[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 226 (Friday, November 22, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70046-70047]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-27982]


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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 Consumer Product Warranty 
Rule. That clearance expires on November 30, 2013 (OMB Control No. 
3084-0111).

DATES: Comments must be received by December 23, 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 
Svetlana Gans, Attorney, Division of Marketing Practices, Bureau of 
Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, Room H-286, 600 
Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20580, (202) 326-3708.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: Rule Concerning Disclosure of Written 
Consumer Product Warranty Terms and Conditions (the Consumer Product 
Warranty Rule or Warranty Rule), 16 CFR Part 701.
    OMB Control Number: 3084-0111.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Abstract: The Warranty Rule is one of three rules \1\ that the FTC 
implemented pursuant to requirements of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, 
15 U.S.C. 2301 et seq. (Warranty Act or Act). The Warranty Rule 
specifies the

[[Page 70047]]

information that must appear in a written warranty on a consumer 
product costing more than $15. The Rule tracks Section 102(a) of the 
Warranty Act, specifying information that must appear in the written 
warranty and, for certain disclosures, mandates the exact language that 
must be used. Neither the Warranty Rule nor the Act requires that a 
manufacturer or retailer warrant a consumer product in writing, but if 
they choose to do so, the warranty must comply with the Rule.
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    \1\ The other two rules relate to the pre-sale availability of 
warranty terms and minimum standards for informal dispute settlement 
mechanisms that are incorporated into a written warranty.
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    On August 5, 2013, the Commission sought comment on the Rule's 
information collection requirements.\2\ The Commission did not receive 
any comments.
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    \2\ See 78 FR 47317 (60-Day Federal Register Notice) and 78 FR 
65649 (extended comment period until Nov. 8, 2013).
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    As required by OMB regulations, 5 CFR Part 1320, the FTC is 
providing this second opportunity for public comment.
    Likely Respondents: Manufacturers of consumer products.
    Estimated Annual Hours Burden: 116,128 hours (derived from 
estimated 14,516 manufacturers x 8 hours of burden per year).
    Estimated Annual Cost Burden: $15,710,000, rounded to the nearest 
thousand (which is derived from $14,516,000 for legal professionals + 
$713,316 for legal support + $480,189 for clerical workers).\3\
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    \3\ Staff has derived an hourly wage rate ($250/hour) for legal 
professionals based upon industry knowledge. The wage rates for 
legal support workers ($24.57) and for clerical support ($16.54) 
used in this Notice are based on recent data from the Bureau of 
Labor Statistics National Compensation Survey (Mar. 29, 2013), 
available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.htm.
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     Legal Professionals: (0.5) (116,128 hours) ($250/hour) = 
$14,516,000
     Legal Support: (0.25) (116,128 hours) ($24.57/hour) = 
$713,316
     Clerical Workers: (0.25) (116,128 hours) ($16.54/hour) = 
$480,189

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 December 23, 
2013. Write ``Warranty Rules: Paperwork Comment, FTC File No. P044403'' 
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, such as 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 are required 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 comment online, or to send it 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/consumerwarrantypra2, 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 ``Warranty Rules: 
Paperwork Comment, FTC File No. P044403'' 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 December 23, 
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,
Principal Deputy General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2013-27982 Filed 11-21-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P