[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 42 (Monday, March 6, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12602-12605]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-04289]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


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

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 Funeral Industry Practice Rule (``Funeral 
Rule'' or ``Rule''). That clearance expires on September 30, 2017.

DATES: Comments must be filed by May 5, 2017.

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 ``Funeral Rule PRA 
Comment: FTC File No. P084401'' on your comment, and file your comment 
online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/funeralrulepra 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 Funeral Rule 
should be addressed by mail to Craig Tregillus, Staff Attorney, 
Division of Marketing Practices, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal 
Trade Commission, Room CC-8528, 600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, 
DC 20580, by email to [email protected] or by telephone to (202) 326-
2970.

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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 paperwork clearance for 
the Funeral Rule, 16 CFR part 453 (OMB Control Number 3084-0025).
    The Funeral Rule ensures that consumers who are purchasing funeral 
goods and services have access to accurate itemized price information 
so they can purchase only the funeral goods and services they want or 
need. In particular, the Rule requires a funeral provider to: (1) Give 
consumers a copy they can keep of the funeral provider's General Price 
List (``GPL'') that itemizes the goods and services it offers; (2) show 
consumers a Casket Price List (``CPL'') and an Outer Burial Container 
Price List (``OBCPL'') at the outset of any discussion of those items 
or their prices, and in any event before showing consumers caskets or 
vaults; (3) provide price information from its price lists over the 
telephone; and (4) give consumers a Statement of Funeral Goods and 
Services Selected (``SFGSS'') after determining the funeral 
arrangements with the consumer during an ``arrangements conference''. 
The Rule requires that funeral providers disclose this information to 
consumers and maintain records to facilitate enforcement of the Rule.
    The estimated burden associated with the collection of information 
required by the Rule is 19,322 hours for recordkeeping, 103,345 hours 
for disclosure, and 38,644 hours for compliance training for a 
cumulative total of 161,311 hours. This estimate is based on the number 
of funeral providers (approximately 19,322),\1\ the number of funerals 
per year (an estimated 2,626,418),\2\ and the time needed to fulfill 
the information collection tasks required by the Rule.
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    \1\ The estimated number of funeral providers is from 2017 data 
provided on the National Funeral Directors Association (``NFDA'') 
Web site (see http://www.nfda.org/news/statistics) (within ``General 
Funeral Service Facts'').
    \2\ The estimated number of funerals conducted annually is 
derived from the National Center for Health Statistics (``NCHS''), 
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/. According to NCHS, 2,626,418 deaths 
occurred in the United States in 2014, the most recent year for 
which final data is available. See, e.g., Table 1 (``Number of 
deaths, death rates, and age-adjusted death rates, by race and sex: 
United States, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970, and 1980-2014'') (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr65/nvsr65_04.pdf) (June 30, 2016). 
Staff believes this is a conservative estimate because not all 
remains go to a funeral provider covered by the Rule (e.g., remains 
sent directly to a crematory that does not sell urns; remains 
donated to a medical school, etc.).
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    Recordkeeping: The Rule requires that funeral providers retain for 
one year copies of price lists and statements of funeral goods and 
services selected by consumers. Based on a maximum average burden of 
one hour per provider per year for this task, the total burden for the 
19,322 providers is 19,322 hours.
    Disclosure: As noted above, the Rule requires that funeral 
providers: (1) Maintain current price lists for funeral goods and 
services, (2) provide written documentation of the funeral goods and 
services selected by consumers making funeral arrangements, and (3) 
provide information about funeral prices in response to telephone 
inquiries.
    1. Maintaining accurate price lists may require that funeral 
providers revise their price lists occasionally (most do so once a 
year, some less frequently) to reflect price changes. Staff 
conservatively estimates that this task may require a maximum average 
burden of two and one-half hours per provider per year. Thus, the total 
burden for 19,322 providers is 48,305 hours.
    2. Staff retains its prior estimate that 13% of funeral providers 
prepare written documentation of funeral goods and services selected by 
consumers specifically due to the Rule's mandate. The original 
rulemaking record indicated that 87% of funeral providers provided 
written documentation of funeral arrangements, even absent the Rule's 
requirements.\3\
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    \3\ In a 2002 public comment, the National Funeral Directors 
Association asserted that nearly every funeral home had been 
providing consumers with some kind of final statement in writing 
even before the Rule took effect. Nonetheless, in an abundance of 
caution, staff continues to retain its prior estimate based on the 
original rulemaking record.
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    According to the rulemaking record, the 13% of funeral providers 
who did not provide written documentation prior to enactment of the 
Rule are typically the smallest funeral homes. The written 
documentation requirement can be satisfied through the use of a 
standard form, an example of which the FTC has provided to all funeral 
providers in its compliance guide.\4\ Based on an estimate that these 
smaller funeral homes arrange, on average, approximately twenty 
funerals per year and that it would take each of them about three 
minutes to record prices for each consumer on the standard form, FTC 
staff estimates that the total burden associated with the written 
documentation requirement is one hour per provider, for a total of 
2,512 hours [(19,322 funeral providers x 13%) x (20 statements per year 
x 3 minutes per statement)].
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    \4\ The compliance guide is available at http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus05-complying-funeral-rule.
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    3. The Funeral Rule also requires funeral providers to answer 
telephone inquiries about the provider's offerings or prices. 
Information received in 2002 from the NFDA indicates that only about 
12% of funeral purchasers make telephone inquiries, with each call 
lasting an estimated ten minutes.\5\ Thus, assuming that the average 
purchaser who makes telephone inquiries places one call per funeral to 
determine prices,\6\ the estimated burden is 52,528 hours (2,626,418 
funerals per year x 12% x 10 minutes per inquiry). This burden likely 
will decline over time as consumers increasingly rely on the Internet 
for funeral price information.
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    \5\ No more recent information thus far has been available. The 
Commission invites submission of more recent data or studies on this 
subject.
    \6\ Although consumers who pre-plan their own arrangements may 
comparison shop and call more than one funeral home for pricing and 
other information, consumers making ``at need'' arrangements after a 
death are less likely to take the time to seek pricing information 
from more than one home. Many fail to seek any pricing information 
by telephone. Staff therefore believes that an average of one call 
per funeral is a conservative assumption.
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    In sum, the burden due to the Rule's disclosure requirements totals 
103,345 hours (48,305 + 2,512 + 52,528).
    Training: In addition to the recordkeeping and disclosure-related 
tasks noted above, funeral homes may also have training requirements 
specifically attributable to the Rule. Staff believes that annual 
training burdens associated with the Rule should be minimal because 
Rule compliance is generally included in continuing education 
requirements for state licensing and voluntary certification programs. 
Staff estimates that, industry-wide, funeral homes would incur no more 
than 39,360 hours related to training specific to the Rule each year. 
This estimate is consistent with staff's assumption for the current 
clearance that an ``average'' funeral home consists of approximately 
five employees (full-time and part-time employment combined), but with 
no more than four of them having tasks specifically associated with the 
Funeral Rule. Staff retains its estimate that each of the four 
employees per firm would each require one-half hour, at most, per year, 
for such training.\7\ Thus, total estimated time for

