[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 110 (Friday, June 8, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31833-31835]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-11049]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


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

AGENCY: Federal Trade 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''). The 
Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') is seeking public 
comments on its proposal to extend through June 30, 2010 the current 
OMB clearance for information collection requirements contained in its 
Identity Theft Report Definition Rule (``Rule''). That clearance 
expires on June 30, 2007.

DATES: Comments must be filed by July 9, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments. 
Comments should refer to ``IDT Report Rule: FTC Matter No. R411011,'' 
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., N.W., Washington, D.C. 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, 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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    Comments filed in electronic form should be submitted by following 
the instructions on the web-based form at https://secure.commentworks.com/ftc-IDTReportRule. 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-IDTReportRule 
weblink. If this notice appears at www.regulations.gov, you may also 
file an electronic comment through that website. The Commission will 
consider all comments that regulations.gov forwards to it.
    Comments also should be submitted to: Office of Management and 
Budget, ATTN: Desk Officer for the Federal Trade Commission. Comments 
should be submitted by facsimile to (202) 395-

[[Page 31834]]

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 website, 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 website. 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 Kristin Krause Cohen, Attorney, Division of 
Privacy and Identity Protection, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal 
Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580, 
(202) 326-2252.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March 29, 2007, the FTC sought public 
comments on its proposal to extend through June 30, 2010 its current 
OMB clearance for information collection contained in the Rule. See 72 
FR 14810. No comments were received. Pursuant to the OMB regulations, 5 
CFR Part 1320, that implement the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520, 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 July 9, 2007.
    The Identity Theft Report Definition Rule, 16 CFR Part 603, was 
promulgated pursuant to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act 
of 2003 (``FACT Act'' or the ``Act''), Pub.L. 108-159 (December 4, 
2003), amending the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which established 
requirements for consumer reporting agencies, creditors, and others to 
help remedy problems associated with identity theft. Under the Act, an 
individual can mitigate a number of specific harms resulting from 
identity theft by providing an identity theft report to consumer 
reporting agencies and information furnishers. For example, with an 
identity theft report, an identity theft victim can obtain a seven year 
fraud alert or seek to block fraudulent information on their credit 
report. Pursuant to the FACT Act, the Rule defined the term ``identity 
theft report,'' 16 CFR 603.3, and became effective on December 1, 2004.

Burden statement:

