[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 153 (Thursday, August 7, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46006-46007]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-18098]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

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''). The FTC 
is seeking public comments on its proposal to extend through January 
31, 2012, the current PRA clearance for information sought through 
compulsory process orders to a combined ten or more of the largest 
cigarette manufacturers and smokeless tobacco manufacturers in order to 
obtain from them information including, among other things, their sales 
and marketing expenditures. The current clearance expires on January 
31, 2009.

DATES: Comments on the proposed information requests must be received 
on or before October 6, 2008.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments. 
Comments should refer to ``Tobacco Reports: Paperwork Comment, FTC File 
No. P054507'' to facilitate the organization of comments. 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-TobaccoReports) 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: (https://secure.commentworks.com/ftc-TobaccoReports). 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.
    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: Requests for additional information or 
copies of the proposed collection of information should be addressed to 
Shira Modell, Attorney, Division of Advertising Practices, Bureau of 
Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, 
N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. Telephone: (202) 326-3116.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For forty years, the Federal Trade 
Commission has published periodic reports containing data on domestic 
cigarette sales and marketing expenditures by the major U.S. cigarette 
manufacturers. The Commission has published comparable reports on 
smokeless tobacco sales and marketing expenditures since 1987. Both 
reports originally were issued pursuant to statutory mandates. After 
those statutory mandates were terminated, the Commission continued to 
collect and publish information obtained from the cigarette and 
smokeless tobacco industries pursuant to Section 6(b) of the FTC Act, 
15 U.S.C. 46(b). The current PRA clearance to collect this information 
is valid through

[[Page 46007]]

January 31, 2009, under OMB Control No. 3084-0134.
    The FTC plans to continue sending information requests annually to 
the ultimate parent company of several of the largest cigarette 
companies and smokeless tobacco companies in the United States 
(``industry members''). The information requests will seek data 
regarding, inter alia: (1) the tobacco sales of industry members; (2) 
how much industry members spend advertising and promoting their tobacco 
products, and the specific amounts spent in each of a number of 
specified expenditure categories; (3) whether industry members are 
involved in the appearance of their tobacco products in television 
shows or movies; (4) how much industry members spend on advertising 
intended to reduce youth tobacco usage; (5) the events, if any, during 
which industry members' tobacco brands are televised; and (6) for the 
cigarette industry, the tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide ratings of 
their cigarettes, to the extent they possess such data. The information 
will again be sought using compulsory process under Section 6(b) of the 
FTC Act.
    Under the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521, 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). As required by section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, the FTC is 
providing this opportunity for public comment before requesting that 
OMB extend the existing paperwork clearance for the instant collection 
of information.
    The FTC invites comments on: (1) whether the proposed collection of 
information required by the Rule is necessary for the proper 
performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the 
information will have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of 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.
    Estimated hours burden: The FTC staff's estimate of the hours 
burden is based on the time required to respond to each information 
request. Although the FTC currently anticipates sending in 2009 
information requests to the six largest cigarette companies and the 
five largest smokeless tobacco companies,\2\ the burden estimate is 
based on up to 15 information requests being issued per year to take 
into account any future changes in these industries. These companies 
vary greatly in size, in the number of products that they sell, and in 
the extent and variety of their advertising and promotion. Prior input 
received from the industries, combined with staff's knowledge of them, 
suggests that the time most companies would require to gather, 
organize, format, and produce their responses would range from 30 to 80 
hours per information request for the smaller companies, to as much as 
hundreds of hours for the very largest companies. As an approximation, 
staff continues to assume a per company average of 180 hours for the 
ten largest recipients of the Commission's information request to 
comply with it; cumulatively, 1,800 hours per year.\3\ Staff further 
estimates that for the eleventh anticipated recipient of the 
information request to be issued in 2009 and the four possible 
additional recipients, all of which would be smaller companies, the 
burden should not exceed 60 hours per company or 300 hours, 
cumulatively. Thus, overall estimated burden for a maximum of 15 
recipients of the information request is 2,100 hours. These estimates 
include any time spent by separately incorporated subsidiaries and 
other entities affiliated with the ultimate parent company that has 
received the information request.
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    \2\ In 2007, the Commission issued information requests to five 
cigarette companies and five smokeless tobacco companies. Given 
changing growth conditions in the industry since then, the 
Commission anticipates that it will issue requests to six cigarette 
companies in 2009.
    \3\ 70 FR 24415 (May 9, 2005); 70 FR 62313 (October 31, 2005).
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    Estimated cost burden: It is not possible to calculate with 
precision the labor costs associated with this data production, as they 
entail varying compensation levels of management and/or support staff 
among companies of different sizes. Financial, legal, marketing, and 
clerical personnel may be involved in the information collection 
process. Commission staff assumes that professional personnel will 
handle most of the tasks involved in gathering and producing responsive 
information, and have applied an average hourly wage of $150/hour for 
their combined labor. Staff's best estimate for the total labor costs 
for up to 15 information requests is $315,000. Staff believes that the 
capital or other non-labor costs associated with the information 
requests are minimal. Although the information requests may necessitate 
that industry members maintain the requested information provided to 
the Commission, they should already have in place the means to compile 
and maintain business records.

William Blumenthal
General Counsel
[FR Doc. E8-18098 Filed 8-6-08: 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-S