[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