Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request, 10902-10903 [2023-03629]
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10902
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 35 / Wednesday, February 22, 2023 / Notices
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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
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19:42 Feb 21, 2023
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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
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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:
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 35 / Wednesday, February 22, 2023 / Notices
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
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David Walko, Attorney, Division of
Privacy and Identity Protection, Bureau
of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade
Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20580, (202) 326–
2880.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Affiliate Marketing Rule (16
CFR part 680).
OMB Control Number: 3084–0131.
Type of Review: Extension of
currently approved collection.
Likely Respondents: Motor vehicle
dealers, financial institutions, trade
associations.
Estimated Annual Burden: The total
estimated burden is 7,795 hours and
$367,176 in associated labor costs.
Commission staff estimates that the
capital and non-labor costs associated
with the Affiliate Marketing Rule’s
disclosure requirements are de minimis,
because covered entities can consolidate
affiliate marketing notices with other
notices they already provide to their
customers such as notices issued
pursuant to the Commission’s GrammLeach-Bliley Act Financial Privacy Rule
(16 CFR part 313). On December 8,
2022, the Commission sought comment
on the disclosure requirements
associated with the Rule. 87 FR 75271.
No relevant comments were received.
For more details about the Rule
requirements, the background behind
these information collection provisions,
and the basis for these calculations, see
87 FR 75271 (Dec. 8, 2022).
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.
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
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19:42 Feb 21, 2023
Jkt 259001
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. 2023–03629 Filed 2–21–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750–01–P
GENERAL SERVICES
ADMINISTRATION
[Notice–MY–2023–02; Docket No. BSC–
PMF–2023–0001; Sequence No. 1]
Public Review of Shared Services
Performance Management Framework;
Request for Public Comment
Office of Government-wide
Policy (OGP); General Services
Administration, (GSA).
ACTION: Notice; request for public
comment.
AGENCY:
This notice informs the public
of the opportunity to provide input on
the performance management
framework that has been created in
support of the Quality Service
Management Offices (QSMOs). This
input will be considered as GSA OGP
updates the performance management
framework.
SUMMARY:
The performance framework is
available on regulations.gov. Interested
parties can review the framework and
submit comments via the method
outlined in the ADDRESSES section on or
before March 24, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments in
response to Notice BSC–PMF–2023–
0001 by https://www.regulations.gov.
Submit comments via the Federal
eRulemaking portal by searching for
‘‘Notice BSC–PMF–2023–0001.’’ Select
the link ‘‘Comment Now’’ that
corresponds with ‘‘Notice BSC–PMF–
2023–0001.’’ Follow the instructions
provided at the screen. Please include
your name, company name (if any), and
‘‘Notice BSC–PMF–2023–0001’’ on your
attached document.
• Instructions: Please submit
comments only and cite ‘‘Notice BSC–
PMF–2023–0001,’’ in all
correspondence related to this notice.
Comments received generally will be
posted without change to https://
www.regulations.gov, including any
DATES:
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10903
personal and/or business confidential
information provided. To confirm
receipt of your comment(s), please
check https://www.regulations.gov,
approximately two-to-three business
days after submission to verify posting.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Courtney Anderson, Program Manager,
Office of Shared Solutions and
Performance Improvement (OSSPI),
OGP, at 202–368–2681, or by email at
courtney.anderson@gsa.gov.
On April
26, 2019, the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) published OMB
memorandum 19–16, Centralized
Mission Support Capabilities for the
Federal Government (available at
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2019/04/M-19-16.pdf).
This memo states that ‘‘The success of
this strategy will require strong,
collaborative governance and an
operating model that responds to
varying levels of maturity within
agencies, continuous engagement of
agency operational teams, establishment
and adherence to common business
standards, and assessment of QSMO
performance (including the investments
made over time to improve QSMO
quality and effectiveness).’’ The OSSPI
within OGP has worked to develop a
phased approach to measuring QSMO
performance as mandated by Memo 19–
16. The purpose of this framework is to
measure the effectiveness of the QSMOs
in key areas—customer, financial,
standards adoption, marketplace
operations, and IT modernization.
GSA is seeking public feedback on
this performance framework, including
comments on understandability of the
standards, suggested changes, and
usefulness of the framework to the
QSMO marketplace.
Guiding questions include:
• Is this framework easy to
understand?
• What would you change about the
framework? Is there anything missing?
Comments will be used to make
updates to the performance framework
as needed.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Krystal J. Brumfield,
Associate Administrator, Office of
Government-wide Policy, General Services
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2023–03587 Filed 2–21–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820–14–P
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 35 (Wednesday, February 22, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10902-10903]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03629]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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 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.
[[Page 10903]]
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Walko, Attorney, Division of
Privacy and Identity Protection, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal
Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580,
(202) 326-2880.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Affiliate Marketing Rule (16 CFR part 680).
OMB Control Number: 3084-0131.
Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.
Likely Respondents: Motor vehicle dealers, financial institutions,
trade associations.
Estimated Annual Burden: The total estimated burden is 7,795 hours
and $367,176 in associated labor costs. Commission staff estimates that
the capital and non-labor costs associated with the Affiliate Marketing
Rule's disclosure requirements are de minimis, because covered entities
can consolidate affiliate marketing notices with other notices they
already provide to their customers such as notices issued pursuant to
the Commission's Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act Financial Privacy Rule (16 CFR
part 313). On December 8, 2022, the Commission sought comment on the
disclosure requirements associated with the Rule. 87 FR 75271. No
relevant comments were received. For more details about the Rule
requirements, the background behind these information collection
provisions, and the basis for these calculations, see 87 FR 75271 (Dec.
8, 2022).
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.
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. 2023-03629 Filed 2-21-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P