[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 38 (Friday, February 25, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10596-10598]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-4196]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission).

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The FTC is soliciting public comments on proposed information 
requests to beverage alcohol manufacturers. These comments will be 
considered before the FTC submits a request for Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) review under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), 44 
U.S.C. 3501-3520, of compulsory process orders to alcohol advertisers. 
The compulsory process orders will seek information from those 
companies concerning, among other things, compliance with voluntary 
advertising placement provisions, sales and marketing expenditures, the 
status of third-party review of complaints regarding compliance with 
voluntary advertising codes and alcohol industry data collection 
practices.

DATES: Comments on the proposed information requests must be received 
on or before April 26, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments 
electronically or in paper form, by following the instructions in the 
Request for Comments part of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section 
below. Comments in electronic form should be submitted by using the 
following Web link: https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/alcoholstudy2011pra (and following the instructions on the Web-based 
form). Comments in paper form should be mailed or delivered to the 
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 
Room HB113 (Annex J), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20580, in the manner detailed in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section 
below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Janet M. Evans, Attorney, 202-326-
2125, or Carolyn L. Hann, Attorney, 202-326-2745, Division of 
Advertising Practices, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade 
Commission.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The FTC previously published reports on voluntary advertising self-
regulation by the alcohol industry in September 1999, September 2003, 
and June 2008. The data contained in the reports was based on 
information submitted to the Commission, pursuant to compulsory 
process, by U.S. beverage alcohol advertisers. The FTC has authority to 
compel production of this information from advertisers under Section 6 
of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act), 15 U.S.C. 46. The 
Commission believes that it is in the public interest to collect 
updated data from alcohol advertisers on sales and marketing 
expenditures, compliance with the industry's imposed self-regulatory 
codes concerning advertising placement, the status of third-party 
review of complaints regarding compliance with the industry's self-
regulatory advertising standards, and alcohol industry data collection 
practices, and to publish a report on the data obtained.

Applicability of Paperwork Reduction Act

    The Commission plans to address its information requests to the 
ultimate U.S. parent of alcohol advertisers in order to ensure that no 
relevant data from affiliated or subsidiary companies go unreported. 
Because the number of separately incorporated companies affected by the 
Commission's requests will presumably exceed ten entities, the 
Commission intends to seek OMB clearance under the Paperwork Reduction 
Act (PRA) before requesting any information from beverage alcohol 
advertisers. Under the PRA and implementing OMB regulations, federal 
agencies must obtain approval from OMB for each ``collection of 
information'' they conduct or sponsor if posed to ten or more entities 
within any twelve-month period. 44 U.S.C. 3502(3); 5 CFR 1320.3(c). 
``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. 3501(3); 5 CFR 1320.3(c).

Request for Comments

    As required by Section 3506(c)(2) of the PRA, the FTC is providing 
this

[[Page 10597]]

opportunity for public comment before requesting that OMB approve the 
study. Specifically, the FTC invites comments on: (1) Whether the 
proposed collection of information is 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 collection 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. The FTC encourages 
recipients of prior compulsory process orders to offer suggestions on 
how the burden of the proposed collection may be reduced. All comments 
should be filed as prescribed below, and must be received on or before 
April 26, 2011.
    Please also note that because your comment will be made public, you 
are solely responsible for ensuring that it does not include any 
sensitive personal information, such as any individual's Social 
Security number, date of birth, driver's license number or other state 
identification number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, 
financial account number, or credit or debit card number. It is also 
your own responsibility to ensure that your comment does not include 
any sensitive health information, such as medical records or other 
individually identifiable health information. Your comment also should 
not include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial 
information * * * which is privileged or confidential.'' See Section 
6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 
4.10(a)(2). No comment, whether it contains such material or not, will 
be given confidential treatment unless the comment has been filed with 
the FTC Secretary; the comment is accompanied by a written 
confidentiality request that complies fully with FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 
CFR 4.9(c); \1\ and the General Counsel, in his or her sole discretion, 
has determined to grant the request in accordance with applicable law 
and the public interest.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ In particular, the written request for confidential 
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and 
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions 
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule 
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Because paper mail addressed to the FTC is subject to delay due to 
heightened security screening, please consider submitting your comment 
in electronic form. Comments filed in electronic form should be 
submitted by using the following Web link: https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/alcoholstudy2011pra (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 Web link: https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/alcoholstudy2011pra. If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/search/index.jsp, you may also file an electronic 
comment through that Web site. The Commission will consider all 
comments that regulations.gov forwards to it. You may also visit the 
FTC Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read the Notice and the news 
release describing it.
    A comment filed in paper form should include the ``Alcohol Reports: 
Paperwork Comment; Project No. P114503'' reference both in the text and 
on the envelope, and should be mailed or delivered to the following 
address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 
(Annex J), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580. The FTC 
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 Commission is subject to delay 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. The Commission will consider all timely and responsive 
public comments that it receives, whether filed in paper or electronic 
form. Comments received will be available to the public on the FTC Web 
site, to the extent practicable, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of discretion, the Commission 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.shtm.

