[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 135 (Tuesday, July 15, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41284-41286]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-16545]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'').

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The FTC intends to ask the Office of Management and Budget 
(``OMB'') to extend for an additional three years the current Paperwork 
Reduction Act (``PRA'') clearance for information collection 
requirements contained in its Trade Regulation Rule on Disclosure 
Requirements and Prohibitions Concerning Franchising (``Franchise 
Rule'' or ``Rule''). That clearance expires on December 31, 2014.

DATES: Comments must be submitted by September 15, 2014.

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 ``Franchise Rule, PRA 
Comment, FTC File No. P094400'' on your comment, and file your comment 
online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/franchiserulePRA by 
following the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file 
your comment on paper, mail your comment to the following address: 
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania 
Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver 
your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office 
of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, 
Suite 5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC 20024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be addressed to Craig Tregillus, Attorney, Division of Marketing 
Practices, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600 
Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Room 8607, Washington, DC 20580, (202) 326-
2970.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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). As required by section 3506(c)(2)(A) 
of the PRA, the FTC is providing this opportunity for public comment 
before requesting that OMB extend the existing clearance for the 
information collection requirements contained in the Franchise Rule, 16 
CFR Part 436 (OMB Control No. 3084-0107).
    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.
    The Franchise Rule ensures that consumers who are considering a 
franchise investment have access to the material information they need 
to make an informed investment decision provided in a format that 
facilitates comparisons of different franchise offerings. The Rule 
requires that franchisors disclose this information to consumers and 
maintain records to facilitate enforcement of the Rule.
    Amendments to the Rule promulgated on March 30, 2007, which took 
effect after a one-year phase-in on July 1, 2008, merged the Rule's 
disclosure requirements with the disclosure format accepted by 15 
states that have franchise registration or disclosure laws.\1\ The 
amended Rule has significantly minimized any compliance burden beyond 
what is already required by state law.
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    \1\ 72 FR 15544 et seq.
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    The amended Rule requires franchisors to furnish prospective 
purchasers with a Franchise Disclosure Document (``FDD'') that provides 
information relating to the franchisor, its business, the nature of the 
proposed franchise, and any representations by the franchisor about 
financial performance regarding actual or potential sales, income, or 
profits made to a prospective franchise purchaser. The franchisor must 
preserve materially different copies of its disclosures and franchise 
agreements, as well as information that provides a reasonable basis for 
any financial performance representation it elects to make. These 
requirements are subject to the PRA and underlie the Commission's 
pursuit of renewed OMB clearance.

Estimated Annual Hours Burden: 16,750 hours

    Based on a review of trade publications and information from state 
regulatory authorities, staff believes that, on average, from year to 
year, there are approximately 2,500 sellers of franchises covered by 
the Rule, with perhaps about 10% of that total reflecting an equal 
amount of new and departing business entrants.\2\ Commission staff's 
burden hour estimate reflects the incremental tasks that the Rule may 
impose beyond the information and recordkeeping requirements imposed by 
state law and/or followed by franchisors who have been using the FDD 
disclosure format nationwide. This estimate likely overstates the 
actual incremental burden because some franchisors, for various 
reasons, may not be covered by the Rule (e.g., they sell only 
franchises that qualify for the Rule's large franchise investment 
exemption of at least $1 million).
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    \2\ This number, which was also used in the 2011 clearance 
request, appears to be consistent with the number of business format 
franchise offerings registered in compliance with state franchise 
laws, and listed in franchise directories.
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    Staff estimates that the average annual disclosure burden to update 
existing disclosure documents will be three hours each for the 2,250 
established franchisors, or 6,750 hours cumulatively for them, and 30 
hours apiece each year for the 250 or so new-entrant franchisors to 
prepare their initial disclosure documents, or 7,500 hours, 
cumulatively, for the latter group. These estimates parallel staff's 
2011 estimates for the amended Rule.\3\ No public comments were 
received on those prior estimates. Accordingly, the FTC retains them 
for this analysis subject to further opportunity for public comment.
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    \3\ See 76 FR 49479 (Aug. 10, 2011); 76 FR 67191 (Oct. 31, 
2011).
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    As recognized in the 2011 analysis, covered franchisors also may 
need to maintain additional documentation for the sale of franchises in 
non-registration states, which could take up to an additional hour of 
recordkeeping per

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year. Assuming, as before, an hour of incremental recordkeeping per 
covered franchisor, this yields an additional cumulative total of 2,500 
hours for all covered franchisors.
    Under the Rule, a franchisor is required to retain copies of 
receipts of disclosure documents, as well as materially different 
versions of its disclosure documents. Such recordkeeping requirements, 
however, are consistent with, or less burdensome than, those imposed by 
the states. Accordingly, staff believes that incremental recordkeeping 
burden, if any, would be de minimis.
    Based on the above assumptions and estimates, average annual burden 
for new and established franchisors during a prospective three-year 
clearance would be 16,750 hours ((30 hours of annual disclosure burden 
x 250 new franchisors) + (3 hours of average annual disclosure burden x 
2,250 established franchisors) + (1 hour of annual recordkeeping burden 
x 2,500 franchisors)).

