Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request, 54342-54344 [2017-24915]
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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 221 / Friday, November 17, 2017 / Notices
‘‘. . . part of a single, common business
enterprise . . .’’ though they will retain
the brands as separate legal entities. The
Petitioners speculate that ‘‘the
transaction will be completed . . .
potentially as early as mid-December
2017.’’ Petitioners state that ‘‘the
exemption would apply to all
agreements and activities between
Cosco and OOCL that would otherwise
be subject to filing under the Act, so
long as the parties are commonly owned
and controlled.’’ The Petitioners claim
that ‘‘the requested exemption will not
result in a substantial reduction in
competition and will not be detrimental
to commerce.’’
In order for the Commission to make
a thorough evaluation of the exemption
requested in the Petition, pursuant to 46
CFR 502.92, interested parties are
requested to submit views or arguments
in reply to the Petition no later than
December 1, 2017. Replies shall be sent
to the Secretary by email to Secretary@
fmc.gov or by mail to Federal Maritime
Commission, 800 North Capitol Street
NW., Washington, DC 20573–0001, and
replies shall be served on Petitioners’
counsels, David F. Smith, Cozen O’
Connor, 1200 Nineteenth Street NW.,
Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036,
dsmith@cozen.com, Robert B.
Yoshitomi, Nixon Peabody LLP, 300
South Grand Avenue, Suite 4100, Los
Angeles, CA 90071–3151, ryoshitomi@
nixonpeabody.com, and Eric C. Jeffrey,
799 9th Street NW., Suite 500,
Washington, DC 20001–5327, ejeffrey@
nixonpeabody.com.
Non-confidential filings may be
submitted in hard copy to the Secretary
at the above address or by email as a
PDF attachment to Secretary@fmc.gov
and include in the subject line: P2–17
(Commenter/Company). Confidential
filings should not be filed by email. A
confidential filing must be filed with the
Secretary in hard copy only, and be
accompanied by a transmittal letter that
identifies the filing as ‘‘ConfidentialRestricted’’ and describes the nature and
extent of the confidential treatment
requested. The Commission will
provide confidential treatment to the
extent allowed by law for confidential
submissions, or parts of submissions, for
which confidentiality has been
requested. When a confidential filing is
submitted, there must also be submitted
a public version of the filing. Such
public filing version shall exclude
confidential materials, and shall
indicate on the cover page and on each
affected page ‘‘Confidential materials
excluded.’’ Public versions of
confidential filings may be submitted by
email. The Petition will be posted on
the Commission’s Web site at https://
VerDate Sep<11>2014
18:32 Nov 16, 2017
Jkt 244001
www.fmc.gov/P2-17. Replies filed in
response to the Petition will also be
posted on the Commission’s Web site at
this location.
Rachel E. Dickon,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017–25007 Filed 11–16–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6731–AA–P
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request
Federal Trade Commission
(‘‘FTC’’ or ‘‘Commission’’).
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
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 proposed information
requests sent pursuant to compulsory
process to a combined ten or more of the
largest domestic cigarette manufacturers
and smokeless tobacco manufacturers.
The information sought would include,
among other things, data on 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 December 18, 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/tobacco
reportspra by following the instructions
on the web-based form. If you prefer to
file your comment on paper, 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
(Annex J), Washington, DC 20024.
SUMMARY:
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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–10603, Washington,
DC 20580. Telephone: (202) 326–2699.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: FTC Cigarette and Smokeless
Tobacco Data Collection.
OMB Control Number: 3084–0134.
Type of Review: Extension of
currently approved collection.
On August 10, 2017, the Commission
sought comment on the information
collection requirements associated with
the Cigarette and Smokeless Tobacco
Data Collection. 82 FR 37440 (‘‘August
10, 2017 Notice’’). Pursuant to the OMB
regulations, 5 CFR part 1320, that
implement the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et
seq., the FTC is providing a second
opportunity for the public to comment
while seeking OMB approval to renew
the existing clearance for the
information the FTC proposes to seek
from the largest domestic cigarette
manufacturers and smokeless tobacco
manufacturers.