Description of the Collection of Information and Proposed Use

    The FTC proposes to send information requests to the ultimate U.S. 
parent companies of up to fourteen advertisers of beer, wine, or 
distilled spirits (``industry members''). The requests will seek, among 
other information, data regarding: (1) Sales of beverage alcohol; (2) 
expenditures to advertise and promote beverage alcohol in measured and 
non-measured media; (3) compliance with the 70% legal drinking age 
audience composition advertising placement standard contained in the 
industry's self-regulatory codes; (4) third-party or other external 
compliance review mechanisms; and (5) data collection efforts, 
including data collection in connection with digital and social media 
marketing, and efforts to avoid collection of data from youth under the 
legal drinking age of 21, to the extent industry members possess such 
data.
    It should be noted that subsequent to this notice, any destruction, 
removal, mutilation, alteration, or falsification of documentary 
evidence that may be responsive to this information collection within 
the possession or control of a person, partnership, or corporation 
subject to the FTC Act may be subject to criminal prosecution. 15 
U.S.C. 50; see also 18 U.S.C. 1505.
    Estimated Hours Burden: 11,760 hours.
    The staff's estimate of the hours burden is based on the time 
required to respond to each information request. Because beverage 
alcohol companies vary in size, the number of products they sell, and 
the extent and variety of their advertising and promotion efforts, the 
staff has provided a range of the estimated hours burden. As noted 
above, each company will receive information requests pertaining to 
five categories of information.
    Based upon its knowledge of the industry, the staff estimates, on 
average, that the time required to gather, organize, format, and 
produce responses to categories (1), (2), (4), and (5) will range 
between 20 and 130 hours for most companies, but that the largest 
companies could require as many as 560 hours for the most time-
consuming category, i.e., category (3) (placement information). The 
total estimated burden per company is based on the following 
assumptions:

[[Page 10598]]



------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Identify, obtain, and organize sales   30-70 hours
 information, prepare response:
(2) Identify, obtain, and organize         50-130 hours
 information on advertising and marketing
 expenditures, prepare response:
(3) Identify, obtain, and organize         240-560 hours
 placement information, prepare response:
(4) Identify, obtain, and organize         20-40 hours
 information regarding compliance review,
 prepare response:
(5) Identify, obtain, and organize         20-40 hours
 information regarding data collection,
 prepare response:
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The staff anticipates that the cumulative hours burden to respond 
to the information requests will be between 360 and 840 hours per 
company. Nonetheless, in order to be conservative, the staff estimates 
that the burden per company for each of up to fourteen intended 
recipients will be 840 hours. Accordingly, the staff estimates a total 
burden for these companies of approximately 11,760 hours (14 companies 
x 840 average burden hours per company). 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.
    Estimated Cost Burden: $252,000.
    It is difficult to calculate with precision the labor costs 
associated with the information requests, as the costs 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. The staff has 
assumed that professional personnel and outside legal counsel will 
handle most of the tasks involved in gathering and producing responsive 
information, and has applied an average hourly wage of $300/hour for 
their labor. Thus, the staff estimates that the total labor costs per 
company will range between $108,000 ($300 x 360 hours) and $252,000 
($300 x 840 hours).
    The staff estimates that the capital or other non-labor costs 
associated with the information requests will be 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.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2011-4196 Filed 2-24-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P