The Bountiful Company; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment, 10901-10902 [2023-03560]
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 35 / Wednesday, February 22, 2023 / Notices
Neither the Warranty Rule nor the Act
requires that a manufacturer or retailer
warrant a consumer product in writing,
but if they choose to do so, the warranty
must comply with the Rule.
Estimated Annual Hours Burden:
216,752 hours.
Estimated Annual Labor Cost Burden:
$29,652,215.
On October 27, 2022, the FTC sought
comment on the information collection
requirements associated with the Rule.
87 FR 65065. The FTC received no
germane comments during the public
comment period. Pursuant to 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 preexisting clearance for the Rule. For more
details about the Rule requirements and
the basis for the calculations
summarized below, see 87 FR 65065.
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.
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Josephine Liu,
Assistant General Counsel for Legal Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2023–03628 Filed 2–21–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750–01–P
VerDate Sep<11>2014
19:42 Feb 21, 2023
Jkt 259001
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 222 3019]
The Bountiful Company; Analysis of
Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public
Comment
Federal Trade Commission.
Proposed consent agreement;
request for comment.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
The consent agreement in this
matter settles alleged violations of
Federal law prohibiting unfair or
deceptive acts or practices. The attached
Analysis of Proposed Consent Order to
Aid Public Comment describes both the
allegations in the complaint and the
terms of the consent order—embodied
in the consent agreement—that would
settle these allegations.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before March 24, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file
comments online or on paper by
following the instructions in the
Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section
below. Please write ‘‘The Bountiful
Company; File No. 222 3019’’ on your
comment and file your comment online
at https://www.regulations.gov by
following the instructions on the webbased form. If you prefer to file your
comment on paper, please mail your
comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the
Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue
NW, Suite CC–5610 (Annex P),
Washington, DC 20580.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Michael Ostheimer (202–326–2699),
Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal
Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant
to section 6(f) of the Federal Trade
Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and
FTC Rule § 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34, notice is
hereby given that the above-captioned
consent agreement containing a consent
order to cease and desist, having been
filed with and accepted, subject to final
approval, by the Commission, has been
placed on the public record for a period
of 30 days. The following Analysis to
Aid Public Comment describes the
terms of the consent agreement and the
allegations in the complaint. An
electronic copy of the full text of the
consent agreement package can be
obtained at https://www.ftc.gov/newsevents/commission-actions.
You can file a comment online or on
paper. For the Commission to consider
your comment, we must receive it on or
before March 24, 2023. Your comment—
including your name and your state—
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
Frm 00033
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
10901
will be placed on the public record of
this proceeding, including, to the extent
practicable, on the https://
www.regulations.gov website.
Because of heightened security
screening, postal mail addressed to the
Commission will be subject to delay. We
strongly encourage you to submit your
comments online through the https://
www.regulations.gov website.
If you prefer to file your comment on
paper, write ‘‘The Bountiful Company;
File No. 222 3019’’ 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 P),
Washington, DC 20580.
Because your comment will be placed
on the publicly accessible website at
https://www.regulations.gov, you are
solely responsible for making sure your
comment does not include any sensitive
or confidential information. In
particular, your comment should not
include 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 your
comment does not include 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 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
https://www.regulations.gov website—as
E:\FR\FM\22FEN1.SGM
22FEN1
10902
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 35 / Wednesday, February 22, 2023 / Notices
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
legally required by FTC Rule § 4.9(b)—
we cannot redact or remove your
comment from that 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 at https://
www.ftc.gov to read this document and
the news release describing the
proposed settlement. The FTC Act and
other laws the Commission administers
permit the collection of public
comments to consider and use in this
proceeding, as appropriate. The
Commission will consider all timely
and responsive public comments it
receives on or before March 24, 2023.
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.
Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To
Aid Public Comment
The Federal Trade Commission
(‘‘FTC’’ or ‘‘Commission’’) has accepted,
subject to final approval, an agreement
containing a consent order from The
Bountiful Company (‘‘Bountiful’’). The
proposed consent order (‘‘proposed
order’’) has been placed on the public
record for thirty days for receipt of
comments from interested persons.
Comments received during this period
will become part of the public record.
After 30 days, the Commission will
again review the agreement and the
comments received and will decide
whether it should withdraw from the
agreement and take appropriate action
or make final the agreement’s proposed
order.
This matter involves Bountiful’s
alleged manipulation of the
Amazon.com product pages for a
number of its Nature’s Bounty and
Sundown brand dietary supplement
products. Bountiful is a vendor to
Amazon, Inc., which allows its vendors
to create or submit requests to create
‘‘variation’’ relationships between
products sold on Amazon.com that are
substantially similar, like a shirt which
is available in different sizes and colors.
