Guides for the Nursery Industry, 7643-7644 [2018-03569]

Download as PDF Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 36 / Thursday, February 22, 2018 / Proposed Rules 7643 3 Liner: If material used in constructing the stowage compartment can be shown to meet the flammability requirements of a liner for a Class B cargo compartment (i.e., § 25.855 at amendment 25–116, and Appendix F, part I, paragraph (a)(2)(ii)), then no liner would be required for enclosed stowage compartments equal to or greater than 25 ft.3 but less than 57 ft.3 in interior volume. For all enclosed stowage compartments equal to or greater than 57 ft.3 in interior volume but less than or equal to 200 ft.3, a liner must be provided that meets the requirements of § 25.855 for a Class B cargo compartment. 4 Fire-Location Detector: If an OPSC has enclosed stowage compartments exceeding 25 ft.3 interior volume and that are located separately from the other stowage compartments (located, for example, away from one central location, such as the entry to the OPSC or a common area within the OPSC, where the other stowage compartments are), that OPSC would require additional fire-protection features or devices to assist the firefighter in determining the location of a fire. Issued in Renton, Washington, on February 15, 2018. Victor Wicklund, Manager, Transport Standards Branch, Policy and Innovation Division, Aircraft Certification Service. [FR Doc. 2018–03587 Filed 2–21–18; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4910–13–P FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 16 CFR Part 18 Guides for the Nursery Industry Federal Trade Commission. Regulatory review; request for public comment. AGENCY: ACTION: The Federal Trade Commission (‘‘FTC’’ or ‘‘Commission’’) requests public comments on its Guides for the Nursery Industry (‘‘Nursery Guides’’ or ‘‘Guides’’). The Commission is soliciting the comments as part of the Commission’s systematic review of all current Commission regulations and guides. SUMMARY: Comments must be received by April 20, 2018. 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 ‘‘Nursery Guides, P994248’’ on your comment, and file your comment online at https:// ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/ nurseryguides 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 A), 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 610, Washington, DC 20024. daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with PROPOSALS DATES: FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Megan Gray, (202) 326–3408, mgray@ ftc.gov, Attorney, Division of Enforcement, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, VerDate Sep<11>2014 18:10 Feb 21, 2018 Jkt 244001 Room CC–9541, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Background The Commission issued the Guides for the Nursery Industry in 1979.1 These Guides address numerous sales practices for outdoor plants, including deceptive claims regarding quantity, size, grade, kind, species, age, maturity, condition, vigor, hardiness, growth ability, price, and origin or place where grown. As part of its periodic regulatory review, the Commission substantively amended the Nursery Guides in 1994 and adopted a technical amendment to the Guides in 2007.2 II. Regulatory Review Program The Commission periodically reviews all Commission rules and guides. These reviews seek information about the costs and benefits of the Commission’s rules and guides and their economic impact. The information obtained assists the Commission in identifying rules and guides that warrant modification or rescission. Therefore, the Commission solicits comment on, among other things, the economic impact of and the continuing need for its Nursery Guides; possible conflict between the Guides and state, local, federal, or international laws; and the effect of any technological, economic, environmental, or other industry changes on the Guides. III. Request for Comment The Commission is particularly interested in comments and supporting data on the following questions. These questions are designed to assist the public and should not be construed as a limitation on the issues on which public comment may be submitted. In their replies to each of these questions, commenters should provide any available evidence and data, such as empirical data, consumer perception studies, or consumer complaints, that support the commenter’s asserted position. 1 Industry guides are administrative interpretations of laws administered by the Commission. 16 CFR 1.5. 2 See 59 FR 64546 (December 14, 1994); 72 FR 902 (January 9, 2007). PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 4702 Sfmt 4702 (1) Is there a continuing need for the Nursery Guides as currently promulgated? (2) Are any specific provisions of the Guides no longer necessary? (3) Are the deceptive or unfair practices addressed by the Guides prevalent in the marketplace? Are the Guides effective in addressing those practices? Are there deceptive or unfair practices in the selling of plants that are not covered by the Guides, such as vegetable plants marketed to consumers? Should the Guides be extended to cover other types of plants that consumers purchase? Are there alternatives, such as individual enforcement actions under the FTC Act, that would be more effective or equally effective in addressing those practices? (4) Have covered businesses adopted the Nursery Guides as part of their routine business practice? What is the degree of compliance with the Guides? How, and what effect, if any, does this have on the continuing need for the Guides? Do covered businesses selfregulate or have voluntary standards or guidance, such as through trade associations, that overlap with the Guides? (5) What benefits, if any, have the Nursery Guides provided to consumers of the products affected by the Guides? Do the Guides impose any significant costs on consumers? (6) What impact, if any, have the Guides had on the flow of truthful or deceptive information to consumers? (7) What changes, if any, should be made to the Nursery Guides to increase their benefits to consumers or reduce their costs to businesses? How would