[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 15, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13398-13400]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-3700]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (Commission or FTC).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The FTC intends to conduct consumer research to examine the 
effectiveness of the FTC's current energy labeling requirements for 
consumer products and obtain information about alternatives to those 
labels. This activity is part of the Commission's efforts to examine 
the current labeling program, as required by section 137 of the Energy 
Policy Act of 2005 (Pub. L. 109-58). Before gathering this information, 
the FTC is seeking public comments on its proposed consumer research. 
Comments will be considered before the FTC

[[Page 13399]]

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 received on or before May 15, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments. 
Comments should refer to ``Appliance Labeling Survey: No. P064200'' 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/Office of the Secretary, 
Room H-135 (Annex K), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, 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, as prescribed below. However, if the comment contains 
any material for which confidential treatment is requested, the comment 
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.
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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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    Comments filed in electronic form should be submitted by clicking 
on the following weblink: https://secure.commentworks.com/FTC-ApplianceSurvey and following the instructions on the Web-based form. 
To ensure that the Commission considers an electronic comment, you must 
file it on the web-based form at the https://secure.commentworks.com/FTC-ApplianceSurvey Web link. If this notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov, you may also file an electronic comment through 
that Web site. The Commission will consider all comments that 
regulations.gov forwards to it.
    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 Hampton Newsome, Attorney, Division of 
Enforcement, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580, (202) 326-3228.

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).
    Section 324 of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 
(EPCA), 42 U.S.C. 6291-6309, requires the FTC to prescribe labeling 
rules for the disclosure of estimated annual energy cost or alternative 
energy consumption information for a variety of products covered by the 
statute, including home appliances (e.g., refrigerators, dishwashers, 
air conditioners, and furnaces), lighting, and plumbing products. The 
Commission's Appliance Labeling Rule (Rule), 16 CFR part 305, 
implements these requirements by directing manufacturers to disclose 
energy information about major household appliances. This information 
enables consumers to compare the energy use or efficiency of competing 
models. When initially published in 1979, the Rule applied to eight 
appliance categories: refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, freezers, 
dishwashers, water heaters, clothes washers, room air conditioners, and 
furnaces. Since then, the Commission has expanded the Rule's coverage 
to include central air conditioners, heat pumps, fluorescent lamp 
ballasts, plumbing products, lighting products, pool heaters, and some 
other types of water heaters.
    Section 137 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 amends the EPCA (42 
U.S.C. 6294(a)(2)) to require the Commission to initiate a rulemaking 
to consider ``the effectiveness of the consumer products labeling 
program in assisting consumers in making purchasing decisions and 
improving energy efficiency.'' As part of this effort, EPCA directs the 
Commission to consider ``changes to the labeling rules (including 
categorical labeling) that would improve the effectiveness of consumer 
product labels.''
    On November 2, 2005, the Commission published an Advance Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) seeking comments on the effectiveness of the 
FTC's energy labeling regulations for consumer products. 70 FR 66307 
(November 2, 2005). In that Notice, the Commission stated that the 
American Council for an Energy Efficient Environment (ACEEE) released a 
report in 2002 summarizing its research on the EnergyGuide label's 
efficacy and on alternative formats and graphical elements for the 
label.\2\ More recently, the Association of Home Appliance 
Manufacturers (AHAM) conducted a study that also examined the current 
label and alternatives. AHAM submitted the study as part of its 
comments on the ANPR.\3\ The conclusions reached by AHAM and ACEEE are 
not in accord. As part of the ongoing rulemaking on the label's 
effectiveness, the Commission is considering conducting its own 
consumer research related to the existing label requirements and 
possible alternatives. As required by the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A), 
the FTC is providing this opportunity for public comment before 
requesting that OMB grant the clearance for the survey.
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    \2\ Thorne, Jennifer and Egan, Christine, ``An Evaluation of the 
Federal Trade Commission's EnergyGuide Label: Final Report and 
Recommendations,'' ACEEE, August 2002. The report is available 
online at http://aceee.org/pubs/a021full.pdf.
    \3\ See AHAM Comments in FTC Matter No. R511994, (January 13, 
2006) (http://www.ftc.gov/os/comments/energylabeling/519870-00016.htm).
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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 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. All comments should be filed as prescribed in 
the ADDRESSES section above, and must be received on or before May 15, 
2006.

[[Page 13400]]

1. Description of the Collection of Information and Proposed Use

    The FTC proposes to collect information from up to 3000 consumers 
in order to gather data on the effectiveness of current energy labels 
required by the Rule and possible alternatives to those current 
requirements. All information will be collected on a voluntary basis. 
Subject to OMB approval for the collection of information, the FTC 
plans to contract with a consumer research firm to identify consumers 
and conduct the survey. The results will assist the FTC in determining 
the effectiveness of the consumer products labeling program in 
assisting consumers in their purchasing decisions and improving energy 
efficiency. The results also should aid the Commission in considering 
changes to the labeling rules that would improve the effectiveness of 
consumer product labels.

2. Estimated Hours Burden

    The FTC is considering pretesting the consumer questionnaires on 
approximately 100 respondents to ensure that all questions are easily 
understood. The FTC expects that the pretest would take approximately 
20 minutes on average per person and approximately 33 hours as a whole 
(100 respondents x 20 minutes each). Once the pretest is completed, the 
FTC plans to seek information from approximately 3000 respondents. 
Answering the FTC's information requests will require approximately 
1000 hours as a whole (3000 respondents x 20 minutes each). Thus, 
cumulative total burden hours for the survey will be approximately 
1,000 hours (rounded to the nearest thousand).

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.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E6-3700 Filed 3-14-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P