The product detail page of products that
are in a variation relationship displays
the total number of ratings and reviews,
the average star rating, and the
individual reviews for all the products
in the variation relationship. All the
products in a variation relationship also
share any ‘‘#1 Best Seller’’ or ‘‘Amazon’s
Choice’’ badges.
According to the Commission’s
proposed complaint, during 2020 and
2021, Bountiful submitted requests to
Amazon to create numerous variation
VerDate Sep<11>2014
19:42 Feb 21, 2023
Jkt 259001
relationships involving products with
different formulations. The proposed
complaint quotes a Bountiful employee
explaining that they did this with new
products to ‘‘try and ramp them faster
as they were NOT selling and we
wanted to give them a little boost in
R[atings]&R[eviews] to gain visibility
and allow them to also borrow the
‘amazon choice’ badge and best seller
badge which worked.’’
The proposed complaint alleges that
Bountiful violated Sections 5(a) and 12
of the FTC Act by misrepresenting that:
(a) the apparent reviewers of certain of
its products sold on Amazon.com had
used and endorsed the products; (b)
certain of its products sold on
Amazon.com had received the numbers
of customer ratings appearing on their
Amazon.com product pages; (c) certain
of its products sold on Amazon.com had
obtained the average star ratings
displayed on their Amazon.com product
pages; (d) certain of its products sold on
Amazon.com were number one best
sellers; and (e) certain of its products
sold on Amazon.com had earned an
Amazon’s Choice badge.
The proposed order contains
provisions designed to prevent
Bountiful from engaging in similar acts
and practices in the future and to
provide monetary relief.
Provision I prohibits Bountiful from
making any misrepresentation about or
through the ratings, reviews, badges, or
endorsements of any of its products or
services, including false claims that
someone reviewed or used the product
or service or about the number of ratings
or reviews the product or service has, its
average star rating, its having earned an
Amazon’s Choice badge, or its being a
best seller. Provision II prohibits
Bountiful from distorting or otherwise
misrepresenting what consumers think
of its products or services by creating
relationships between different products
sold online or by procuring,
suppressing, boosting, organizing,
selectively publishing, up-voting, downvoting, or editing consumer reviews or
ratings of its products or services.
Provision III requires Bountiful to pay
the Commission $600,000 within eight
days of the effective date of the order.
Provision IV sets out additional
requirements related to the monetary
relief.
Provisions V through VIII of the
proposed order are reporting and
compliance provisions. Provision V
requires acknowledgement of the order
and dissemination of the order now and
in the future to persons with
responsibilities relating to the subject
matter of the order. Provision VI ensures
notification to the FTC of changes in
PO 00000
Frm 00034
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
corporate status and mandates that the
company submit an initial compliance
report to the FTC. Provision VII requires
the company to create and retain certain
documents relating to its compliance
with the order. Provision VIII mandates
that the company make available to the
FTC information or subsequent
compliance reports, as requested.
Provision IX states that the proposed
order will remain in effect for 20 years,
with certain exceptions.
The purpose of this analysis is to
facilitate public comment on the
proposed order. It is not intended to
constitute an official interpretation of
the complaint or proposed order, or to
modify in any way the proposed order’s
terms.
By direction of the Commission.
April J. Tabor,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023–03560 Filed 2–21–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750–01–P
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
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 of its Affiliate Marketing
Rule, which applies to certain motor
vehicle dealers, and its shared
enforcement with the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) of
the provisions (subpart C) of the CFPB’s
Regulation V regarding other entities
(CFPB Rule). That clearance expires on
February 28, 2023.
DATES: Comments must be received by
March 24, 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:
E:\FR\FM\22FEN1.SGM
22FEN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 35 (Wednesday, February 22, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10901-10902]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03560]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 222 3019]
The Bountiful Company; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid
Public Comment
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Proposed consent agreement; request for comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged
violations of Federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or
practices. The attached Analysis of Proposed Consent Order to Aid
Public Comment describes both the allegations in the complaint and the
terms of the consent order--embodied in the consent agreement--that
would settle these allegations.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 24, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file comments online or on paper by
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Please write ``The Bountiful
Company; File No. 222 3019'' on your comment and file your comment
online at https://www.regulations.gov by following the instructions on
the web-based form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, please
mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission,
Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC-5610
(Annex P), Washington, DC 20580.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Ostheimer (202-326-2699),
Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600
Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to section 6(f) of the Federal
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule Sec. 2.34, 16 CFR
2.34, notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement
containing a consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been
placed on the public record for a period of 30 days. The following
Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the consent
agreement and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic copy of
the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained at
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/commission-actions.
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before March 24, 2023.
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 https://www.regulations.gov website.
Because of heightened security screening, postal mail addressed to
the Commission will be subject to delay. We strongly encourage you to
submit your comments online through the https://www.regulations.gov
website.