these changes affect consumer benefits or business costs? (8) What burdens or costs, including costs of compliance, have the Guides imposed on covered businesses? What burdens or costs have the Guides imposed on small businesses in particular? Have the Guides provided benefits to businesses? If so, what benefits? (9) What changes, if any, should be made to the Guides to reduce the burdens or costs imposed on businesses? In particular, should the Commission eliminate Section 18.7 (Misrepresentation as to character of business)? Does this section imply that E:\FR\FM\22FEP1.SGM 22FEP1 daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with PROPOSALS 7644 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 36 / Thursday, February 22, 2018 / Proposed Rules occupational licensing is a prerequisite for covered businesses? How would these changes affect the benefits provided by the Guides? (10) Is it necessary to include reference works in the Note to Section 18.2? Are the reference works in the Note to Section 18.2 authoritative and readily and freely available to the public? If not, are there updated editions that are more authoritative and readily and freely available? Are there other works in the public domain that the Commission should consider in determining whether claims made for a covered plant’s quality, size, grade, kind, species, age, maturity, condition, etc. are truthful and non-misleading? For example, do federal or state agricultural authorities provide guidance sufficient for the Commission, consumers, and covered businesses to determine whether claims made for covered products are truthful and nonmisleading? (11) Is it necessary to include the mention in the Note to Section 18.2 of ‘‘plant name lists periodically published by the plant societies and the horticultural organizations selected as international and national cultivar registration authorities as enumerated in Appendix of Naming and Registering New Cultivars?’’ Is the plant name list sufficiently specific to be useful to consumers or businesses? Can more specificity be provided as to which international and national cultivar registration authorities are relevant, and how to locate the Appendix of Naming and Registering New Cultivars? (12) Should the Commission remove mentions of ‘‘industry recommendation’’ and ‘‘industry consensus’’ from the Notes to Sections 18.2 and 18.4? Should the Commission include in the Guides only its own views, consistent with the Guide’s purpose of furthering the public interest in preventing deception? (13) Do the Guides overlap or conflict with federal, state, or local laws or regulations? Do the Guides overlap or conflict with any international laws or regulations? (14) Have consumer perceptions changed since the Guides were issued and, if so, do these changes warrant revising the Guides? (15) Since the Guides were issued, what effects, if any, have changes in relevant technological, economic, or environmental conditions had on the need for or usefulness of the Guides? You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to consider your comment, we must receive it on or before April 20, 2018. Write ‘‘Nursery Guides, P994248’’ on your comment. VerDate Sep<11>2014 18:10 Feb 21, 2018 Jkt 244001 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 website, at https://www.ftc.gov/policy/publiccomments. 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. To ensure the Commission considers your online comment, you must file it at https:// ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/ nurseryguides, by following the instruction on the web-based form. If this Notice appears at https:// www.regulations.gov, you also may file a comment through that website. If you file your comment on paper, write ‘‘Nursery Guides, P994248’’ 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 A), 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, Washington, DC 20024. If possible, please submit your paper comment to the Commission by courier or overnight service. Because your comment will be placed on the publicly accessible FTC website at https://www.ftc.gov, you are solely responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any sensitive personal information, such as your or anyone’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 ensuring 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 ‘‘[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information which . . . is privileged or confidential’’—as provided 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)— 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). PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 4702 Sfmt 4702 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 website—as legally required by FTC Rule 4.9(b)—we cannot redact or remove your comment from the FTC website, 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. Visit the FTC website to read this Notice and the news release describing it. 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 20, 2018. 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. By direction of the Commission. Donald S. Clark, Secretary. [FR Doc. 2018–03569 Filed 2–21–18; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6750–01–P DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Coast Guard 33 CFR Part 165 [Docket Number USCG–2018–0086] RIN 1625–AA08 Safety Zone; Pensacola Bay, Pensacola, FL Coast Guard, DHS. Notice of proposed rulemaking. AGENCY: ACTION: The Coast Guard proposes to establish a temporary safety zone for all navigable waters on Pensacola Bay within 100 yards of each vessel participating in the Tall Ships Pensacola marine event and parade in Pensacola, FL and within 100 yards of the Port of Pensacola for the duration of the marine event and parade. The proposed rulemaking is necessary to provide for the safety of life and property on these SUMMARY: E:\FR\FM\22FEP1.SGM 22FEP1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 36 (Thursday, February 22, 2018)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 7643-7644]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-03569]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