In response to the August 10, 2017
Notice, the Commission received
comments from the Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids (‘‘CTFK’’) and Altria
Client Services (‘‘Altria’’).
The CTFK comment specifically
noted the utility and importance of the
Commission’s Cigarette and Smokeless
Tobacco Reports, and urged the agency
to continue collecting and reporting
industry sales and marketing
expenditure data, which CTFK stated
provide ‘‘critical data to researchers,
policymakers, advocates and the general
public.’’ CTFK additionally observed:
The FTC is currently the primary source
for data on cigarette and smokeless tobacco
companies’ marketing and promotional
expenditures. No other agency collects and
publishes such information directly from the
companies, making the FTC reports the most
accurate and reliable assessment of tobacco
marketing and promotion expenditures
available.
CTFK at 1.
CTFK, however, suggested certain
modifications to the Commission’s
reports. Specifically, CTFK
recommended that the Commission: (1)
Report separately price discount
expenditures for retailers and
wholesalers; (2) clarify the definitions of
certain expenditure categories—
specifically, in which category coupons
that consumers obtain online are to be
counted; (3) report data on a company-
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sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
specific or brand-specific basis, rather
than on a fully-aggregated basis; (4)
require manufacturers to report
expenditures related to corporate
sponsorships and advertisements; and
(5) provide an option to download the
published report data in spreadsheet
format. Id. at 2.
The Commission agrees that
collecting and reporting separately price
discount expenditures for retailers and
wholesalers is useful. Beginning with its
6(b) Orders for 2014, the Commission
has been separately collecting and
reporting information about price
discounts paid to retailers and price
discounts paid to wholesalers.
The Commission will clarify in future
Orders that expenditures on coupons
delivered online should be reported
together with coupons delivered by
other means. The full impact of
couponing by the major cigarette and
smokeless tobacco manufacturers can
only be seen if expenditures for all
coupons are reported together,
regardless of how those coupons are
delivered to consumers.
Regarding CTFK’s suggestion that data
be reported on other than a fullyaggregated, nationwide basis, the
cigarette and smokeless tobacco
companies assert that those data are
confidential and, as CTFK
acknowledges, the Commission cannot
publicly release trade secrets or certain
commercial or financial information. Id.
at 2 n.2.
As for requiring manufacturers to
report expenditures related to corporate
sponsorships and advertisements, the
Commission already requires the
recipients of its 6(b) Orders to report
certain expenditures made in the name
of the company, rather than any of its
brands.1 However, the Commission does
not include those data in its Cigarette
and Smokeless Tobacco Reports. The
Commission will consider whether
those expenditures should be reported
in the future or whether to cease
collecting this information.
The Commission agrees that it would
be helpful to provide an option to
download the published report data in
spreadsheet format and will begin doing
so with its next published reports.
Altria stated that the Commission
should no longer collect any
information from cigarette and
1 Both the cigarette and smokeless tobacco Orders
require the recipients to report expenditures on
‘‘public entertainment events (including, but not
limited to, concerts and sporting events) bearing or
otherwise displaying the name of the Company or
any variation thereof but not bearing or otherwise
displaying the name, logo, or an image of any
portion of the package’’ of any of its cigarettes or
smokeless tobacco products, or otherwise referring
to those products.
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smokeless tobacco manufacturers ‘‘in
light of the Food and Drug
Administration’s . . . extensive, active
regulatory authority over tobacco
products under the Family Smoking
Prevention and Tobacco Control Act,’’
calling such collections ‘‘superfluous’’
and ‘‘unnecessary burdens.’’ Altria at 1,
3. Altria contends that the FTC’s most
recent requests seek ‘‘not only
information that the companies already
produce to FDA, but also information
unrelated to the advertising and
promotion of tobacco products.’’ Id. at
3–4. It gives the following examples:
(a) cigarette design data, including cigarette
length, style, flavor, and filter type; (b)
constituent data, including nicotine, carbon
monoxide, and tar; (c) lists of cigarettes first
sold or discontinued in 2016; and (d) lists of
other product information, including brand
varieties, pack size, and package type.
