Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request, 3413-3414 [2023-00891]

Download as PDF Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 2023 / Notices Dated: January 13, 2023. JoAnne O’Bryant, Program Analyst. CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: [FR Doc. 2023–00963 Filed 1–18–23; 8:45 am] William Cody, Secretary. William Cody, Secretary, (202) 523– 5725. BILLING CODE 6730–02–P [FR Doc. 2023–01086 Filed 1–17–23; 4:15 pm] BILLING CODE 6730–02–P FEDERAL MARITIME COMMISSION Sunshine Act Meetings FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION TIME AND DATE: January 25, 2023; 10:00 a.m. This meeting will be held at the Federal Maritime Commission at the address below and also streamed live at Federal Maritime Commission’s YouTube Channel. PLACE: Federal Maritime Commission, 800 North Capitol St NW, 1st Floor Hearing Room, Washington, DC 20573 Part of the meeting will be open to the public: held in-person at the Federal Maritime Commission for public attendants and also available to view streamed live on the Federal Maritime Commission’s YouTube Channel. The rest of the meeting will be closed to the public. The hearing will be held on January 25, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. in the Hearing Room of the Federal Maritime Commission and will be open for public observation. If technical issues prevent the Commission from live streaming, the Commission will post a recording of the public portion of the meeting on the Commission’s YouTube Channel. Any person wishing to attend the meeting inperson should report to the Federal Maritime Commission with enough time to clear building security procedures. Health and safety protocols for meeting attendees will depend on the COVID–19 Community Transmission Level for Washington DC as determined on Friday, January 20, 2023. Pre-registered attendees will be notified of the required health and safety protocols before the meeting and no later than Tuesday, January 25, 2023. Additional meeting guidance can be found on www.fmc.gov. STATUS: MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES PORTIONS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC: 1. Commissioner Bentzel, Update on Maritime Transportation Data Initiative 2. Staff Briefing on Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 3. Staff Briefing, Economic and Competition Update PORTIONS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC: 1. Staff Briefing, Economic and Competition Update VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:49 Jan 18, 2023 Jkt 259001 Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request Federal Trade Commission. Notice and request for comment. AGENCY: ACTION: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requests that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) extend for three years the current Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) clearance for information collection requirements contained in the Antitrust Improvements Act Rules (HSR Rules) and corresponding Notification and Report Form for Certain Mergers and Acquisitions (Notification and Report Form). That clearance expires on January 31, 2023. DATES: Comments must be received by February 21, 2023. ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/ PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting ‘‘Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments’’ or by using the search function. The reginfo.gov web link is a United States Government website produced by OMB and the General Services Administration (GSA). Under PRA requirements, OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) reviews Federal information collections. SUMMARY: FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert L. Jones, Assistant Director, Premerger Notification Office, Bureau of Competition, Federal Trade Commission, Room CC–5301, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580, or by telephone to (202) 326– 2740. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: HSR Rules and Notification and Report Form, 16 CFR parts 801–803. OMB Control Number: 3084–0005. Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection. Likely Respondents: Merging Parties. Estimated Annual Hours Burden: 262,579 hours [derived from 7,096 non- PO 00000 Frm 00038 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 3413 index filings × 37 hours/each) + (12 index filings × two hours/each) + (one withdrawn transaction later restarted × three hours)]. Estimated Annual Cost Burden: $120,786,340, which is derived from $460/hour × 262,579 hours. Abstract: Section 7A of the Clayton Act (‘‘Act’’), 15 U.S.C. 18a, as amended by the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, Public Law 94–435, 90 Stat. 1390, requires all persons contemplating certain mergers or acquisitions to file notification with the Commission and the Assistant Attorney General and to wait a designated period of time before consummating such transactions. Congress empowered the Commission, with the concurrence of the Assistant Attorney General, to require ‘‘that the notification . . . be in such form and contain such documentary material and information . . . as is necessary and appropriate’’ to enable the agencies ‘‘to determine whether such acquisitions may, if consummated, violate the antitrust laws.’’ 15 U.S.C. 18a(d). Congress similarly granted rulemaking authority to, among other things, ‘‘prescribe such other rules as may be necessary and appropriate to carry out the purposes of this section.’’ Id. Pursuant to that section, the Commission, with the concurrence of the Assistant Attorney General, developed the HSR Rules and the corresponding Notification and Report Form. On August 26, 2022, the Commission sought comment on the reporting requirements associated with the HSR Rules and corresponding Notification and Report Form. 87 FR 52569. No relevant comments were received. Pursuant to the OMB regulations, 5 CFR part 1320, that implement the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., the FTC is providing this second opportunity for public comment while seeking OMB approval to renew the pre-existing clearance for those information collection requirements. Burden Statement The following burden estimates are primarily based on FTC data concerning the number of HSR filings and FTC staff’s informal consultations with leading HSR counsel for outside parties. Estimated Total Annual Hours In fiscal year 2022, the FTC received 6,518 non-index filings. Based on an average