16 CFR Part 18


Guides for the Nursery Industry

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Regulatory review; request for public comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') 
requests public comments on its Guides for the Nursery Industry 
(``Nursery Guides'' or ``Guides''). The Commission is soliciting the 
comments as part of the Commission's systematic review of all current 
Commission regulations and guides.

DATES: Comments must be received by April 20, 2018.

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 ``Nursery Guides, 
P994248'' on your comment, and file your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/nurseryguides 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 A), 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 610, 
Washington, DC 20024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Megan Gray, (202) 326-3408, 
[email protected], Attorney, Division of Enforcement, Bureau of Consumer 
Protection, Federal Trade Commission, Room CC-9541, 600 Pennsylvania 
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Commission issued the Guides for the Nursery Industry in 
1979.\1\ These Guides address numerous sales practices for outdoor 
plants, including deceptive claims regarding quantity, size, grade, 
kind, species, age, maturity, condition, vigor, hardiness, growth 
ability, price, and origin or place where grown. As part of its 
periodic regulatory review, the Commission substantively amended the 
Nursery Guides in 1994 and adopted a technical amendment to the Guides 
in 2007.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Industry guides are administrative interpretations of laws 
administered by the Commission. 16 CFR 1.5.
    \2\ See 59 FR 64546 (December 14, 1994); 72 FR 902 (January 9, 
2007).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

II. Regulatory Review Program

    The Commission periodically reviews all Commission rules and 
guides. These reviews seek information about the costs and benefits of 
the Commission's rules and guides and their economic impact. The 
information obtained assists the Commission in identifying rules and 
guides that warrant modification or rescission. Therefore, the 
Commission solicits comment on, among other things, the economic impact 
of and the continuing need for its Nursery Guides; possible conflict 
between the Guides and state, local, federal, or international laws; 
and the effect of any technological, economic, environmental, or other 
industry changes on the Guides.

