[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 237 (Monday, December 12, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73473-73474]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-7179]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


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

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

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The information collection requirements described below will 
be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') for 
review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA'') (44 U.S.C. 
3501-3520). The FTC is seeking public comments on its proposal to 
extend through November 30, 2008, the current PRA clearance for 
information collection requirements contained in its regulations under 
the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, 15 U.S.C. 1451-1461 (``FPLA''). On 
October 14, 2005, the OMB granted the FTC's request for a short-term 
extension of this clearance to December 30, 2005.

DATES: Comments must be filed by January 11, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments. 
Comments should refer to ``FPLA Regulations: FTC File No. P868423'' 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, with two complete copies, to the 
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Room H 135 (Annex J), 600 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20580. Because paper mail in the 
Washington area and at the Commission is subject to delay, please 
consider submitting your comments 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]. However, 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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    All comments should additionally be submitted to: Office of 
Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for the Federal Trade 
Commission. Comments should be submitted via facsimile to (202) 395-
6974 because U.S. Postal Mail is subject to lengthy delays due to 
heightened security precautions.
    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

[[Page 73474]]

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 sent to 
Stephen Ecklund, Investigator, Division of Enforcement, Bureau of 
Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., 
NW., Washington, DC 20580, (202) 326-2841.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 27, 2005, the FTC sought 
comment on the information collection requirements associated with the 
FPLA, 16 CFR parts 500 through 503 (OMB Control Number: 3084-0110). See 
70 FR 56468. 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 
extend the existing paperwork clearance for the Rule. All comments 
should be filed as prescribed in the ADDRESSES section above, and must 
be received on or before January 11, 2006.
    The FPLA was enacted to eliminate consumer deception concerning 
product size representations and package content information. The 
regulations that implement the FPLA, 16 CFR parts 500 through 503, 
establish requirements for the manner and form of labeling applicable 
to manufacturers, packagers, and distributors of ``consumer 
commodities.'' \2\ Section 4 of the FPLA specifically requires packages 
or labels to be marked with: (1) A statement of identity; (2) a net 
quantity of contents disclosure; and (3) the name and place of business 
of a company that is responsible for the product.
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    \2\ ``Consumer commodity'' means any article, product, or 
commodity of any kind or class which is customarily produced or 
distributed for sale through retail sales agencies or 
instrumentalities for consumption by individuals, or use by 
individuals for purposes of personal care or in the performance of 
services ordinarily rendered within the household, and which usually 
is consumed or expended in the course of such consumption or use.'' 
16 CFR 500.2(c). For the precise scope of the term's coverage see 16 
CFR 500.2(c); 503.2; 503.5. See also http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fpla/outline.html.
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    Estimated annual hours burden: 6,534,000 total burden hours, 
rounded to the nearest thousand (solely relating to disclosure \3\).
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    \3\ To the extent that the FPLA-implementing regulations require 
sellers of consumer commodities to keep records that substantiate 
``cents off,'' ``introductory offer,'' and/or ``economy size'' 
claims, staff believes that most, if not all, of the records that 
sellers maintain would be kept in the ordinary course of business, 
regardless of the legal mandates.
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    Staff conservatively estimates that approximately 653,397 
manufacturers, packagers, distributors, and retailers of consumer 
commodities make disclosures at an average burden of ten hours per 
entity, for a total disclosure burden of 6,533,970 hours. As in the 
past, Commission staff has used census data to estimate the number of 
companies. Based on a revised approach to the commodity categories in 
the Retail Trade census data, staff has eliminated much of the 
overlapping redundancies and lowered the estimate of the number of 
retailers that sell products subject to the Commission's FPLA 
regulations.
    Estimated annual cost burden: $114,998,000, rounded to the nearest 
thousand (solely relating to labor costs).
    The estimated annual labor cost burden associated with the FPLA 
disclosure requirements consists of an estimated hour of managerial 
and/or professional time per covered entity (at an estimated average 
hourly rate of $50) and nine hours of clerical time per covered entity 
(at an estimated average hourly rate of $14), for a total of 
$114,997,872 ($176 per covered entity x 653,397 entities).
    Total capital and start-up costs are de minimis. For many years, 
the packaging and labeling activities that require capital and start-up 
costs have been performed by covered entities in the ordinary course of 
business independent of the FPLA and implementing regulations. 
Similarly, firms provide in the ordinary course of business the 
information that the statute and regulations require be placed on 
packages and labels.

William Blumenthal,
General Counsel.
 [FR Doc. E5-7179 Filed 12-9-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P