annual increase in filings of 4.3% in the pre-COVID fiscal years E:\FR\FM\19JAN1.SGM 19JAN1 3414 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 2023 / Notices khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES 2017–2019,1 FTC staff projects an average of 7,096 non-index filings per year for fiscal years 2023–2025, the time period for which PRA clearance will be requested from OMB.2 For index filings, FTC staff projects an average of 12 index filings for fiscal years 2023–2025, based on a rough average of 12 such filings per year over fiscal years 2017–2019. Retaining prior assumptions, FTC staff estimates that non-index filings require, on average, approximately 37 hours per filing and that index filings require an average of two hours per filing.3 On rare occasions, a transaction for which the HSR filing is automatically withdrawn during the merger review process (due to the parties’ Securities and Exchange Commission filing indicating that the transaction has been terminated) could be subsequently restarted. Based on experience to date, this would occur approximately once every fifteen years, i.e., a historical frequency of 0.067 transactions per year. FTC staff believes that this new filing would require the same work and diligence as any new non-index filing. Assuming, then, an average of 37 hours for one transaction, when applied to a historical frequency of 0.067, this amounts to an annual average of three hours, rounded up, for a withdrawn transaction later restarted. Thus, the total estimated hours burden is 262,579 hours [(7,096 nonindex filings × 37 hours/each) + (12 index filings × two hours/each) + (one withdrawn transaction later restarted × three hours))]. 1 Due to the exceptional volatility in the number of filings in fiscal years 2020 and 2021, data for these years was not included in the estimation of the annual growth rate of filings. 2 The number of non-index filings and the projected annual average of non-index filings are updated from the estimates provided in the Commission’s August 2022 Notice. See 87 FR 52569, 52570 (2022) (estimating that the FTC would receive 6,580 non-index filings in fiscal year 2022 and projecting an average of 7,160 non-index filings per year for fiscal years 2023–2025). 3 Index filings pertain to certain transactions described in Sections 7A(c)(6) and (c)(8) of the Clayton Act that are subject to the approval of other agencies and are exempt from the requirements of the premerger notification program. Index filings are incorporated into the FTC’s currently cleared burden estimates, because the parties to these exempt transactions must file copies of the information submitted to the other agencies with the Commission and the Assistant Attorney General. However, the task of filing a copy of information provided to another agency requires significantly less time than the preparation of a filing for a non-exempt transaction. VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:49 Jan 18, 2023 Jkt 259001 Estimated Total Annual Labor Cost Using the burden hours (262,579) estimated above and applying an estimated average of $460/hour for executive and/or attorney compensation, FTC staff estimates that the total labor cost associated with the HSR Rules and the Notification and Report Form is approximately $120,786,340. Estimated Total Annual Non-Labor Cost The applicable requirements impose minimal start-up costs, as businesses subject to the HSR Rules generally have or obtain necessary equipment for other business purposes. Staff believes that the above requirements necessitate ongoing, regular training so that covered entities stay current and have a clear understanding of federal mandates, but such training would be subsumed within the ordinary training that employees receive. Request for Comments Your comment—including your name and your state—will be placed on the public record of this proceeding. 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 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 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. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Disease, Disability, and Injury Prevention and Control Special Emphasis Panel (SEP)—RFA–OH–22– 001, Panel A, Occupational Safety and Health Education and Research Centers (ERC); Amended Notice of Closed Meeting Notice is hereby given of a change in the meeting of the Disease, Disability, and Injury Prevention and Control Special Emphasis Panel (SEP)—RFA– OH–22–001, Panel A, Occupational Safety and Health Education and Research Centers (ERC); February 21– 22, 2023, 12:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m., EST, in the original FRN. The meeting was published in the Federal Register on December 9, 2022, Volume 87, Number 236, page 75633. The meeting is being amended to change the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) number and should read as follows: Name of Committee: Disease, Disability, and Injury Prevention and Control Special Emphasis Panel (SEP)— RFA–OH–23–003, Panel A, Occupational Safety and Health Education and Research Centers (ERC). The meeting is closed to the public. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Goldcamp, Ph.D., Scientific Review Officer, Office of Extramural Programs, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, CDC, 1095 Willowdale Road, Morgantown, West Virginia 26505; Telephone: (304) 285–5951; Email: MGoldcamp@cdc.gov. The Director, Strategic Business Initiatives Unit, Office of the Chief Operating Officer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been delegated the authority to sign Federal Register notices pertaining to announcements of meetings and other committee management activities, for both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Josephine Liu, Assistant General Counsel for Legal Counsel. Kalwant Smagh, Director, Strategic Business Initiatives Unit, Office of the Chief Operating Officer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [FR Doc. 2023–00891 Filed 1–18–23; 8:45 am] [FR Doc. 2023–00899 Filed 1–18–23; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6750–01–P BILLING CODE 4163–18–P PO 00000 Frm 00039 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 E:\FR\FM\19JAN1.SGM 19JAN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 12 (Thursday, January 19, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3413-3414]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-00891]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Notice and request for comment.

