, the FTC submitted 
the Rule, with proposed amendments, to OMB (see 64 FR 70031, Dec. 
15, 1999) for its approval, which was granted until December 31, 
2002 (OMB control number 3084-0102). Thereafter, the FTC obtained 
renewed clearance from OMB covering both the existing Rule and the 
proposed changes up through April 30, 2009.
    Since April 2009, the FTC has obtained two clearances, each of 
which covered only the existing rule without the proposed changes to 
the Rule. The proposed changes have not been adopted, and any final 
decision about them is too uncertain to merit inclusion in this 
request for clearance renewal. The Commission will seek PRA 
clearance separately for any proposed rule amendments if that 
becomes necessary at a future date.
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    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. All comments must be received on or before April 13, 
2015.

Burden Estimates

Brief Description of the Need for and Proposed Use of the Information

    The existing reporting and disclosure requirements are mandated by 
the TDDRA to help prevent unfair and deceptive acts and practices in 
the advertising and operation of pay-per-call services and in the 
collection of charges for telephone-billed purchases. The information 
obtained by the Commission pursuant to the reporting requirement is 
used for law enforcement purposes. The disclosure requirements ensure 
that consumers are told about the costs of using a pay-per-call 
service, that they will not be liable for unauthorized non-toll charges 
on their telephone bills, and how to deal with disputes about 
telephone-billed purchases.

Likely Respondents and Their Estimated Number

    Respondents are telecommunications common carriers (subject to the 
reporting requirement only, unless acting as a billing entity), 
information providers (vendors) offering one or more pay-per-call 
services or programs, and billing entities. Staff estimates that there 
are 6 common carriers,\2\ approximately 6,700 vendors,\3\ and 
approximately 1,700 possible billing entities.\4\ The FTC seeks public 
comment or data on these estimates and those stated below.
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    \2\ This estimate is based on the North American Numbering Plan 
Association Report, ``900-NXX Codes,'' found at https://www.nanpa.com/enas/form900MasterReport.do, which reports carriers 
that have been assigned blocks of 900 numbers for service. In 
calculating the estimate, Canadian entities and two carriers that 
have formally withdrawn from carrying 900 number service were 
excluded. See Federal Communications Commission, ``Section 63.71 
Application of Sprint Communications Company L.P. for Authority to 
Discontinue Domestic Telecommunications Services,'' Order, WC Docket 
No. 08-116, DA 08-2557 (Wireline Competition Bureau Nov. 24, 2008); 
Federal Communications Commission, ``Comments Invited on Application 
of MCI Communications Services, Inc. d/b/a Verizon Business Services 
to Discontinue Domestic Telecommunications Services,'' WC Docket No. 
13-139, DA 13-1256 (Wireline Competition Bureau May 30, 2013). The 
formal withdrawal of two national carriers from the provision of 900 
number transport service suggests that other carriers on the NANPA 
list may also no longer be providing service on the blocks of 900 
numbers assigned to them. This estimate may therefore overstate the 
number of carriers currently subject to rule requirements.
    \3\ The number of vendors is difficult to estimate as there is 
no ready source of such statistics. FTC staff has reduced a 2012 
estimate of the number of vendors (13,800) by approximately 51 
percent, reflecting a corresponding decrease in the allocation of 
900 numbers, as reported annually by the North American Numbering 
Plan Administration (NANPA). In 2010, it was 123; in 2013, it fell 
to 60. The withdrawal of at least some carriers from the provision 
of 900 number transport service and the low call volumes and client 
bases for these services reported by those carriers, discussed in 
notes 2 and 12, provide reason to believe that this estimate of the 
number of current vendors may be overstated.
    \4\ The Federal Communications Commission report on telephone 
statistics indicated that at the end of 2013 there were 1,723 local 
telephone companies (local exchange carriers). See Local Telephone 
Competition: Status as of December 31, 2013 (released 10/14) (tables 
4 and 5), available at https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-329975A1.pdf.
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    Estimated annual reporting and disclosure burden: 1,165,428 hours; 
$50,178,450 in associated labor costs.\5\
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    \5\ Non-labor (e.g., capital/other start-up) costs are generally 
subsumed in activities otherwise undertaken in the ordinary course 
of business (e.g., business records from which only existing 
information must be reported to the Commission, pay-per-call 
advertisements or audiotext to which cost or other disclosures are 
added, etc.). To the extent that entities incur operating or 
maintenance expenses, or purchase outside services to satisfy the 
Rule's requirements, staff believe those expenses are also included 
in (or, if contracted out, would be comparable to) the annual burden 
hour and cost estimates provided below (where such costs are labor-
related), or are otherwise included in the ordinary cost of doing 
business (regarding non-labor costs).
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    The burden hour estimate for each reporting and disclosure 
requirement has been multiplied by a ``blended'' wage rate (expressed 
in dollars per hour), based on the particular skill mix needed to carry 
out that requirement, to determine its total annual cost. The blended 
rate calculations are based on the following skill categories and 
average wage rates and/or labor costs: $115/hour for professional 
(attorney) services; $17/hour for skilled clerical workers; $39/hour 
for computer programmers; and $56/hour for management time. These 
figures are averages, based on the most currently available Bureau of 
Labor Statistics (``BLS'') cost figures posted online.\6\ FTC staff 
calculated labor costs by applying appropriate hourly cost figures to 
the burden hours discussed further below.
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    \6\ https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ocwage.pdf (Occupational 
Employment and Wages--May 2013, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of 
Labor Statistics, Table 1). Notwithstanding the referenced BLS data, 
estimated attorney costs are based on what staff believes may more 
closely reflect hourly attorney costs associated with Commission 
information collection activities under the Rule.
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    (1) Reporting burden (applies to common carriers):
    The Rule provides that common carriers must make available to the 
Commission, upon written request, any records and financial information 
maintained by such carrier relating to the arrangements between the 
carrier and any vendor or service bureau (other than for the provision 
of local exchange service). See 16 CFR 308.6. Staff believes that the 
resulting burden on this segment of the industry will be minimal, since 
OMB's definition of ``burden'' for PRA purposes excludes

