[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 144 (Wednesday, July 28, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45059-45060]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-17158]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Extension

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'').

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The information collection required described below will be 
submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') for review, 
as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA''). The FTC is 
seeking public comments on its proposed to extend through September 30, 
2007, the current PRA clearance for information collection requirements 
contained in its Used Motor Vehicle Trade Regulation Rule (``Used Car 
Rule'' or ``Rule''). That clearance expires on September 30, 2004.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before September 27, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments. 
Comments should refer to ``Used Car Rule: Paperwork comment,'' to 
facilitate the organization of comments. A comment filed in paper form 
should include this reference both in the text and on the enveloped, 
and should be mailed or delivered to the following address: Federal 
Trade Commission/Office of the Secretary, Room H-159 (Annex T), 600 
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580. If the comment contains 
any material for which confidential treatment is requested, it must be 
filed in paper form, and the first page of the document must be clearly 
labeled ``Confidential.'' \1\ The FTC is requesting that any comment 
filed in paper form be sent by courier or overnight service, if 
possible, because U.S. postal mail in the Washington area and at the 
Commission is subject to delay due to heightened security precautions.
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    \1\ Commission Rule 4.2(d), 16 CFR 4.2(d). The comment must be 
accompanied by an explicit request for confidential treatment, 
including the factual and legal basis for the request, and must 
identify the specific portions of the comment to be withheld from 
the public record. The request will be granted or denied by the 
Commission's General Counsel, consistent with applicable law and the 
public interest. See Commission Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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    The FTC Act and other laws the Commission administers permit the 
collection of public comments to consider and use in this proceeding as 
appropriate. All timely and responsive public comments will be 
considered by the Commission, and will be available to the public on 
the FTC Web site, to the extent practicable, at www.ftc.gov. As a 
matter of discretion, the FTC makes every effort to remove home contact 
information for individuals from the public comments it receives before 
placing those comments on the FTC Web site. More information, including 
routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, may be found in the FTC's 
privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of the proposed information requirements should be addressed to 
John C. Hallerud, Attorney, Midwest Region, Federal Trade Commission, 
55 East Monroe, Suite 1860, Chicago, Illinois 60603, (312) 960-5634.

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. ``Collection of information'' 
means agency requests or requirements that members of the public submit 
reports, keep records, or provide information to a third party. 44 
U.S.C. 3502(3), 5 CFR 1320.3(c). As required by section 3506(c)(2)(A) 
of the PRA, the FTC is providing this opportunity for public comment 
before requesting that OMB extend the existing paperwork clearance for 
the Used Car Rule, 16 CFR part 455 (OMB Control Number 3084-0108).
    The FTC invites comments on: (1) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways 
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who 
are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses.
    The Used Car Rule facilities informed purchasing decisions by 
consumers by requiring used car dealers to disclose information about 
warranty coverage, if any, and the mechanical condition of used cars 
they offer for sale. The Rule required that used car dealers display a 
Buyers Guide that, among other things, discloses information about 
warranty coverage on each used care offered for sale.
    Burden statement:
    Estimated total annual hours burden: 1,921,000 hours.
    The Rule has no recordkeeping requirements. The estimated burden 
relating solely to disclosure requirements is 1,921,000 hours. As 
explained in more detail below, this estimate is based on the number of 
used care dealers (approximately 76,000 \2\), the number of used cars 
sold by dealers annually (approximately 30,000,000 \3\), and the time 
needed to fulfill the information collection tasks required by the 
Rule.\4\ Staff revises its prior annual

[[Page 45060]]