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

SUMMARY: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requests that the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) extend for three years the current 
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) clearance for information collection 
requirements contained in the Antitrust Improvements Act Rules (HSR 
Rules) and corresponding Notification and Report Form for Certain 
Mergers and Acquisitions (Notification and Report Form). That clearance 
expires on January 31, 2023.

DATES: Comments must be received by February 21, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function. The 
reginfo.gov web link is a United States Government website produced by 
OMB and the General Services Administration (GSA). Under PRA 
requirements, OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) 
reviews Federal information collections.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert L. Jones, Assistant Director, 
Premerger Notification Office, Bureau of Competition, Federal Trade 
Commission, Room CC-5301, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 
20580, or by telephone to (202) 326-2740.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: HSR Rules and Notification and Report Form, 16 CFR parts 
801-803.
    OMB Control Number: 3084-0005.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Likely Respondents: Merging Parties.
    Estimated Annual Hours Burden: 262,579 hours [derived from 7,096 
non-index filings x 37 hours/each) + (12 index filings x two hours/
each) + (one withdrawn transaction later restarted x three hours)].
    Estimated Annual Cost Burden: $120,786,340, which is derived from 
$460/hour x 262,579 hours.
    Abstract: Section 7A of the Clayton Act (``Act''), 15 U.S.C. 18a, 
as amended by the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, 
Public Law 94-435, 90 Stat. 1390, requires all persons contemplating 
certain mergers or acquisitions to file notification with the 
Commission and the Assistant Attorney General and to wait a designated 
period of time before consummating such transactions. Congress 
empowered the Commission, with the concurrence of the Assistant 
Attorney General, to require ``that the notification . . . be in such 
form and contain such documentary material and information . . . as is 
necessary and appropriate'' to enable the agencies ``to determine 
whether such acquisitions may, if consummated, violate the antitrust 
laws.'' 15 U.S.C. 18a(d). Congress similarly granted rulemaking 
authority to, among other things, ``prescribe such other rules as may 
be necessary and appropriate to carry out the purposes of this 
section.'' Id.
    Pursuant to that section, the Commission, with the concurrence of 
the Assistant Attorney General, developed the HSR Rules and the 
corresponding Notification and Report Form.
    On August 26, 2022, the Commission sought comment on the reporting 
requirements associated with the HSR Rules and corresponding 
Notification and Report Form. 87 FR 52569. No relevant comments were 
received. Pursuant to the OMB regulations, 5 CFR part 1320, that 
implement the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., the FTC is providing this 
second opportunity for public comment while seeking OMB approval to 
renew the pre-existing clearance for those information collection 
requirements.