[[Page 7468]]

any business effort that would be expended regardless of a regulatory 
requirement. 5 CFR 1320.3(b)(2). Because this reporting requirement 
permits staff to seek information limited to that which is already 
maintained by the carriers, the only burden would be the time an entity 
expends to compile and provide the information to the Commission. 
Because the Commission has seldom needed to rely on this requirement, 
staff estimates the annual time for reporting at 3 hours per entity.
    In obtaining OMB clearance for this reporting requirement in 2012, 
staff estimated a total reporting burden of 21 hours, with an annual 
cost of $1,600. Staff is now decreasing the total burden estimate to 18 
hours, based on an average estimate of 3 hours expended by 6 common 
carriers. Using a $51/hour blended wage rate (assuming for all labor 
calculations herein, $39/hour for computer programmers, $115/hour for 
attorneys, $17/hour for skilled clerical workers, and $56/hour for 
managers),\7\ the FTC now estimates an annual cost of $920.
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    \7\ This blended wage rate is based upon an estimate of 30 
percent for computer programming, 20 percent for attorney services, 
30 percent for skilled clerical workers, and 20 percent for 
managerial time.
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    (2) Disclosure burden:
    (a) Advertising (applies to vendors). FTC staff estimates that the 
annual burden on the industry for the Rule's advertising disclosure 
requirements is 24,120 hours. The estimate reflects the burden on 
approximately 6,700 vendors who must make cost disclosures for all pay-
per-call services and additional disclosures if the advertisement is 
(a) directed to individuals under 18 or (b) for certain pay-per-call 
services.\8\ Because of continued industry changes and the fact that 
the Commission has seldom needed to rely on this requirement, staff is 
retaining the estimated percentage of advertising both directed to 
individuals under 18 and relating to certain other pay-per-call 
services to 20 percent of overall pay-per-call services. FTC staff 
estimates that each disclosure mandated by the Rule requires 
approximately one hour of compliance time. The total estimated annual 
cost of these burden hours is $1,061,280 applying a blended wage rate 
of $44/hour.\9\
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    \8\ Based on an assumed three advertisements per vendor, or a 
total of 20,100 ads (for 6,700 vendors, as explained in note 3), 
plus an estimated total 20 percent of which would require such 
additional disclosures, or 4,020 advertisements. Staff estimates 
that it would require no more than one hour to draft each type of 
disclosure. Accordingly, at an estimated one hour each, vendors 
would require cumulatively 24,120 burden hours to comply with these 
requirements.
    \9\ The blended rate is based upon 20 percent for attorney 
services, 60 percent for skilled clerical workers, and 20 percent 
for management time.
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    (b) The Rule's preamble disclosure (applies to every pay-per-call 
service). To comply with the Act, the Pay-Per-Call Rule also requires 
that every pay-per-call service be preceded by a free preamble and that 
four different disclosures be made in each preamble. Additionally, 
preambles to sweepstakes pay-per-call services and services that offer 
information on federal programs must provide additional disclosures. 
Each preamble need only be prepared one time, unless the cost or other 
information is changed. There is no additional burden on the vendor to 
make the disclosures for each telephone call, because the preambles are 
taped and play automatically when a caller dials the pay-per-call 
number.
    As noted above (see footnote 3), staff now believes that the 
industry has had at least a 51 percent reduction in size since 2012 
(when there were an estimated 42,195 pay-per-call services). 
Accordingly, staff now estimates that there are no more than 20,580 
advertised pay-per-call services.
    As with advertising disclosures, preambles for certain pay-per-call 
services require additional preamble disclosures. Consistent with the 
estimates of advertised pay-per-call services discussed above, staff 
estimates that an additional 20 percent of all such pay-per-call 
services (4,120) relating to certain types of pay-per-call services 
would require such additional disclosures. Staff estimates that it 
would require no more than one hour to draft each type of disclosure 
because the disclosures applicable to the preamble closely approximate 
in content and volume the advertising disclosures discussed above. 
Accordingly, staff estimates a total of 24,700 burden hours (20,580 + 
4,120) to comply with these requirements. At one hour each, cumulative 
labor cost associated with these disclosures is $1,086,800, using a 
blended wage rate of $44/hour (i.e., similar to the blended rate used 
for advertising disclosures).
    (c) Telephone-billed charges in billing statements (applies to 
vendors; applies to common carriers if acting as billing entity). 
Section 308.5(j) of the Rule, 16 CFR 308.5(j), requires that vendors 
ensure that certain disclosures appear on each billing statement that 
contains a charge for a call to a pay-per-call service. Because these 
disclosures appear on telephone bills already generated by the local 
telephone companies, and because the carriers are already subject to 
nearly identical requirements pursuant to the FCC's rules, FTC staff 
estimated that the burden to comply would be minimal. At most, the 
burden on the vendor would be limited to spot checking telephone bills 
to ensure that the charges are displayed in the manner required by the 
Rule.
    As it had in the 2012 PRA submission, FTC staff estimates that only 
10 percent of vendors would monitor billing statements in this manner 
and that it would take 12 hours per year to conduct such checks. Using 
the total estimated number of vendors (6,700), this results in a total 
of 8,040 burden hours. The total annual cost would be at most $361,800, 
using a blended rate of $45/hour.\10\
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    \10\ The blended rate is 15 percent for attorney services, 40 
percent for skilled clerical workers, 25 percent for computer 
programming, and 20 percent for management time.
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    (d) Dispute resolution procedures in billing statements (applies to 
billing entities). This disclosure requirement is set forth in 16 CFR 
308.7(c). The blended rate used for these disclosures is $43/hour.\11\ 
FTC staff previously estimated that the billing entities would spend 
approximately 5 hours each to review, revise, and provide the 
disclosures on an annual basis. The estimated hour burden for the 
annual notice component of this requirement is 8,500 burden hours 
(based on 1,700 possible billing entities each requiring 5 hours), or a 
total cost of $365,500.
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    \11\ The blended rate is 40 percent for computer programming, 10 
percent for attorney services, 30 percent for skilled clerical 
workers, and 20 percent for management time.
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    (e) Further disclosures related to consumers reporting a billing 
error (applies to billing entities). As in the 2012 PRA submission for 
this Rule, FTC staff estimates that the incremental disclosure 
obligations related to consumers reporting a billing error under 
section 308.7(d) requires, on average, about one hour per each billing 
error. Previously, staff projected that approximately 5 percent of an 
estimated 45,101,950 calls made to pay-per-call services each year 
involves such a billing error. The staff is now reducing its prior 
estimate of the number of those calls by approximately 51 percent \12\ 
(to

