[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 163 (Thursday, August 22, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52166-52167]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-20419]


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COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION


Quantitative Messaging Research

AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'' or 
``Commission'') is announcing an opportunity for public comment on a 
proposed collection of information by the agency. Under the Paperwork 
Reduction Act (``PRA''), 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., Federal agencies are 
required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each 
proposed collection of information and to allow 60 days for public 
comment. The CFTC's Office of Consumer Outreach (``OCO'') develops 
campaigns to change consumer behaviors so that consumers can better 
avoid fraud as defined under the Commodities Exchange Act. The CFTC is 
posing survey questions to the public. This survey will include 
screening questions to identify the correct respondents and questions 
to determine optimal messages to help consumers identify, avoid, and 
report financial fraud as part of a consumer-facing anti-fraud 
campaign. This survey will follow qualitative message testing research 
(for which CFTC received fast-track OMB approval) and is necessary to 
identify, with statistical validation, which of these messages most 
effectively help consumers to identify, avoid, and report financial 
fraud.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before October 21, 2013.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, regarding the burden estimated or 
any other aspect of the information collection, including suggestions 
for reducing the burden, by any of the following methods:
    Agency Web site, via its Comments Online process: http://comments.cftc.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments 
through the Web site.
    Mail: Send to Melissa D. Jurgens, Secretary of the Commission, 
Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 1155 21st Street NW., Washington, 
DC 20581.
    Hand delivery/Courier: Same as Mail above.
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov/search/index.jsp. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
    Please submit your comments using only one method.
    All comments must be submitted in English, or if not, accompanied 
by an

[[Page 52167]]

English translation. Comments will be posted as received to http://www.cftc.gov. You should submit only information that you wish to make 
available publicly. If you wish the Commission to consider information 
that you believe is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of 
Information Act, a petition for confidential treatment of the exempt 
information may be submitted according to the procedures established in 
Sec.  145.9 of the Commission's regulations.\1\
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    \1\ 17 CFR 145.9.
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    The Commission reserves the right, but shall have no obligation, to 
review, pre-screen, filter, redact, refuse or remove any or all of your 
submission from http://www.cftc.gov that it may deem to be 
inappropriate for publication, such as obscene language. All 
submissions that have been redacted or removed that contain comments on 
the merits of the rulemaking will be retained in the public comment 
file and will be considered as required under the Administrative 
Procedure Act and other applicable laws, and may be accessible under 
the Freedom of Information Act.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nisha Smalls, Consumer Education & 
Outreach Specialist, 202-418-5000, [email protected], Office of 
Consumer Outreach, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three 
Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street NW., Washington, DC 20581.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA, federal agencies must obtain 
approval from the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') for each 
collection of information they collect or sponsor. ``Collection of 
information'' is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) as ``the obtaining, 
causing to be obtained, soliciting . . . facts or opinions by or for an 
agency, regardless of form or format [from] ten or more persons.'' An 
agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to 
respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB 
control number.
    Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A), requires 
federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register for 
each proposed collection of information before submitting the 
collection to OMB for approval. Under OMB regulations, which implement 
provisions of the PRA, certain ``facts or opinions submitted in 
response to general solicitations of comments from the public, 
published in the Federal Register or other publications,'' 5 CFR 
1320.3(h)(4), or ``facts or opinions obtained or solicited at or in 
connection with public hearings or meetings,'' 5 CFR 1320.3(h)(8), are 
excluded from the OMB approval process.
    In 2010, the Dodd-Frank Act \2\ expanded the Commission's authority 
to, among other matters related to regulatory oversight, establish 
funding of consumer education initiatives under its new Whistleblower 
authority.\3\ Under this new authority, the Commission established an 
Office of Consumer Outreach (``OCO'') to, among other efforts, survey 
the public regarding consumer education initiatives.\4\ This notice 
announces a public survey. The survey will include screening questions 
to identify the correct respondents and questions to determine optimal 
messages to help consumers identify, avoid, and report financial fraud 
as part of a consumer-facing anti-fraud campaign. This survey will 
follow qualitative message testing research (for which CFTC received 
fast-track OMB approval) and is necessary to identify, with statistical 
validation, which of these messages most effectively help consumers to 
identify, avoid, and report financial fraud.
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    \2\ See Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection 
Act, Public Law. 111-203,124 Stat. 1376 (2010). The text of the 
Dodd-Frank Act may be accessed at http://www.cftc.gov/LawRegulation/DoddFrankAct/index.htm.
    \3\ See 7 U.S.C. 26.
    \4\ See 17 CFR 165.12.
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    The OCO will use the information collected in the survey to develop 
effective methods to inform the public on how best to detect and report 
financial fraud. This will be done by creating a final summary report 
that combines key findings from both the survey as well as other 
qualitative research.
    Findings from the summary report will be used to inform a 
directional document to be used by the OCO that will include 
recommendations on primary messages, support points, content, overall 
tone, phrasing and imagery of outreach efforts on financial fraud, as 
well as how to use these messages in various communications channels 
(e.g. online, print, radio, TV and collateral materials).
    The survey will be administered using an online survey tool. The 
online modality approach will allow presentation of test material to 
participants in a more convenient and time-efficient manner than other 
collection methods such as mall intercepts. The online method also 
allows for a quicker turnaround for data collection. No other 
collection methods will be used.
    The screening questions will take about 1 minute to complete. It is 
anticipated that 2,200 people will be screened. The survey will take 15 
minutes. 1,100 people will take the 15 minute survey. Based on these 
assumptions, the total burden hours will be 330 hours. This estimate 
includes the time to prepare the survey and transmit it to the 
Commission. The Commission estimates the average burden of this 
collection of information as follows:

                                                         Estimated Annual Reporting Burden Hours
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                                       Annual             Frequency                      Hours per             Total
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17 CFR Part 165....................      2,200  1 response per respondent....  1 minute per response.......      2,200  36.7 hours--$96.36 per burden
                                                                                                                         hour.
17 CFR Part 165....................      1,100  1 response per respondent....  15 minutes per response.....      1,100  293.3 hours--$96.36 per burden
                                                                                                                         hour.
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    Issued in Washington, DC, on August 16, 2013, by the Commission.
Melissa D. Jurgens,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2013-20419 Filed 8-21-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6351-01-P