Burden Statement

    The following burden estimates are primarily based on FTC data 
concerning the number of HSR filings and FTC staff's informal 
consultations with leading HSR counsel for outside parties.

Estimated Total Annual Hours

    In fiscal year 2022, the FTC received 6,518 non-index filings. 
Based on an average annual increase in filings of 4.3% in the pre-COVID 
fiscal years

[[Page 3414]]

2017-2019,\1\ FTC staff projects an average of 7,096 non-index filings 
per year for fiscal years 2023-2025, the time period for which PRA 
clearance will be requested from OMB.\2\ For index filings, FTC staff 
projects an average of 12 index filings for fiscal years 2023-2025, 
based on a rough average of 12 such filings per year over fiscal years 
2017-2019. Retaining prior assumptions, FTC staff estimates that non-
index filings require, on average, approximately 37 hours per filing 
and that index filings require an average of two hours per filing.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Due to the exceptional volatility in the number of filings 
in fiscal years 2020 and 2021, data for these years was not included 
in the estimation of the annual growth rate of filings.
    \2\ The number of non-index filings and the projected annual 
average of non-index filings are updated from the estimates provided 
in the Commission's August 2022 Notice. See 87 FR 52569, 52570 
(2022) (estimating that the FTC would receive 6,580 non-index 
filings in fiscal year 2022 and projecting an average of 7,160 non-
index filings per year for fiscal years 2023-2025).
    \3\ Index filings pertain to certain transactions described in 
Sections 7A(c)(6) and (c)(8) of the Clayton Act that are subject to 
the approval of other agencies and are exempt from the requirements 
of the premerger notification program. Index filings are 
incorporated into the FTC's currently cleared burden estimates, 
because the parties to these exempt transactions must file copies of 
the information submitted to the other agencies with the Commission 
and the Assistant Attorney General. However, the task of filing a 
copy of information provided to another agency requires 
significantly less time than the preparation of a filing for a non-
exempt transaction.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    On rare occasions, a transaction for which the HSR filing is 
automatically withdrawn during the merger review process (due to the 
parties' Securities and Exchange Commission filing indicating that the 
transaction has been terminated) could be subsequently restarted. Based 
on experience to date, this would occur approximately once every 
fifteen years, i.e., a historical frequency of 0.067 transactions per 
year. FTC staff believes that this new filing would require the same 
work and diligence as any new non-index filing. Assuming, then, an 
average of 37 hours for one transaction, when applied to a historical 
frequency of 0.067, this amounts to an annual average of three hours, 
rounded up, for a withdrawn transaction later restarted.
    Thus, the total estimated hours burden is 262,579 hours [(7,096 
non-index filings x 37 hours/each) + (12 index filings x two hours/
each) + (one withdrawn transaction later restarted x three hours))].

Estimated Total Annual Labor Cost

    Using the burden hours (262,579) estimated above and applying an 
estimated average of $460/hour for executive and/or attorney 
compensation, FTC staff estimates that the total labor cost associated 
with the HSR Rules and the Notification and Report Form is 
approximately $120,786,340.

Estimated Total Annual Non-Labor Cost

    The applicable requirements impose minimal start-up costs, as 
businesses subject to the HSR Rules generally have or obtain necessary 
equipment for other business purposes. Staff believes that the above 
requirements necessitate ongoing, regular training so that covered 
entities stay current and have a clear understanding of federal 
mandates, but such training would be subsumed within the ordinary 
training that employees receive.

Request for Comments

    Your comment--including your name and your state--will be placed on 
the public record of this proceeding. 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 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 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.

Josephine Liu,
Assistant General Counsel for Legal Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2023-00891 Filed 1-18-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P
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