[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 125 (Friday, June 27, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36515-36517]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-14621]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


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

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

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 FTC 
is seeking public comments on its proposal to extend through July 31, 
2011, the current PRA clearance for information collection requirements 
contained in the Commission's Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Privacy Rule 
(``GLB Privacy Rule'' or ``Rule''). The current clearance expires on 
July 31, 2008.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before July 28, 2008.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments. 
Comments should refer to ``Paperwork Comment: FTC File No. P085405'' 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, Room H-135 (Annex J), 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., 
Washington, D.C. 20580. The Commission 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 FTC 
is subject to delay due to heightened security precautions. Moreover, 
because paper mail in the Washington area and at the FTC is subject to 
delay, please consider submitting your comments in electronic form, as 
prescribed below. If, however, 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-glbprivacyrulepra) 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-glbprivacyrulepra) 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 www.regulations.gov forwards to it.
    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 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.shtm).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kellie Cosgrove Riley, Senior 
Attorney, Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, Bureau of 
Consumer Protection, (202) 326-2252, Federal Trade Commission, 600 
Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On April 2, 2008, the FTC sought comment on 
the information collection requirements associated with the GLB Privacy 
Rule, 16 CFR Part 313 (OMB Control Number 3084-0121). See 73 FR 17980. 
No comments were received. Pursuant to the OMB regulations, 5 CFR Part 
1320, that implement the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521, the FTC is providing 
this second opportunity for public comment while seeking OMB approval 
to extend the existing PRA clearance for the Rule. All comments should 
be filed as prescribed in the ADDRESSES section above, and must be 
received on or before July 28, 2008.
    The GLB Privacy Rule is designed to ensure that customers and 
consumers, subject to certain exceptions, will have access to the 
privacy policies of the financial institutions with which they conduct 
business. As mandated by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, 15 U.S.C. 6801-
6809, the Rule requires financial institutions to disclose to 
consumers: (1) initial notice of the financial institution's privacy 
policy when establishing a customer relationship with a consumer and/or 
before sharing a consumer's non-public personal information with 
certain nonaffiliated third parties; (2) notice of the consumer's right 
to opt out of information sharing with such parties; (3) annual notice 
of the institution's privacy policy to any continuing customer; and (4) 
notice of changes in the institution's practices on information 
sharing. These requirements are subject to the PRA. The Rule does not 
require recordkeeping.
    Estimated annual hours burden: As noted in the original burden 
estimate for the GLB Privacy Rule, determining the paperwork burden of 
the Rule's disclosure requirements is very difficult because of the 
highly diverse group of

[[Page 36516]]

affected entities, consisting of financial institutions not regulated 
by a federal financial regulatory agency. See 15 U.S.C. 6805 
(committing to the Commission's jurisdiction entities that are not 
specifically subject to another agency's jurisdiction).
    The burden estimates represent the FTC staff's best assessment, 
based on its knowledge and expertise relating to the financial 
institutions subject to the Commission's jurisdiction under this law. 
To derive these estimates, staff considered the wide variations in 
covered entities. In some instances, covered entities may make the 
required disclosures in the ordinary course of business, apart from the 
GLB Privacy Rule. In addition, some entities may use highly automated 
means to provide the required disclosures, while others may rely on 
methods requiring more manual effort. The burden estimates shown below 
include the time that may be necessary to train staff to comply with 
the regulations. These figures are averages based on staff's best 
estimate of the burden incurred over the broad spectrum of covered 
entities.
    Staff retains its prior estimate of the number of entities each 
year that will address the GLB Privacy Rule for the first time (5,000) 
and its estimate of established entities already familiar with the Rule 
(100,000). While the number of established entities familiar with the 
Rule would theoretically increase each year with the addition of new 
entrants, staff retains its previous estimate of established entities 
given that a number of the established entities will close in any given 
year, and also given the difficulty of establishing a more precise 
estimate. Staff's burden estimates for new entrants and established 
entities are detailed in the charts below.

