[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 6 (Monday, January 11, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1187-1189]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-00244]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Extension

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

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The information collection requirements described below will 
be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') for 
review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA''). The FTC 
seeks public comments on its proposal to extend for an additional three 
years the current PRA clearance for information collection requirements 
contained in its Alternative Fuels Rule. That clearance expires on June 
30, 2016.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before March 11, 2016.

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 ``Paperwork Comment: FTC 
File No. P134200'' on your comment, and file your comment online at 
https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/altfuelspra 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 or 
copies of the proposed information requirements for the Alternative 
Fuels Rule should be directed to Hampton Newsome, Attorney, (202) 326-
2889, Division of Enforcement, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal 
Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580.

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 PRA clearance for the 
Alternative Fuels Rule, 16 CFR part 309 (OMB Control Number 3084-0094).
    The Rule, which implements the Energy Policy Act of 1992, Public 
Law 102-486, and as revised by the Commission's 2013 final 
amendments,\1\ requires disclosure of specific information on labels 
posted on fuel dispensers for non-liquid alternative fuels. To ensure 
the accuracy of these disclosures, the Rule also requires that sellers 
maintain records substantiating product-specific disclosures they 
include on these labels.
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    \1\ 78 FR 23832 (April 23, 2013). The final amendments 
consolidated the FTC's alternative fueled vehicles (AFV) labels with 
the then new fuel economy labels required by the EPA thereby 
eliminating the FTC's separate labeling requirements for used AFV 
labels.
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    It is common practice for alternative fuel industry members to 
determine and monitor fuel ratings in the normal course of their 
business activities. This is because industry members must know and 
determine the fuel ratings of their products in order to monitor 
quality and to decide how to market them. ``Burden'' for PRA purposes 
is defined to exclude effort that would be expended regardless of any 
regulatory requirement. 5 CFR 1320.2(b)(2). Moreover, as originally 
anticipated when the Rule was promulgated in 1995, many of the 
information collection requirements and the originally estimated hours 
were associated with one-time start up tasks of implementing standard 
systems and processes.
    Other factors also limit the burden associated with the Rule. 
Certification may be a one-time event or require only infrequent 
revision. Disclosures on electric vehicle fuel dispensing systems may 
be useable for several years. Nonetheless, there is still some burden 
associated with posting labels. There also will be some minimal burden 
associated with new or revised certification of fuel ratings and 
recordkeeping.

I. Annual Hours Burden

    4,190 total burden hours
    Certification: Staff estimates that the Rule's fuel rating 
certification requirements will affect approximately 550 industry 
members (compressed natural gas producers and distributors and 
manufacturers of electric vehicle fuel dispensing systems) and consume 
approximately one hour each per year for a total of 550 hours.

[[Page 1188]]

    Recordkeeping: Staff estimates that all 13,000 industry members 
(all non-liquid fuel producers, distributors, and retailers) will be 
subject to the Rule's recordkeeping requirements (associated with fuel 
rating certification) and that compliance will require approximately 
one-tenth hour each per year for a total of 1,300 hours.
    Labeling: Staff estimates that labeling requirements will affect 
approximately nine of every ten industry members (or roughly 11,700 
members out of 13,000), but that the number of annually affected 
members is approximately 2,340 because labels may remain effective for 
several years (staff assumes that in any given year approximately 20% 
of 11,700 industry members will need to replace their labels). Staff 
estimates that industry members require approximately one hour each per 
year for labeling their fuel dispensers for a total of 2,340 hours.
    Thus, estimated total burden for non-liquid alternative fuels is 
4,190 hours (550 + 1,300 + 2,340).

II. Labor Costs

    $106,145
    Labor costs are derived by applying appropriate hourly cost figures 
to the burden hours described above. According to Bureau of Labor 
Statistics data for 2014 (most recent available whole-year 
information),\2\ the average compensation for fuel system operators is 
$30.37 per hour; and $10.90 per hour for automotive service attendants. 
These are factored into the FTC's estimates and assumptions below.
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    \2\ The wage estimates in this Notice are based on mean hourly 
wages found at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.nr0.htm 
(``Occupational Employment and Wages--May 2014,'' U.S. Department of 
Labor, released March 2015, Table 1 (``National employment and wage 
data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey by 
occupation, May 2014'').
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    Certification and labeling: Recordkeeping will be performed by fuel 
system operators, i.e., producers and distributors of fuels. Estimated 
associated labor costs would be $87,769. [(550 certification hours + 
2,340 labeling hours) x $30.37]
    Recordkeeping: Only 1/6 of the total recordkeeping hours will be 
performed by fuel system operators (1/6 of 1,300 hours = approximately 
217 hours; 217 hours x $30.37 = $6,590); the other 5/6 is attributable 
to service station employees (5/6 of 1,300 hours = approximately 1,083 
hours; 1,083 hours x $10.90 = $11,805). Thus, the labor cost due to 
recordkeeping for affected industry is approximately $18,395 ($6,590 
for fuel system operators + $11,805 for service station employees).
    Associated labor cost: $106,164 ($87,769 for certification and 
labeling costs + $18,395 for recordkeeping costs).

III. Non-Labor Cost Burden

    Staff believes that there are no current start-up costs associated 
with the Rule, inasmuch as the Rule has been in effect since 1995. 
Industry members, therefore, have in place the capital equipment and 
means necessary to determine automotive fuel ratings and comply with 
the Rule. Industry members, however, incur the cost of procuring fuel 
dispenser labels to comply with the Rule.
    The estimated annual fuel labeling cost, based on estimates of 
approximately 5,000 fuel dispensers (assumptions: An estimated 20% of 
12,500 total fuel retailers need to replace labels in any given year 
with an approximate five-year life for labels--i.e., 2,500 retailers--
multiplied by an average of two dispensers per retailer) at thirty-
eight cents for each label (per industry sources), is $1,900 ($0.38 x 
5,000).

IV. 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 March 11, 2016. 
Write ``Paperwork Comment: FTC File No. P134200'' 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, 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 doesn't include any 
sensitive health information, like medical records or other 
individually identifiable health information. In addition, don't 
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information 
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)).\3\ 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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    \3\ 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), CFR 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/altfuelspra, by following the instructions on the web-based form. 
When 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 ``Paperwork Comment: FTC 
File No. P134200'' 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 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 March 11, 
2016. For information on the Commission's privacy policy, including 
routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, see http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.
    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;

[[Page 1189]]

(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.

David C. Shonka,
Acting General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2016-00244 Filed 1-8-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P