If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``The Bountiful
Company; File No. 222 3019'' 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 P), Washington, DC 20580.
Because your comment will be placed on the publicly accessible
website at https://www.regulations.gov, you are solely responsible for
making sure your comment does not include any sensitive or confidential
information. In particular, your comment should not include 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 your comment does not include
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 Sec.
4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2)--including 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 Sec. 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 Sec. 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 https://www.regulations.gov
website--as
[[Page 10902]]
legally required by FTC Rule Sec. 4.9(b)--we cannot redact or remove
your comment from that website, unless you submit a confidentiality
request that meets the requirements for such treatment under FTC Rule
Sec. 4.9(c), and the General Counsel grants that request.
Visit the FTC website at https://www.ftc.gov to read this document
and the news release describing the proposed settlement. The FTC Act
and other laws the Commission administers permit the collection of
public comments to consider and use in this proceeding, as appropriate.
The Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments
it receives on or before March 24, 2023. 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.
Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') has
accepted, subject to final approval, an agreement containing a consent
order from The Bountiful Company (``Bountiful''). The proposed consent
order (``proposed order'') has been placed on the public record for
thirty days for receipt of comments from interested persons. Comments
received during this period will become part of the public record.
After 30 days, the Commission will again review the agreement and the
comments received and will decide whether it should withdraw from the
agreement and take appropriate action or make final the agreement's
proposed order.
This matter involves Bountiful's alleged manipulation of the
Amazon.com product pages for a number of its Nature's Bounty and
Sundown brand dietary supplement products. Bountiful is a vendor to
Amazon, Inc., which allows its vendors to create or submit requests to
create ``variation'' relationships between products sold on Amazon.com
that are substantially similar, like a shirt which is available in
different sizes and colors. The product detail page of products that
are in a variation relationship displays the total number of ratings
and reviews, the average star rating, and the individual reviews for
all the products in the variation relationship. All the products in a
variation relationship also share any ``#1 Best Seller'' or ``Amazon's
Choice'' badges.
According to the Commission's proposed complaint, during 2020 and
2021, Bountiful submitted requests to Amazon to create numerous
variation relationships involving products with different formulations.
The proposed complaint quotes a Bountiful employee explaining that they
did this with new products to ``try and ramp them faster as they were
NOT selling and we wanted to give them a little boost in
R[atings]&R[eviews] to gain visibility and allow them to also borrow
the `amazon choice' badge and best seller badge which worked.''
The proposed complaint alleges that Bountiful violated Sections
5(a) and 12 of the FTC Act by misrepresenting that: (a) the apparent
reviewers of certain of its products sold on Amazon.com had used and
endorsed the products; (b) certain of its products sold on Amazon.com
had received the numbers of customer ratings appearing on their
Amazon.com product pages; (c) certain of its products sold on
Amazon.com had obtained the average star ratings displayed on their
Amazon.com product pages; (d) certain of its products sold on
Amazon.com were number one best sellers; and (e) certain of its
products sold on Amazon.com had earned an Amazon's Choice badge.
The proposed order contains provisions designed to prevent
Bountiful from engaging in similar acts and practices in the future and
to provide monetary relief.
Provision I prohibits Bountiful from making any misrepresentation
about or through the ratings, reviews, badges, or endorsements of any
of its products or services, including false claims that someone
reviewed or used the product or service or about the number of ratings
or reviews the product or service has, its average star rating, its
having earned an Amazon's Choice badge, or its being a best seller.
Provision II prohibits Bountiful from distorting or otherwise
misrepresenting what consumers think of its products or services by
creating relationships between different products sold online or by
procuring, suppressing, boosting, organizing, selectively publishing,
up-voting, down-voting, or editing consumer reviews or ratings of its
products or services.
Provision III requires Bountiful to pay the Commission $600,000
within eight days of the effective date of the order. Provision IV sets
out additional requirements related to the monetary relief.
Provisions V through VIII of the proposed order are reporting and
compliance provisions. Provision V requires acknowledgement of the
order and dissemination of the order now and in the future to persons
with responsibilities relating to the subject matter of the order.
Provision VI ensures notification to the FTC of changes in corporate
status and mandates that the company submit an initial compliance
report to the FTC. Provision VII requires the company to create and
retain certain documents relating to its compliance with the order.
Provision VIII mandates that the company make available to the FTC
information or subsequent compliance reports, as requested. Provision
IX states that the proposed order will remain in effect for 20 years,
with certain exceptions.
The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the
proposed order. It is not intended to constitute an official
interpretation of the complaint or proposed order, or to modify in any
way the proposed order's terms.
By direction of the Commission.
April J. Tabor,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023-03560 Filed 2-21-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P