Start-up hours and labor costs for new entrants:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Approx.    Approx.
          Hourly wage    Hours per      Approx.       Total      Total
  Event    and labor    Respondent     Number of      Annual     Labor
           category*                  Respondents      Hrs.      Costs
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewin  $31.66       20            5,000          100,000    $3,166,00
 g         managerial/                                          0
 interna   profession
 l         al
 policie
 s and
 develop
 ing
 GLBA-
 impleme
 nting
 instruc
 tions**
---------
Creating  $14.71       5             5,000          25,000     $367,750
 disclos   clerical
 ure
 documen
 t or
 electro
 nic
 disclos
 ure
 (includ
 ing
 initial
 ,
 annual,
 and opt
 out
 disclos
 ures)
---------
          $32.82       10            .............  50,000     $1,641,00
           profession                                           0
           al/
           technical
---------
Dissemin  $14.71       15            5,000          75,000     $1,103,25
 ating     clerical                                             0
 initial
 disclos
 ure
 (includ
 ing opt
 out
 notices
 )
---------
          $32.82       10            .............  50,000     $1,641,00
           profession                                           0
           al/
           technical
---------
Total     ...........  ............  .............  300,000    $7,919,00
                                                                0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Staff calculated labor costs by applying appropriate hourly cost
  figures to burden hours. The hourly rates used were based on mean
  wages for managerial/professional time (e.g., compliance evaluation
  and/or planning), professional/technical time (e.g., designing and
  producing notices, reviewing and updating information systems), and
  clerical time (e.g., reproduction tasks, filing, and, where applicable
  to the given event, typing or mailing). See BLS National Compensation
  Survey, June 2006, Table 1, available at http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ocs/sp/ncbl0910.pdf (Management, professional, and related; office and
  administrative support) and BLS Occupational Employment and Wages
  2006,Table 2, available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ocwage.pdf (professional, scientific, and technical services -
  business and financial operations). Labor cost totals reflect solely
  that of the commercial entities affected. Staff assumes that the time
  required of consumers to respond affirmatively to respondents' opt-out
  programs (be it manually or electronically) would be minimal.
** Reviewing instructions includes all efforts performed by or for the
  respondent to: determine whether and to what extent the respondent is
  covered by an agency collection of information, understand the nature
  of the request, and determine the appropriate response (including the
  creation and dissemination of document and/or electronic disclosures).

Burden hours and costs for established entities:

    Burden for established entities already familiar with the Rule 
predictably would be less than for start-up entities because start-up 
costs, such as crafting a privacy policy, are generally one-time costs 
and have already been incurred. Staff's best estimate of the average 
burden for these entities is as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                      Approx.    Approx.
         Hourly wage    Hours per    Approx. Number    Total      Total
 Event    and labor    Respondent          of          Annual     Labor
          category*                  Respondents**     Hours      Costs
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewi  $31.66       4             70,000           280,000    $8,864,8
 ng       managerial/                                            00
 GLBA-    profession
 implem   al
 enting
 polici
 es and
 practi
 ces
--------

[[Page 36517]]

 
Dissemi  $14.71       15            70,000           1,050,000  $15,445,
 nating   clerical                                               500
 annual
 disclo
 sure
--------
         $32.82       5             ...............  350,000    $11,487,
          profession                                             000
          al/
          technical
--------
Changes  $14.71       15            1,000            15,000     $220,650
 to       clerical
 privac
 y
 polici
 es and
 relate
 d
 disclo
 sures
--------
         $32.82       5             ...............  5,000      $164,100
          profession
          al/
          technical
--------
Total    ...........  ............  ...............  1,700,000  $36,182,
                                                                 050
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Staff calculated labor costs by applying appropriate hourly cost
  figures to burden hours; labor cost totals reflect solely that of the
  commercial entities affected. The hourly rates used were based on mean
  wages for managerial/professional time (e.g., compliance evaluation
  and/or planning), professional/technical time (e.g., designing and
  producing notices, reviewing and updating information systems), and
  clerical time (e.g., reproduction tasks, filing, and, where applicable
  to the given event, typing or mailing). See BLS National Compensation
  Survey, June 2006, Table 1, available at http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ocs/sp/ncbl0910.pdf (Management, professional, and related; office and
  administrative support) and BLS Occupational Employment and Wages
  2006,Table 2, available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ocwage.pdf (professional, scientific, and technical services -
  business and financial operations). Consumers have a continuing right
  to opt-out, as well as a right to revoke their opt-out at any time.
  When a respondent changes its information sharing practices, consumers
  are again given the opportunity to opt-out. Again, staff assumes that
  the time required of consumers to respond affirmatively to
  respondents' opt-out programs (be it manually or electronically) would
  be minimal.
** The estimate of respondents is based on the following assumptions:
  (1) 100,000 respondents, approximately 70% of whom maintain customer
  relationships exceeding one year, (2) no more than 1% (1,000) of whom
  make additional changes to privacy policies at any time other than the
  occasion of the annual notice; and (3) such changes will occur no more
  often than once per year.

    As calculated above, the total annual PRA burden hours and labor 
costs for all affected entities in a given year would be 2,000,000 
hours and $44,101,000, respectively.
    Estimated Capital/Other Non-Labor Costs Burden: Staff believes that 
capital or other non-labor costs associated with the document requests 
are minimal. Covered entities will already be equipped to provide 
written notices (e.g., computers with word processing programs, 
typewriters, copying machines, mailing capabilities). Most likely, only 
entities that already have on-line capabilities will offer consumers 
the choice to receive notices via electronic format. As such, these 
entities will already be equipped with the computer equipment and 
software necessary to disseminate the required disclosures via 
electronic means.

David C. Shonka,
Acting General Counsel.
[FR Doc. E8-14621 Filed 6-26-08: 8:45 am]
[BILLING CODE: 6750-01-S]