Estimated Annual Labor Cost Burden: $3,597,500

    Labor costs are derived by applying appropriate hourly cost figures 
to the burden hours described above. The hourly rates used below are 
estimated averages.
    Commission staff anticipates that an attorney will prepare the 
disclosure document. Applying the above assumptions to an estimated 
hourly attorney rate of $250 yields the following annual totals: $7,500 
per new franchisor (or, $1,875,000, cumulatively, for new franchisors) 
and $750 per established franchisor (or, $1,687,500, cumulatively, for 
established franchisors).
    The FTC additionally anticipates that recordkeeping under the Rule 
will be performed by clerical staff at approximately $14 per hour.\4\ 
Thus, 2,500 hours of recordkeeping burden per year for all covered 
franchisors will amount to a total annual labor cost of $35,000.
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    \4\ Based on mean hourly wages for file clerks found in 
``Occupational Employment and Wages--May 2013,'' U.S. Department of 
Labor, released April 1, 2014, Table 1, available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ocwage.pdf.
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    Cumulatively, then, total estimated labor cost under the Rule is 
$3,597,500 (($7,500 attorney costs x 250 new franchisors = $1,875,000) 
+ ($750 attorney costs x 2,250 established franchisors = $1,687,500) + 
($14 clerical costs x 2,500 franchisors = $35,000)).

Estimated Non-Labor Costs: $8,000,000

    In developing cost estimates initially for this Rule, FTC staff 
consulted with practitioners who prepare disclosure documents for a 
cross-section of franchise systems. The FTC believes that its cost 
estimates remain representative of the costs incurred by franchise 
systems generally. In addition, many franchisors establish and maintain 
Web sites for ordinary business purposes, including advertising their 
goods or services and to facilitate communication with the public. 
Accordingly, any costs franchisors would incur specifically as a result 
of electronic disclosure under the Rule appear to be minimal.
    As set forth in the 2011 Notices, FTC staff estimates that the non-
labor burden incurred by franchisors under the Franchise Rule differs 
based on the length of the disclosure document and the number of them 
produced. Staff estimates that 2,000 franchisors (80% of total 
franchisors covered by the Rule) will print and mail 100 disclosure 
documents at $35 each. Thus, these franchisors would each incur an 
estimated $3,500 in printing and mailing costs. Staff estimates that 
the remaining 20% of covered franchisors (500) will transmit 50% of 
their 100 disclosure documents electronically, at $5 per electronic 
disclosure. Thus, these franchisors will each incur $2,000 in 
distribution costs (($250 for electronic disclosure [$5 for electronic 
disclosure x 50 disclosure documents]) + ($1,750 for printing and 
mailing [$35 for printing and mailing x 50 disclosure documents])).
    Accordingly, the cumulative annual non-labor costs for the Rule is 
approximately $8,000,000 (($3,500 printing and mailing costs x 2,000 
franchisors = $7,000,000) + ($250 electronic distribution costs + 
$1,750 printing and mailing costs) x 500 franchisors = $1,000,000)).
    Request for Comment: You can file a comment online or on paper. For 
the FTC to consider your comment, we must receive it on or before 
September 15, 2014. Write ``Franchise Rule, PRA Comment, FTC File No. 
P094400'' 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 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). 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).\5\ Your comment will be kept confidential only if the FTC 
General Counsel grants your request in accordance with the law and the 
public interest.
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    \5\ 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, 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/franchiserulePRA by following the instructions on the web-based 
form. If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you 
also may file a comment through that Web site.
    If you file your comment on paper, write ``Franchise Rule, PRA 
Comment, FTC File No. P094400'' on your comment and on the envelope, 
and mail it to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office 
of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex J), 
Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the following address: 
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 
400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC 
20024. If

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possible, submit your paper comment to the Commission by courier or 
overnight service.
    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 15, 
2014. 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.

David C. Shonka,
Principal Deputy General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2014-16545 Filed 7-14-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P