[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 17 (Friday, January 25, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5443-5444]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-01523]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


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

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Notice and request for comment.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, 
the FTC is seeking public comments on its request to OMB for a three-
year extension of the current PRA clearance for the information 
collection requirements contained in the Mail or Telephone Order 
Merchandise Trade Regulation Rule. That clearance expires on February 
28, 2013 (OMB Control No. 3084-0106).

DATES: Comments must be received by February 25, 2013.

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.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Trade Regulation Rule 
(MTOR or Rule), 16 CFR Part 435.
    OMB Control Number: 3084-0106.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Abstract: Generally, the MTOR requires a merchant to: (1) Have a 
reasonable basis for any express or implied shipment representation 
made in soliciting the sale (if no express time period is promised, the 
implied shipment representation is 30 days); (2) notify the consumer 
and obtain the consumer's consent to any delay in shipment; and (3) 
make prompt and full refunds when the consumer exercises a cancellation 
option or the merchant is unable to meet the Rule's other requirements.
    The notice provisions in the Rule require a merchant who is unable 
to ship within the promised shipment time or 30 days to notify the 
consumer of a revised date and his or her right to cancel the order and 
obtain a prompt refund. Delays beyond the revised shipment date also 
trigger a notification requirement to consumers. When the MTOR requires 
the merchant to make a refund and the consumer has paid by credit card, 
the Rule also requires the merchant to notify the consumer either that 
any charge to the consumer's charge account will be reversed or that 
the merchant will take no action that will result in a charge.
    On October 24, 2012, the Commission sought comment on the 
information collection requirements in MTOR. See 77 FR 64994. No 
comments were received. As required by OMB regulations, 5 CFR Part 
1320, the FTC is providing this second opportunity for public comment.
    Likely Respondents: Businesses engaged in the sale of merchandise 
by mail or by telephone.
    Estimated Annual Hours Burden: 1,764,390 hours.

Third Party Disclosure: [(29,478 established businesses x 50 hours) + 
(1,263 new entrants x 230 hours) = 1,764,390 hours.

    Estimated Annual Cost Burden: $31,830,000 (rounded to the nearest 
thousand), which is derived from 1,764,390 hours x $18.04/hour.\1\
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    \1\ This is the mean hourly income for workers in sales and 
related occupations according to the latest figures from the 
Department of Commerce's Bureau of Labor Statistics. See Table 1, 
National employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment 
Statistics survey by occupation, May 2011, at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ocwage.pdf.
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    Request for Comment: You can file a comment online or on paper. For 
the Commission to consider your comment, we must receive it on or 
before February 25, 2013. Write ``Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise 
Trade Regulation Rule: FTC File No. R511929'' 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.gov/os/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 does not 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 does not include any 
sensitive health information, like medical records or other 
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not 
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information 
which is * * * privileged or confidential,'' as discussed 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, do not 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). 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.
    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, or to send them to the Commission by courier or 
overnight service. To make sure that the Commission considers your 
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/MTORpra2, by following the instructions on the web-based form. If

[[Page 5444]]

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 ``Mail or Telephone Order 
Merchandise Trade Regulation Rule: FTC File No. R511929'' 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. 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 February 25, 
2013. 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.shtm.
    Comments on the information collection requirements subject to 
review under the PRA should also be submitted to OMB. If sent by U.S. 
mail, address comments to: Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for 
the Federal Trade Commission, New Executive Office Building, Docket 
Library, Room 10102, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503. 
Comments sent to OMB by U.S. postal mail, however, are subject to 
delays due to heightened security precautions. Thus, comments instead 
should be sent by facsimile to (202) 395-5167.

David C. Shonka,
Acting General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2013-01523 Filed 1-24-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P