burden estimate of 1,925,000 hours to reflect a decrease in the 
approximate number of dealers.
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    \2\ The Used Car Market Report 2004 (``Manheim Market Report''), 
p. 45, publishing by Manheim, 6205 Peachtree Dunwoody Road, Atlanta, 
Georgia 30328, citing NADA and CNW Marketing/Research. The Manheim 
Market Report estimates the number of dealerships in 2003 as 75,725. 
Staff has rounded that number to 76,000, slightly lower than the 
estimate of 80,000 dealers used in the prior Paperwork Reduction Act 
notice. The Manheim Market Report is available online at: 
www.manheimnews.com/UCMR/reports/UCMR2004dy7r9901resources/index.html.
    \3\ Manheim Market Report, p. 45. The Manheim Market Report 
estimates the number of used cars sold by dealers in 2003 as 
29,903,000. Staff has rounded that number to 30,000,000, the same 
estimate used in the prior Paperwork Reduction Act notice.
    \4\ A relatively small number of dealers opt to contract with 
outside companies to perform the various tasks associated with 
complying with the Rule. Staff assumes that outside contractors 
would require about the same amount of time and incur similar cost 
as dealers to perform these tasks. Accordingly, the hour and cost 
burden totals shown, while referring to ``dealers,'' incorporate the 
time and cost borne by outside companies in performing the tasks 
associated with the Rule.
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    The Rule requires that used car dealers display a one-page, double-
sided Buyers Guide in the window of each used car they offer for sale. 
The component tasks associated with this requirement include: (1) 
Ordering and stocking Buyers Guide forms; (2) entering applicable data 
on Buyers Guides; (3) posting the Buyers Guides on vehicles; and (4) 
making any necessary revisions in Buyers Guides.
    Dealers should need no more than an average of one hour per year to 
obtain Buyers Guide forms, which are readily available from many 
commercial printers or can be produced by an office word-processing or 
desk-top publishing system.\5\ Based on a universe of 76,000 dealers, 
the annual hours burden for producing or obtaining and stocking Buyers 
Guides is 76,000 hours.
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    \5\ The Buyers Guide is also available online from the FTC's Web 
site, www.ftc.gov, at www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/automobiles/index.html.
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    For used cars sold ``as is,'' copying vehicle-specific data from 
dealer inventories to the Buyers Guide forms and checking off the ``no 
warranty'' box may take up to two minutes per vehicle if done by hand, 
and only seconds for those dealers who have automated the process. 
Staff conservatively assumes that this task, on average, will require 
1.5 minutes. For used cars sold under warranty, checking off the 
warranty box and adding warranty information may take an additional one 
minute, i.e., 2.5 minutes. Based on input from industry sources, staff 
estimates that approximately 60% of used cars sold by dealers are sold 
``as is,'' with the remainder sold under warranty. Thus, staff 
estimates the time required to enter data for used cars sold without 
warranty is 450,000 hours [(30,000,000 x 60% x 1.5 minutes) / 60 
minutes/hour] and 500,000 hours for used cars sold under warrant 
[(30,000,000 x 40% x 2.5 minutes) / 60 minutes/hour], for an overall 
total of 950,000 hours.
    Although the time required to post the Buyers Guide on each used 
car may vary substantially, FTC staff estimates that, on average, 
dealers will spend 1.75 minutes per vehicle to match the correct Buyers 
Guide to the vehicle and place it on or on the vehicle. For the 
30,000,000 vehicles sold the burden associated with this task is 
875,000 hours. To the extent dealers are able to integrate this process 
into other activities performed in their ordinary course of business, 
this estimate likely overstates the actual burden.
    If negotiations between buyer and seller over warranty coverage 
produce a sale on terms other than those originally entered on the 
Buyers Guide, the dealer must revise the Guide to reflect the actual 
terms of sale. According to the rulemaking record, bargaining over 
warranty coverage rarely occurs. Allowing for revision in 2% of sales, 
at two minutes per revision, staff estimates that dealers will spend 
20,000 hours annually revising Buyers Guides.
    Estimated annual cost burden: $29,651,000, consisting of 
$20,651,000 in labor costs and $9,000,000 in non-labor costs.
    Labor costs: Labor costs are derived by applying appropriate hourly 
cost figures to the burden hours described above. Staff has determined 
that all of the tasks associated with ordering forms, entering data on 
Buyers Guides, posting Buyers Guides on vehicles, and revising them as 
needed are typically done by clerical or low-level administrative 
personnel. Using a clerical cost rate of $10.75 per hour and an 
estimate of 1,921,000 burden hours for disclosure requirements, the 
total labor cost burden would be approximately $20,651,000
    Capital or other non-labor costs: The cost of the Buyers Guide form 
itself is estimated to be 30 cents per form, so that forms for 30 
million vehicles would cost dealers $9,000,000. In making this 
estimate, staff conservatively assumes that all dealers will purchase 
reprinted forms instead of producing them internally, although dealers 
may produce them at minimal expense using current office automation 
technology. Capital and start-up costs associated with the Rule are 
minimal.

William E. Kovacic,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 04-17158 Filed 7-27-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-M