[[Page 7469]]

22,001,000 calls) to reflect recent changes in the amount of pay-per-
call services and their billing. Assuming the same apportionment (5 
percent) of overall calls to pay-per-call services, this amounts to 
1,100,050 hours, cumulatively. Applying the $43/hour blended wage rate, 
the estimated annual cost is $47,302,150.
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    \12\ This reduction is based on the decrease in the allocation 
of 900 numbers discussed in note 3. Even this reduced number may 
substantially overstate the current volume of calls made to pay-per-
call services. For example, one national carrier that withdrew from 
carrying 900-number services reported that its call volume had 
dropped by more than 80% and that it had only two remaining 
customers for such services. See Federal Communications Commission, 
``Comments Invited on Application of MCI Communications Services, 
Inc. d/b/a Verizon Business Services to Discontinue Domestic 
Telecommunications Services,'' WC Docket No. 13-139, DA 13-1256 
(Wireline Competition Bureau May 30, 2013). Proceeding 
conservatively, however, staff has reduced the prior call volume 
estimate by only 51%.
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Request for Comments

    You can file a comment online or on paper. Write ``Pay-Per-Call 
Rule: FTC File No. R611016'' 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 https://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 does not include any 
sensitive personal information, such as a 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, do not include any ``[t]rade secret or 
any commercial or financial information which is . . . privileged or 
confidential,'' as discussed in 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). In particular, do 
not include competitively sensitive information such as costs, sales 
statistics, inventories, formulas, patterns, devices, manufacturing 
processes, or customer names.
    If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential 
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for 
confidential treatment, and you must follow the procedure explained in 
FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c). Your comment will be kept confidential 
only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole discretion, grants 
your request in accordance with the law and the public interest. Postal 
mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to heightened 
security screening. As a result, the Commission encourages 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/ppcrulepra by following the instructions 
on the web-based form. If this Notice appears at https://www.regulations.gov, you also may file a comment through that Web site.
    If you file your comment on paper, write ``Pay-Per-Call Rule: FTC 
File No. R611016'' 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, please 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 April 13, 
2015. You can find more information, including routine uses permitted 
by the Privacy Act, in the Commission's privacy policy, at https://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.

David C. Shonka,
Principal Deputy General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2015-02703 Filed 2-9-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P