Id. at 4 n.15. Altria also suggests that the
FTC has recently expanded its requests
to seek information on expenditures
from parent companies that do not sell
or advertise tobacco products. Id. at 3.
The FTC staff and FDA staff have a
long tradition of working together on the
many areas where the two agencies
share jurisdiction. The FDA is not
collecting cigarette or smokeless tobacco
sales and marketing expenditure data
like that required by the Commission’s
6(b) Orders, so there is no overlap or
duplication with respect to such data.
Moreover, to the extent there might be
some overlap in the collection of
information about whether brand styles
of cigarettes are filtered or unfiltered,
menthol or non-menthol, and their
cigarette length, the Commission needs
those data so it can combine them with
sales information for each brand style in
order to report the percentages of
cigarettes sold by the leading
manufacturers falling into each product
type category (e.g., 26% of the cigarettes
sold by these manufacturers in 2015
were menthol). FDA is not collecting
cigarette sales information, so it cannot
calculate sales percentages by product
types. The Commission intends to
continue collecting cigarette and
smokeless tobacco sales and marketing
expenditure data, together with cigarette
length, flavor, and filter information. To
the extent that in the future the FDA
duplicates the FTC’s data collection, the
FTC can modify or cease its collection.
Until 2000, the Commission collected
cigarette tar, nicotine, and carbon
monoxide yields and published that
information by brand style. Because of
concerns that the yield information was
misleading consumers, the Commission
ceased publishing that information, but
it has continued to collect tar, nicotine,
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54343
and carbon monoxide yields to the
extent recipients of the 6(b) Orders
possess it, and the Commission releases
the data to researchers in response to
Freedom of Information Act requests. In
recent years, however, there have been
very few requests for the data. Given
that the Commission no longer
publishes tar, nicotine, and carbon
monoxide reports and the limited
interest in these data, the Commission
intends to cease collecting tar, nicotine,
and carbon monoxide yield data.
There are other information fields that
the Commission no longer needs to
collect, including information about
cigarette package type, cigarette package
size, cigarette styles, and whether a
cigarette variety’s tar yield and its
nicotine yield are disclosed on its
package. The Commission intends to
continue to collect UPC-Codes in order
to distinguish one variety from another,
but does not need any other variety
descriptors beyond cigarette length,
flavor, and filter information. The
Commission also no longer needs lists
of cigarettes first sold or discontinued in
a calendar year.
Contrary to Altria’s suggestion, the
FTC did not recently expand its requests
to seek information from parent
companies. More than a decade ago, the
Commission began directing its orders
to the ultimate domestic parents of the
cigarette and smokeless tobacco
manufacturers because some parent
companies owned more than one
subsidiary selling those products and
the Commission wanted to ensure that
no relevant data from affiliated
companies went unreported. Moreover,
the 6(b) Orders ask several questions
about whether the recipient engages in
certain practices, such as paying for
cigarette or smokeless tobacco product
placement in movies, and the
Commission wants to be sure that such
practices by any related company are
reported, even if that company does not
itself sell cigarette or smokeless tobacco
products. The Commission intends to
continuing directing its 6(b) Orders to
the parent companies of the leading
cigarette and smokeless tobacco
manufacturers.
Burden Statement: 2
Estimated Annual Burden: 1,980
hours.3
2 The details and assumptions underlying these
estimates were set forth in the August 10, 2017
Federal Register notice.
3 The Commission intends to use this PRA
clearance renewal to collect information from the
companies concerning their marketing and sales
activities for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019. The
Commission expects to issue compulsory process
orders seeking this information annually, but it is
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Estimated Number of Respondents: 15
maximum.
These estimates include any time
spent by separately incorporated
subsidiaries and other entities affiliated
with the ultimate parent companies that
receive the information requests.
