[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 156 (Wednesday, August 13, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47463-47465]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-19090]


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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 seeks public comments on proposed information requests 
by compulsory process to a combined ten or more of the largest 
cigarette manufacturers and smokeless tobacco manufacturers. The 
information sought would include, among other things, data on 
manufacturer annual sales and marketing expenditures. The current FTC 
clearance from the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') to conduct 
such information collection expires January 31, 2015. The Commission 
intends to ask OMB for renewed three-year clearance to collect this 
information.

DATES: Comments on the proposed information requests must be received 
on or before October 14, 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: ``Tobacco Reports: 
Paperwork Comment, FTC File No. P054507'' on your comment, and file the 
comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/tobaccoreportspra 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, 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 or 
copies of the proposed collection of information should be addressed to 
Shira Modell, Division of Advertising Practices, Bureau of Consumer 
Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., 
Mailstop CC-10507, Washington, DC 20580. Telephone: (202) 326-3116.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For over forty-five years, the FTC has 
published periodic reports containing data on domestic cigarette sales 
and marketing expenditures by the major U.S. cigarette manufacturers. 
The Commission has published comparable reports on smokeless tobacco 
sales and marketing expenditures for over twenty-five years. 
Originally, both reports were issued pursuant to statutory mandates. 
After those statutory mandates were terminated, the Commission 
continued to collect and publish information obtained from the 
cigarette and smokeless tobacco industries pursuant to Section 6(b) of 
the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(b). As noted above, the current PRA clearance 
to collect this information is valid through January 31, 2015 (OMB 
Control No. 3084-0134).
    The Commission plans to continue sending information requests 
annually to the ultimate parent company of several of the largest 
cigarette companies and smokeless tobacco companies in the United 
States (``industry members''). The information requests will seek data 
regarding, inter alia: (1) The tobacco sales of industry members; (2) 
how much industry members spend advertising and promoting their tobacco 
products, and the specific amounts spent in each of a number of 
specified expenditure categories; (3) whether industry members are 
involved in the appearance of their products or brand imagery in 
television shows, motion pictures, on the Internet, or on social media; 
(4) how much industry members spend on advertising intended to reduce 
youth tobacco usage; (5) the events, if any, during which industry 
members' tobacco brands are televised; and (6) for the cigarette 
industry, the ``tar'', nicotine, and carbon monoxide yields of their 
cigarettes. The information will again be sought using compulsory

[[Page 47464]]

