[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 132 (Monday, July 11, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40731-40733]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-17300]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
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) is seeking public comments on its proposal to extend 
through October 31, 2014, the current PRA clearance for information 
collection requirements contained in its Trade Regulation Rule entitled 
Power Output Claims for Amplifiers Utilized in Home Entertainment 
Products (Amplifier Rule or Rule), 16 CFR Part 432 (OMB Control Number 
3084-0105). That clearance expires on October 31, 2011.

DATES: Comments must be filed by September 9, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment online or on paper, by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``Amplifier Rule: FTC 
File No. P974222'' on your comment, and file your comment online at 
https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/amplifierrulepra, by following 
the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file your 
comment on paper, mail or deliver your comment to the following 
address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 
(Annex J), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be addressed to Jock K. Chung, Attorney, Division of 
Enforcement, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 
M-8133, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580, (202) 326-
2984.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Proposed Information Collection Activities

    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). Because the number of entities affected by the Commission's 
requests will exceed ten, the Commission plans to seek OMB clearance 
under the PRA. As required by Sec.  3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, the 
Commission is providing this opportunity for public comment before 
requesting that OMB extend the existing paperwork clearance for the 
information collection requirements associated with the Commission's 
Amplifier Rule.

[[Page 40732]]

    The Amplifier Rule assists consumers by standardizing the 
measurement and disclosure of power output and other performance 
characteristics of amplifiers in stereos and other home entertainment 
equipment. The Rule also specifies the test conditions necessary to 
make the disclosures that the Rule requires.

Request for Comments

    The FTC invites comments on: (1) Whether the proposed collection of 
information 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. All comments should be filed as prescribed in 
the ADDRESSES section above, and must be received on or before 
September 9, 2011.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before September 9, 
2011. Write ``Amplifier Rule: FTC File No. P974222'' on your comment. 
Your comment--including your name and your state--will be placed on the 
public record of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, 
on the public Commission Web site, at http://www.ftc.govios/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of discretion, the Commission tries to 
remove individuals' home contact information from comments before 
placing them on the Commission Web site.
    Because your comment will be made public, you are solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment doesn't include any 
sensitive personal information, like anyone'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. You are also solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment doesn't include any 
sensitive health information, like medical records or other 
individually identifiable health information. In addition, don't 
include any ``[tirade secret or any commercial or financial information 
which is obtained from any person and which is privileged or 
confidential,'' as provided in 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). In particular, don't 
include competitively sensitive information such as costs, sales 
statistics, inventories, formulas, patterns, devices, manufacturing 
processes, or customer names.
    If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential 
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for 
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained 
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\ Your comment will be kept 
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole 
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the 
public interest.
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    \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).
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    Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to 
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit 
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your 
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/amplifierrulepra, by following the instructions on the web-based 
form. If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov, you also 
may file a comment through that Web site.
    If you file your comment on paper, write ``Amplifier Rule: FTC File 
No. P974222'' on your comment and on the envelope, and mail or deliver 
it to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the 
Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex J), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20580. If possible, submit your paper comment to the 
Commission by courier or overnight service.
    Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this 
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws 
that 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 on or before September 9, 2011. You can find more 
information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in 
the Commission's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.

Amplifier Rule Burden Statement

    Estimated annual hours burden: 450 hours (300 testing-related 
hours; 150 disclosure-related hours).
    The Rule's provisions require affected entities to test the power 
output of amplifiers in accordance with a specified FTC protocol. The 
Commission staff estimates that approximately 300 new amplifiers and 
receivers come on the market each year. High fidelity manufacturers 
routinely conduct performance tests on these new products prior to 
sale. Because manufacturers conduct such tests, the Rule imposes no 
additional costs except to the extent that the FTC protocol is more 
time-consuming than alternative testing procedures. In this regard, a 
warm-up period that the Rule requires before measurements are taken may 
add approximately one hour to the time testing would otherwise entail. 
Thus, staff estimates that the Rule imposes approximately 300 hours (1 
hour x 300 new products) of added testing burden annually.
    In addition, the Rule requires disclosures if a manufacturer makes 
a power output claim for a covered product in an advertisement, 
specification sheet, or product brochure. This requirement does not 
impose any additional costs on manufacturers because, absent the Rule, 
media advertisements, as well as manufacturer specification sheets and 
product brochures, would contain a power specification obtained using 
an alternative to the Rule-required testing protocol. The Rule, 
however, also requires disclosure of harmonic distortion, power 
bandwidth, and impedance ratings in manufacturer specification sheets 
and product brochures that might not otherwise be included.
    Staff assumes that manufacturers produce one specification sheet 
and one brochure each year for each new amplifier and receiver. The 
burden of disclosing the harmonic distortion, bandwidth, and impedance 
information on the specification sheets and brochures is limited to the 
time needed to draft and review the language pertaining to the 
aforementioned specifications. Staff estimates the time involved for 
this task to be a maximum of fifteen minutes for each new specification 
sheet and brochure for a total of 150 hours ([300 new products x 1 
specification sheet) + (300 new products x 1 brochure)] x 15 minutes).
    The total annual burden imposed by the Rule, therefore, is 
approximately 450 burden hours for testing and disclosures.

[[Page 40733]]

    Estimated annual cost burden: $18,300.\2\
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    \2\ Staff's labor cost estimates are based on recent data from 
the Bureau of Labor and Statistics found here: http://www.b1s.govincs/ocs/spinctb1477.pdf.
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    Generally, electronics engineers perform the testing of amplifiers 
and receivers. Staff estimates a labor cost of $12,900 for such testing 
(300 hours for testing x $43 mean hourly wages). Staff assumes 
advertising or promotions managers prepare the disclosures contained in 
product brochures and manufacturer specification sheet and estimates a 
labor cost of $5,400 (150 hours for disclosures x $36 mean hourly 
wages). Accordingly, staff estimates the total labor costs associated 
with the Rule to be approximately $18,300 per year ($12,900 for testing 
+ $5,400 for disclosures).
    The Rule imposes no capital or other non-labor costs because its 
requirements are incidental to testing and advertising done in the 
ordinary course of business.

Willard K. Tom,
Willard K. Tom, General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2011-17300 Filed 7-8-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-M