Estimated Average Burden per Year
per Respondent: 180 hours.
(a) Information requests to the four
largest cigarette companies and five
largest smokeless tobacco companies, at
a per company average each year of 180
hours = 1,620 hours, cumulatively, per
year; and
(b) Information requests to six
additional respondents, of smaller size,
at a per company average each year of
60 hours = 360 hours, cumulatively, per
year.
Estimated Annual Labor Cost:
$198,000.
Estimated Capital or Other Non-Labor
Cost: De minimis.
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
December 18, 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 https://
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 https://
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–
possible that orders might not be issued in any
given year and that orders seeking information for
two years would be issued the next year. The
figures set forth in this notice for the estimated
hours and labor costs associated with this
information collection represent average annual
burden over the course of the prospective PRA
clearance.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
18:32 Nov 16, 2017
Jkt 244001
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,
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
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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 December 18, 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.
Comments on the information
collection requirements subject to
review under the PRA should
additionally be submitted to OMB. If
sent by U.S. mail, they should be
addressed to Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, Office of
Management and Budget, Attention:
Desk Officer for the Federal Trade
Commission, New Executive Office
Building, Docket Library, Room 10102,
725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC
20503. Comments sent to OMB by U.S.
postal mail are subject to delays due to
heightened security precautions. Thus,
comments instead can also be sent via
email to wliberante@omb.eop.gov.
David C. Shonka,
Acting General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2017–24915 Filed 11–16–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services
[Document Identifier: CMS–102 and CMS–
105]
Agency Information Collection
Activities: Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request
Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services, HHS.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
The Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS) is announcing
an opportunity for the public to
comment on CMS’ intention to collect
information from the public. Under the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(PRA), federal agencies are required to
publish notice in the Federal Register
concerning each proposed collection of
information, including each proposed
extension or reinstatement of an existing
collection of information, and to allow
a second opportunity for public
comment on the notice. Interested
persons are invited to send comments
regarding the burden estimate or any
other aspect of this collection of
information, including the necessity and
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\17NON1.SGM
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 221 (Friday, November 17, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54342-54344]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-24915]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'').
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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 proposed information requests sent pursuant to
compulsory process to a combined ten or more of the largest domestic
cigarette manufacturers and smokeless tobacco manufacturers. The
information sought would include, among other things, data on 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 December 18, 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 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-10603, Washington, DC 20580. Telephone: (202) 326-
2699.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: FTC Cigarette and Smokeless Tobacco Data Collection.
OMB Control Number: 3084-0134.
Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.
On August 10, 2017, the Commission sought comment on the
information collection requirements associated with the Cigarette and
Smokeless Tobacco Data Collection. 82 FR 37440 (``August 10, 2017
Notice''). Pursuant to the OMB regulations, 5 CFR part 1320, that
implement the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., the FTC is providing a
second opportunity for the public to comment while seeking OMB approval
to renew the existing clearance for the information the FTC proposes to
seek from the largest domestic cigarette manufacturers and smokeless
tobacco manufacturers.
In response to the August 10, 2017 Notice, the Commission received
comments from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (``CTFK'') and Altria
Client Services (``Altria'').
The CTFK comment specifically noted the utility and importance of
the Commission's Cigarette and Smokeless Tobacco Reports, and urged the
agency to continue collecting and reporting industry sales and
marketing expenditure data, which CTFK stated provide ``critical data
to researchers, policymakers, advocates and the general public.'' CTFK
additionally observed:
The FTC is currently the primary source for data on cigarette
and smokeless tobacco companies' marketing and promotional
expenditures. No other agency collects and publishes such
information directly from the companies, making the FTC reports the
most accurate and reliable assessment of tobacco marketing and
promotion expenditures available.
CTFK at 1.
