[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 77 (Friday, April 22, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20914-20915]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-8045]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Reinstatement of 
Existing Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (Commission or FTC).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The FTC intends to conduct a survey of consumers to advance 
its understanding of the incidence of consumer fraud and to allow the 
FTC to better serve people who experience fraud. The survey is a 
follow-up to the FTC's Consumer Fraud Survey conducted in 2003 and 
released in August 2004. Before gathering this information, the FTC is 
seeking public comments on its proposed consumer research. Comments 
will be considered before the FTC submits a request for Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) review under the Paperwork Reduction Act 
(PRA), 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before June 21, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments. 
Comments should refer to ``Consumer Fraud Survey: FTC File No. 
P014412'' to facilitate the organization of comments. A comment filed 
in paper form should include this reference both in the text and on the 
envelope and should be mailed or delivered to the following address: 
Federal Trade Commission/Office of the Secretary, Room H-159 (Annex E), 
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580. 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. Alternatively, comments may 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]. 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\
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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 http://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 
should be addressed to Nathaniel C. Wood, Assistant Director, Officer 
of Consumer and Business Education, Bureau of Consumer Protection, 
Federal Trade Commission, 601 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., NJ-2267, 
Washington, DC 20580, (202) 326-3407, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA, 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). In 2003, OMB approved the FTC's request to conduct a survey 
on consumer fraud and assigned OMB Control Number 3084-0125. The FTC 
completed the consumer research in June 2003 and issued its report, 
Consumer Fraud in the United States: An FTC Survey, in August 2004.\2\ 
As required by section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, the FTC is providing 
this opportunity for public comment before requesting that OMB 
reinstate the clearance for the survey, which expired in December 2003.
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    \2\ The Report is available at http://www.ftc.gov/reports/consumerfraud/040805confraudrpt.pdf.
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    The FTC invites comments on: (1) Whether the proposed collections 
of information are necessary for the proper performance of the 
functions of the FTC, including whether the information will have 
practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the FTC's estimate of the burden 
of the proposed collections of information; (3) ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
(4) ways to minimize the burden of collecting information on those who 
are to respond, including

[[Page 20915]]

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.

1. Description of the Collection of Information and Proposed Use

    The FTC proposes to survey up to 10,000 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. 
Subject to OMB approval for the survey, the FTC has contracted with a 
consumer research firm to identify consumers and conduct the survey. 
The results will assist the FTC in determining the incidence of 
consumer fraud in the general population and whether the type and 
frequency of consumer frauds is changing, and will inform the FTC about 
how best to combat consumer fraud.
    The FTC intends to use a larger sample size than the 2003 survey to 
allow for a more in-depth analysis of the resulting data. The 
additional data points will allow for statistically significant samples 
for particular types of fraud and particular demographic 
characteristics. The questions will be very similar to the 2003 survey 
so that the results from the 2003 survey can be used as a baseline for 
a time-series analysis.\3\ The FTC may choose to conduct another 
follow-up survey in approximately two years.
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    \3\ The survey instrument for the 2003 Consumer Fraud Survey is 
attached as Appendix A to the Report.
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2. 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 per respondent and 2,500 hours as a 
whole (10,000 respondents x 15 minutes each). Thus, cumulative total 
burden hours for the first year of the clearance will approximate 2,525 
hours.

3. 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.

John D. Graubert,
Acting General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 05-8045 Filed 4-21-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P