process under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act.
    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 proposed collection of 
information.
    The Commission 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.
    The Commission also specifically invites comment on whether it 
should require submission of ``tar,'' nicotine, and carbon monoxide 
yields for all cigarettes sold by the companies. The Commission did 
require submission of all such data for many years, but most recently 
has only required the companies to submit those data if they possess 
them--i.e., if a company does not have yield data on a particular 
cigarette variety, it does not have to conduct testing on that variety.
    The Commission uses the data provided by the cigarette 
manufacturers to prepare its Cigarette Report, which, in addition to 
data on cigarette sales and marketing expenditures, includes 
information on, among other things, the market share of cigarettes 
filtered versus unfiltered cigarettes, and of regular versus menthol 
cigarettes.\1\ The Report has also included for many years data 
analyzing sales-weighted ``tar'' yields: Specifically, Tables 4 and 4A 
present the Domestic Market Share of Cigarettes by ``Tar'' Yield, 
identifying the market share of cigarettes having ``tar'' yields of 15 
mg. or less, 12 mg. or less, 9 mg. or less, 6 mg. or less, and 3 mg. or 
less.\2\ The percentage of cigarette varieties for which ``tar'' yields 
have been provided has fluctuated in recent years: Yields were provided 
for 717 of the 752 varieties of cigarettes (95 percent) sold in 2012, 
but for only 645 of the 807 varieties (80 percent) the companies 
reported selling in 2011. Continuing to permit the companies to report 
``tar,'' nicotine, and carbon monoxide yield data only to the extent 
they possess those data could render the data in those tables less 
useful for purposes of analysis within a specific year or over time.
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    \1\ The data are also used by researchers outside the 
Commission.
    \2\ See, e.g., Federal Trade Commission Cigarette Report for 
2011 (2013), at Tables 4 and 4A, available at http://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/reports/federal-trade-commission-cigarette-report-2011/130521cigarettereport.pdf. Table 8, which also 
contains sales weighted ``tar'' yield data was added to the Report 
in the mid-1990s.
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    The Commission therefore requests comment on the following:
    (1) Whether the market share data in Tables 4 and 4A is still 
relevant and useful;
    (2) Whether the Commission should continue to require the major 
cigarette manufacturers only to provide yield in their possession, or 
return to its previous approach of requiring the companies to provide 
yield data on all varieties of cigarettes they sell;
    (3) The additional burden on the companies that would be associated 
with requiring the companies to provide yield data on all varieties of 
cigarettes they sell; and
    (4) Whether the relevance of the data in Tables 4 and 4A outweighs 
the additional costs to the manufacturers of conducting the testing 
necessary to provide data on every variety they sell.
    Estimated hours burden: The FTC staff's estimate of the hours 
burden is based on the time required each year to respond to the 
Commission's information request. Although the FTC currently 
anticipates sending information requests each year to the five largest 
cigarette companies and the five largest smokeless tobacco companies, 
the burden estimate is based on up to 15 information requests being 
issued per year to take into account any future changes in these 
industries. These companies vary greatly in size, in the number of 
products they sell, and in the extent and variety of their advertising 
and promotion.
    The companies have not taken issue with the staff's burden 
estimates in prior requests for PRA reauthorization,\3\ suggesting that 
the time most companies would require to gather, organize, format, and 
produce their responses would range from 30 to 80 hours per information 
request for the smaller companies, to as much as hundreds of hours for 
the very largest companies. As an approximation, staff continues to 
assume a per company average of 180 hours for the ten largest 
recipients of the Commission's information requests to comply--
cumulatively, 1,800 hours per year.
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    \3\ E.g., 76 FR 47187 (Aug. 4, 2011); 76 FR 72706 (Nov. 25, 
2011).
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    Staff anticipates that if the Commission decides to issue 
information requests to any additional companies, those companies would 
be smaller than the primary ten recipients and that the response burden 
per additional recipient would be less than for the larger companies. 
Staff believes that the burden should not exceed 60 hours per entity 
for the smaller recipients of the information requests. Cumulatively, 
then, the total burden for five additional respondents should not 
exceed 300 hours per year. Thus, the overall estimated burden for a 
maximum of 15 recipients of the information requests is 2,100 hours per 
year. These estimates include any time spent by separately incorporated 
subsidiaries and other entities affiliated with the ultimate parent 
company that has received the information request.
    Estimated cost burden: Commission staff cannot calculate with 
precision the labor costs associated with this data production, as 
those costs entail varying compensation levels of management and/or 
support staff among companies of different sizes. The staff assumes 
that paralegals and computer analysts will perform most of the work 
involved in responding to the Commission Orders, although in-house 
legal personnel will be involved in reviewing the actual submission to 
the Commission. The staff continues to use a combined hourly wage of 
$100/hour for the combined efforts of these individuals.\4\ Using this 
figure, staff's best estimate for the total labor costs for up to 15 
information requests is $210,000 per year. Staff believes that the 
capital or other non-labor costs associated with the information 
requests are minimal.

[[Page 47465]]

Although the information requests may necessitate that industry members 
maintain the requested information provided to the Commission, they 
should already have in place the means to compile and maintain business 
records.
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    \4\ Commission staff believes this estimate is conservative: 
according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mean 
hourly wages for these three occupations are as follows: $24.60 for 
paralegals; $41.40 for computer and information analysts; and $63.46 
for lawyers. Economic News Release, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 
Table 1--National employment and wage data from the Occupational 
Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 2013 (Apr. 1, 2014) 
(Table 1), available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm. Even if employees of the major cigarette and 
smokeless tobacco manufacturers earn more than these hourly wages, 
the staff believes its $100/hour estimate is appropriate.
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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 October 14, 2014. Write ``Tobacco Reports: Paperwork Comment, 
FTC File No. P054507'' 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 doesn't 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, such as 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). 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 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/tobaccoreportspra, 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 ``Tobacco Reports: 
Paperwork Comment, FTC File No. P054507'' on your comment and on the 
envelope, and mail or deliver 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 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 October 14, 
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. 2014-19090 Filed 8-12-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P