CTFK, however, suggested certain modifications to the Commission's
reports. Specifically, CTFK recommended that the Commission: (1) Report
separately price discount expenditures for retailers and wholesalers;
(2) clarify the definitions of certain expenditure categories--
specifically, in which category coupons that consumers obtain online
are to be counted; (3) report data on a company-
[[Page 54343]]
specific or brand-specific basis, rather than on a fully-aggregated
basis; (4) require manufacturers to report expenditures related to
corporate sponsorships and advertisements; and (5) provide an option to
download the published report data in spreadsheet format. Id. at 2.
The Commission agrees that collecting and reporting separately
price discount expenditures for retailers and wholesalers is useful.
Beginning with its 6(b) Orders for 2014, the Commission has been
separately collecting and reporting information about price discounts
paid to retailers and price discounts paid to wholesalers.
The Commission will clarify in future Orders that expenditures on
coupons delivered online should be reported together with coupons
delivered by other means. The full impact of couponing by the major
cigarette and smokeless tobacco manufacturers can only be seen if
expenditures for all coupons are reported together, regardless of how
those coupons are delivered to consumers.
Regarding CTFK's suggestion that data be reported on other than a
fully-aggregated, nationwide basis, the cigarette and smokeless tobacco
companies assert that those data are confidential and, as CTFK
acknowledges, the Commission cannot publicly release trade secrets or
certain commercial or financial information. Id. at 2 n.2.
As for requiring manufacturers to report expenditures related to
corporate sponsorships and advertisements, the Commission already
requires the recipients of its 6(b) Orders to report certain
expenditures made in the name of the company, rather than any of its
brands.\1\ However, the Commission does not include those data in its
Cigarette and Smokeless Tobacco Reports. The Commission will consider
whether those expenditures should be reported in the future or whether
to cease collecting this information.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Both the cigarette and smokeless tobacco Orders require the
recipients to report expenditures on ``public entertainment events
(including, but not limited to, concerts and sporting events)
bearing or otherwise displaying the name of the Company or any
variation thereof but not bearing or otherwise displaying the name,
logo, or an image of any portion of the package'' of any of its
cigarettes or smokeless tobacco products, or otherwise referring to
those products.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Commission agrees that it would be helpful to provide an option
to download the published report data in spreadsheet format and will
begin doing so with its next published reports.
Altria stated that the Commission should no longer collect any
information from cigarette and smokeless tobacco manufacturers ``in
light of the Food and Drug Administration's . . . extensive, active
regulatory authority over tobacco products under the Family Smoking
Prevention and Tobacco Control Act,'' calling such collections
``superfluous'' and ``unnecessary burdens.'' Altria at 1, 3. Altria
contends that the FTC's most recent requests seek ``not only
information that the companies already produce to FDA, but also
information unrelated to the advertising and promotion of tobacco
products.'' Id. at 3-4. It gives the following examples:
(a) cigarette design data, including cigarette length, style,
flavor, and filter type; (b) constituent data, including nicotine,
carbon monoxide, and tar; (c) lists of cigarettes first sold or
discontinued in 2016; and (d) lists of other product information,
including brand varieties, pack size, and package type.
Id. at 4 n.15. Altria also suggests that the FTC has recently expanded
its requests to seek information on expenditures from parent companies
that do not sell or advertise tobacco products. Id. at 3.
The FTC staff and FDA staff have a long tradition of working
together on the many areas where the two agencies share jurisdiction.
The FDA is not collecting cigarette or smokeless tobacco sales and
marketing expenditure data like that required by the Commission's 6(b)
Orders, so there is no overlap or duplication with respect to such
data. Moreover, to the extent there might be some overlap in the
collection of information about whether brand styles of cigarettes are
filtered or unfiltered, menthol or non-menthol, and their cigarette
length, the Commission needs those data so it can combine them with
sales information for each brand style in order to report the
percentages of cigarettes sold by the leading manufacturers falling
into each product type category (e.g., 26% of the cigarettes sold by
these manufacturers in 2015 were menthol). FDA is not collecting
cigarette sales information, so it cannot calculate sales percentages
by product types. The Commission intends to continue collecting
cigarette and smokeless tobacco sales and marketing expenditure data,
together with cigarette length, flavor, and filter information. To the
extent that in the future the FDA duplicates the FTC's data collection,
the FTC can modify or cease its collection.