III. Request for Comment

    The Commission is particularly interested in comments and 
supporting data on the following questions. These questions are 
designed to assist the public and should not be construed as a 
limitation on the issues on which public comment may be submitted. In 
their replies to each of these questions, commenters should provide any 
available evidence and data, such as empirical data, consumer 
perception studies, or consumer complaints, that support the 
commenter's asserted position.
    (1) Is there a continuing need for the Nursery Guides as currently 
promulgated?
    (2) Are any specific provisions of the Guides no longer necessary?
    (3) Are the deceptive or unfair practices addressed by the Guides 
prevalent in the marketplace? Are the Guides effective in addressing 
those practices? Are there deceptive or unfair practices in the selling 
of plants that are not covered by the Guides, such as vegetable plants 
marketed to consumers? Should the Guides be extended to cover other 
types of plants that consumers purchase? Are there alternatives, such 
as individual enforcement actions under the FTC Act, that would be more 
effective or equally effective in addressing those practices?
    (4) Have covered businesses adopted the Nursery Guides as part of 
their routine business practice? What is the degree of compliance with 
the Guides? How, and what effect, if any, does this have on the 
continuing need for the Guides? Do covered businesses self-regulate or 
have voluntary standards or guidance, such as through trade 
associations, that overlap with the Guides?
    (5) What benefits, if any, have the Nursery Guides provided to 
consumers of the products affected by the Guides? Do the Guides impose 
any significant costs on consumers?
    (6) What impact, if any, have the Guides had on the flow of 
truthful or deceptive information to consumers?
    (7) What changes, if any, should be made to the Nursery Guides to 
increase their benefits to consumers or reduce their costs to 
businesses? How would these changes affect consumer benefits or 
business costs?
    (8) What burdens or costs, including costs of compliance, have the 
Guides imposed on covered businesses? What burdens or costs have the 
Guides imposed on small businesses in particular? Have the Guides 
provided benefits to businesses? If so, what benefits?
    (9) What changes, if any, should be made to the Guides to reduce 
the burdens or costs imposed on businesses? In particular, should the 
Commission eliminate Section 18.7 (Misrepresentation as to character of 
business)? Does this section imply that

[[Page 7644]]

occupational licensing is a prerequisite for covered businesses? How 
would these changes affect the benefits provided by the Guides?
    (10) Is it necessary to include reference works in the Note to 
Section 18.2? Are the reference works in the Note to Section 18.2 
authoritative and readily and freely available to the public? If not, 
are there updated editions that are more authoritative and readily and 
freely available? Are there other works in the public domain that the 
Commission should consider in determining whether claims made for a 
covered plant's quality, size, grade, kind, species, age, maturity, 
condition, etc. are truthful and non-misleading? For example, do 
federal or state agricultural authorities provide guidance sufficient 
for the Commission, consumers, and covered businesses to determine 
whether claims made for covered products are truthful and non-
misleading?
    (11) Is it necessary to include the mention in the Note to Section 
18.2 of ``plant name lists periodically published by the plant 
societies and the horticultural organizations selected as international 
and national cultivar registration authorities as enumerated in 
Appendix of Naming and Registering New Cultivars?'' Is the plant name 
list sufficiently specific to be useful to consumers or businesses? Can 
more specificity be provided as to which international and national 
cultivar registration authorities are relevant, and how to locate the 
Appendix of Naming and Registering New Cultivars?
    (12) Should the Commission remove mentions of ``industry 
recommendation'' and ``industry consensus'' from the Notes to Sections 
18.2 and 18.4? Should the Commission include in the Guides only its own 
views, consistent with the Guide's purpose of furthering the public 
interest in preventing deception?
    (13) Do the Guides overlap or conflict with federal, state, or 
local laws or regulations? Do the Guides overlap or conflict with any 
international laws or regulations?
    (14) Have consumer perceptions changed since the Guides were issued 
and, if so, do these changes warrant revising the Guides?
    (15) Since the Guides were issued, what effects, if any, have 
changes in relevant technological, economic, or environmental 
conditions had on the need for or usefulness of the Guides?
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before April 20, 2018. 
Write ``Nursery Guides, P994248'' 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 website, at https://www.ftc.gov/policy/public-comments.
    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. To ensure the Commission considers your online 
comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/nurseryguides, by following the instruction on the web-based form. If 
this Notice appears at https://www.regulations.gov, you also may file a 
comment through that website.
    If you file your comment on paper, write ``Nursery Guides, 
P994248'' 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 A), 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, Washington, DC 20024. If possible, 
please submit your paper comment to the Commission by courier or 
overnight service.
    Because your comment will be placed on the publicly accessible FTC 
website at https://www.ftc.gov, you are solely responsible for making 
sure that your comment does not include any sensitive personal 
information, such as your or anyone'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 
ensuring 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 
``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information which . . . 
is privileged or confidential''--as provided 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)--
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 website--as legally required by FTC Rule 
4.9(b)--we cannot redact or remove your comment from the FTC website, 
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.
    Visit the FTC website to read this Notice and the news release 
describing it. 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 20, 2018. 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.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-03569 Filed 2-21-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6750-01-P
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