[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