Until 2000, the Commission collected cigarette tar, nicotine, and
carbon monoxide yields and published that information by brand style.
Because of concerns that the yield information was misleading
consumers, the Commission ceased publishing that information, but it
has continued to collect tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide yields to
the extent recipients of the 6(b) Orders possess it, and the Commission
releases the data to researchers in response to Freedom of Information
Act requests. In recent years, however, there have been very few
requests for the data. Given that the Commission no longer publishes
tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide reports and the limited interest in
these data, the Commission intends to cease collecting tar, nicotine,
and carbon monoxide yield data.
There are other information fields that the Commission no longer
needs to collect, including information about cigarette package type,
cigarette package size, cigarette styles, and whether a cigarette
variety's tar yield and its nicotine yield are disclosed on its
package. The Commission intends to continue to collect UPC-Codes in
order to distinguish one variety from another, but does not need any
other variety descriptors beyond cigarette length, flavor, and filter
information. The Commission also no longer needs lists of cigarettes
first sold or discontinued in a calendar year.
Contrary to Altria's suggestion, the FTC did not recently expand
its requests to seek information from parent companies. More than a
decade ago, the Commission began directing its orders to the ultimate
domestic parents of the cigarette and smokeless tobacco manufacturers
because some parent companies owned more than one subsidiary selling
those products and the Commission wanted to ensure that no relevant
data from affiliated companies went unreported. Moreover, the 6(b)
Orders ask several questions about whether the recipient engages in
certain practices, such as paying for cigarette or smokeless tobacco
product placement in movies, and the Commission wants to be sure that
such practices by any related company are reported, even if that
company does not itself sell cigarette or smokeless tobacco products.
The Commission intends to continuing directing its 6(b) Orders to the
parent companies of the leading cigarette and smokeless tobacco
manufacturers.
Burden Statement: \2\
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\2\ The details and assumptions underlying these estimates were
set forth in the August 10, 2017 Federal Register notice.
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Estimated Annual Burden: 1,980 hours.\3\
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\3\ The Commission intends to use this PRA clearance renewal to
collect information from the companies concerning their marketing
and sales activities for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019. The
Commission expects to issue compulsory process orders seeking this
information annually, but it is possible that orders might not be
issued in any given year and that orders seeking information for two
years would be issued the next year. The figures set forth in this
notice for the estimated hours and labor costs associated with this
information collection represent average annual burden over the
course of the prospective PRA clearance.
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[[Page 54344]]
Estimated Number of Respondents: 15 maximum.
These estimates include any time spent by separately incorporated
subsidiaries and other entities affiliated with the ultimate parent
companies that receive the information requests.
Estimated Average Burden per Year per Respondent: 180 hours.
(a) Information requests to the four largest cigarette companies
and five largest smokeless tobacco companies, at a per company average
each year of 180 hours = 1,620 hours, cumulatively, per year; and
(b) Information requests to six additional respondents, of smaller
size, at a per company average each year of 60 hours = 360 hours,
cumulatively, per year.
Estimated Annual Labor Cost: $198,000.
Estimated Capital or Other Non-Labor Cost: De minimis.
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 December 18, 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 https://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 https://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 (Annex
J), 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 December 18,
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.
Comments on the information collection requirements subject to
review under the PRA should additionally be submitted to OMB. If sent
by U.S. mail, they should be addressed to Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk
Officer for the Federal Trade Commission, New Executive Office
Building, Docket Library, Room 10102, 725 17th Street NW., Washington,
DC 20503. Comments sent to OMB by U.S. postal mail are subject to
delays due to heightened security precautions. Thus, comments instead
can also be sent via email to wliberante@omb.eop.gov.
David C. Shonka,
Acting General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2017-24915 Filed 11-16-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P
