[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 37 (Tuesday, February 25, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8766-8767]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-4397]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


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

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The FTC is seeking Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) for a consumer survey 
to gather information on the incidence of consumer fraud in the 
population and enable it to better serve people who experience it. The 
FTC seeks public comment regarding this notice, which is the second of 
two notices required by the PRA for information collection requests of 
this nature.

DATES: Comments on the proposed information requests must be submitted 
on or before March 27, 2003.

[[Page 8767]]


ADDRESSES: Send written comments to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive 
Office Building, Room 10202, Washington, DC 20503, ATTN.: Desk Officer 
for the Federal Trade Commission (comments in electronic form should be 
sent to [email protected]), and to Secretary, Federal Trade 
Commission, Room H-159, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 
20580 (comments in electronic form should be sent to 
[email protected], as prescribed below). The submissions should 
include the submitter's name, address, telephone number and, if 
available, FAX number and e-mail address. All submissions should be 
captioned ``Consumer Fraud Survey--FTC File No. P014412.''

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information, 
such as requests for the Supporting Statement, related attachments, or 
copies of the proposed collection of information, should be addressed 
to Nat Wood, Assistant Director, Office of Consumer and Business 
Education, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600 
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580. Telephone: (202) 326-
3407, e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal 
agencies must obtain approval from OMB for each collection of 
information they conduct or sponsor. On December 4, 2002, the FTC 
published a Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period 
seeking comments from the public concerning the collection of 
information from consumers. See 67 FR 72186. No comments were received. 
Pursuant to the OMB regulations that implement the PRA (5 CFR part 
1320), the FTC is providing this second opportunity for public comment 
while seeking OMB approval to conduct the collection of information 
presented by the proposed survey.
    If a comment contains nonpublic information, it must be filed in 
paper form, and the first page of the document must be clearly labeled 
``confidential.'' Comments that do not contain any nonpublic 
information may instead be filed in electronic form (in ASCII format, 
WordPerfect, or Microsoft Word) as part of or as an attachment to e-
mail messages directed to the following e-mail box: 
[email protected]. Such comments will be considered by the 
Commission and will be available for inspection and copying at its 
principal office in accordance with section 4.9(b)(6)(ii) of the 
Commission's Rules of Practice, 16 CFR section 4.9(b)(6)(ii).

Description of the Collection of Information and Proposed Use

    The FTC proposes to survey approximately 3,000 consumers in order 
to gather specific information on the incidence of consumer fraud in 
the general population. This information will be collected on a 
voluntary basis, and the identities of the consumers will remain 
confidential. The FTC has contracted with a consumer research firm to 
identify consumers and conduct the survey. The results will: (1) Assist 
the FTC in determining whether the type and frequency of consumer fraud 
complaints collected in its Consumer Sentinel database representatively 
reflect the incidence of consumer fraud in the general population; and 
(2) inform the FTC about how best to combat consumer fraud.

Estimated Hours Burden

    The FTC will pretest the survey on approximately 100 respondents to 
ensure that all questions are easily understood. This pretest will take 
approximately 15 minutes per person and 25 hours as a whole (100 
respondents x 15 minutes each). Answering the consumer survey will 
require approximately 15 minutes pre respondent and 750 hours as a 
whole (3,000 respondents x 15 minutes each). Thus, cumulative total 
hours attributable to the consumer research will approximate 775 hours.

Estimated Cost Burden

    The cost per respondent should be negligible. Participation is 
voluntary and will not require start-up, capital, or labor expenditures 
by respondents.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 03-4397 Filed 2-24-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-M