    Staff anticipates that, as both individuals and police departments 
become increasingly aware of the benefits of obtaining an ``identity 
theft report'' under the Act, the number of individuals who ultimately 
obtain an identity theft report will likely increase because the Rule 
facilitates a victim's ability to file a law enforcement report. To 
estimate that increase and associated effect on paperwork burden, staff 
has drawn from publicly available survey results that quantify: (a) how 
many individuals are victimized annually by identity theft; and (b) the 
frequency in which consumers file related identity theft reports with 
law enforcement agencies and other third-parties.
    In a survey prepared for the Commission by Synovate and issued in 
September 2003, Federal Trade Commission--Identity Theft Survey Report 
(Synovate Survey Report),\2\ Synovate stated that there are 9.91 
million individuals victimized by identity theft each year.\3\ More 
recent public data, however, states that in 2006, the number of 
domestic consumer victims of identity theft totaled 8.9 million,\4\ and 
staff will apply this latter amount to its projections of increased 
consumer use of identity theft reports.
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    \2\See Synovate Survey Report at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2003/09/synovatereport.pdf.
    \3\ Synovate Survey Report at 7.
    \4\ See http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/idtheftsurveys.htm 
(summarizing findings of the January 2006 Javelin Strategy and 
Research 2006 Identity Fraud Survey Report).
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    The Synovate Survey Report also provided data on the frequency in 
which consumers file identity theft reports with law enforcement 
agencies and other third-parties. Staff is unaware of newer publicly 
available data of this nature. Accordingly, staff will incorporate this 
previously provided data into its revised estimates of the number of 
consumers who will obtain identity theft reports.
    Based on past years' experience drawn from the Synovate Survey 
Report, 26% of all identity theft victims contact a law enforcement 
agency.\5\ Of those contacting law enforcement officials, 76% file a 
police report alleging identity theft.\6\ Conversely, 24% of victims 
who contact a law enforcement agency have not filed a police report. 
Applying this information to the updated population of identity theft 
victims, that would amount to 2.314 million individuals contacting a 
law enforcement agency (8.9 million victims x 26%) of which roughly 
555,000 (rounded to the nearest thousand) have not filed a police 
report. Staff anticipates that the Rule will enable those victims who 
previously were unable to file reports with local law enforcement to 
now file reports with a state or federal law enforcement agency.
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    \5\ Synovate Survey Report at 59.
    \6\ Id.
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    The Synovate Survey Report stated that 43% of identity theft 
victims annually contact an information furnisher.\7\ This would amount 
to 3.827 million victims in a given year (8.9 million victims x 43%). 
Based on its knowledge of identity theft trends, staff anticipates that 
the Rule will result in an increase of 10% of these persons, or roughly 
383,000, who will now obtain an identity theft report to file with an 
information furnisher as proof of being an identity theft victim.
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    \7\Id. at 50.
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    In a given year, 3.23 million persons are victims of their personal 
information being used to open new accounts or to commit other 
frauds.\8\ Of these victims, approximately 20% -- or 646,000 -- do not 
take any action on this misuse.\9\ Based on its knowledge of identity 
theft trends, staff estimates that the Rule will likely result in 75%, 
or 485,000, of these victims obtaining identity theft reports.
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    \8\ Id. at 7. Absent newer data on this point, staff refers to 
and applies this Synovate-provided data.
    \9\ Based upon staff's analysis of data collected in the 
Synovate Survey Report, these types of victims constitute 20% of 
such victims.
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    In sum, then, staff estimates that the Rule will increase by 1.423 
million the number of individuals obtaining identity theft reports 
(555,000 + 383,000 + 485,000).
    Estimated total annual hours burden: 545,000 hours (rounded to the 
nearest thousand)
    In its 2004 notice of proposed rulemaking and corresponding 
submission to OMB, FTC staff estimated, based on the experience of the 
Commission's Consumer Response Center, that an individual would spend 
an average of 5 minutes finding and reviewing filing instructions, 8 
minutes filing the law enforcement report with the law enforcement 
agency, and 5 minutes submitting the law enforcement report and any 
additional information or documentation to the information furnisher or 
consumer reporting agency, resulting in an average of 18 minutes for 
each identity theft report.\10\
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    \10\ These estimates take into account that the time required to 
file the report will vary depending on the law enforcement agency 
used by the individual.

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[[Page 31835]]

    Staff now estimates, based on the ongoing experience of the 
Commission's Consumer Response Center, that an individual will spend 5 
minutes finding and reviewing filing instructions, 13 minutes filing 
the law enforcement report with the law enforcement agency (due to 
added entry fields), and 5 minutes submitting the law enforcement 
report and any additional information or documentation to the 
information furnisher or consumer reporting agency, resulting in an 
average of 23 minutes for each identity theft report. Thus, the annual 
information collection burden for the estimated 1.423 million new 
identity theft reports due to the Rule will be 545,000 hours, rounded 
to the nearest thousand (1.423 million x 23 minutes / 60 minutes/hour).
    Estimated labor costs: $10,802,000 (rounded to the nearest 
thousand)
    Commission staff derived labor costs by applying appropriate hourly 
cost figures to the burden hours described above. Based on Bureau of 
Labor Statistics data, further adjusted for inflation, the average 
national hourly wage for individuals is $19.82.\11\ Applied to 545,000 
total burden hours yields an estimated $10,802,000 in cumulative labor 
costs for all those who will newly obtain identity theft reports 
($19.82 x 545,000 hours) as a projected result of the Rule.
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    \11\ An hourly rate of $18.62 was drawn from average annual 
Bureau of Labor Statistics National Compensation Survey data, June 
2005 (with 2005 as the most recent whole year information available, 
and June the focal median point), http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ocs/sp/ncbl0832.pdf (Table 1.1). Further adjusted by a multiplier of 
1.06426 (a compounding for approximate wage inflation for 2005 and 
2006, based on the BLS Employment Cost Index), the revised hourly 
wage is $19.82.
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    Estimated annual non-labor cost burden: $0 or minimal
    Staff believes that the Rule's paperwork burden imposes negligible 
capital or other non-labor costs, as an identity theft victim is likely 
to have the necessary supplies and/or equipment already (telephone, 
computer, paper, envelopes) for purposes of obtaining the identity 
theft report and submitting it to information furnishers or consumer 
reporting agencies.
    William Blumenthal
    General Counsel
[FR Doc. E7-11049 Filed 6-7-07: 8:45 am]
[Billing code: 6750 - 01S]