[[Page 12604]]

training is 38,644 hours (4 employees per firm x \1/2\ hour x 19,322 
providers).
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    \7\ Funeral homes, depending on size and/or other factors, may 
be run by as few as one owner, manager, or other funeral director to 
multiple directors at various compensation levels. Extrapolating 
from past NFDA survey input, staff has theorized an ``average'' 
funeral home of approximately four employees (a funeral services 
manager, funeral director, embalmer, and a clerical receptionist) 
having tasks and training associated with Funeral Rule compliance. 
Compliance training for other employees (e.g., drivers, maintenance 
personnel, attendants) would not be necessary.
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    Labor costs: Labor costs are derived by applying appropriate hourly 
cost figures to the burden hours described above. The hourly rates used 
below are averages.
    Clerical personnel, at an hourly rate of $11.69,\8\ can perform the 
recordkeeping tasks required under the Rule. Based on the estimated 
hours burden of 19,322 hours, estimated labor cost for recordkeeping is 
$225,874.
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    \8\ Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``May 2015 National Industry-
Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, NAICS 812200--
Death Care Services,'' available at http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_812200.htm#11-0000. Clerical estimates are based on the mean 
hourly wage data for ``receptionists and information clerks.''
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    The two and one-half hours required of each provider, on average, 
to update price lists should consist of approximately one and one-half 
hours of managerial or professional time, at $40.65 per hour,\9\ and 
one hour of clerical time, at $11.69 per hour, for a total of $72.67 
per provider [($40.65 per hour x 1.5 hours) + ($11.69 per hour x 1 
hour)]. Thus, the estimated total labor cost burden for maintaining 
price lists is $1,404,130 ($72.67 per provider x 19,322 providers).
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    \9\ Id. Managerial or professional estimates are based on the 
mean hourly wage data for ``funeral service managers.''
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    The incremental cost to the 13% of small funeral providers who 
would not otherwise supply written documentation of the goods and 
services selected by the consumer, as previously noted, is 2,512 hours. 
Assuming managerial or professional time for these tasks at 
approximately $40.65 per hour, the associated labor cost would be 
$102,113.
    As previously noted, staff estimates that 52,528 hours of 
managerial or professional time is required annually to respond to 
telephone inquiries about prices.\10\ The associated labor cost at 
$40.65 per hour is $2,135,263.
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    \10\ Although some funeral providers may permit staff who are 
not funeral directors to provide price information by telephone, the 
great majority reserve that task to a licensed funeral director. 
Since funeral home managers are also licensed funeral directors in 
most cases, we have used, conservatively, the mean hourly wage for 
``funeral service managers,'' rather than ``funeral directors,'' for 
this calculation.
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    Based on past consultations with funeral directors, FTC staff 
estimates that funeral homes will require no more than two hours of 
training per year of licensed and non-licensed funeral home staff to 
comply with the Funeral Rule,\11\ with four employees of varying types 
each spending one-half hour on training. Applying the assumptions 
stated above,\12\ FTC staff further assumes labor costing as follows 
for the affected employees' time for compliance training: (a) Funeral 
service manager ($40.65 per hour); (b) non-manager funeral director 
($25.37; (c) embalmer ($19.95 per hour); and (d) a clerical 
receptionist or administrative staff member, at $11.69 per hour.\13\ 
This amounts to $943,493, cumulatively, for all funeral homes [($40.65 
+ $25.37 + $19.95 + $11.69) x \1/2\ hour per employee x 19,322 funeral 
homes].
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    \11\ Rule compliance is generally included in continuing 
education requirements for licensing and voluntary certification 
programs. Moreover, as noted above, the FTC provides its compliance 
guide to all funeral providers at no cost, and it is available on 
the FTC Web site. See supra note 4. Additionally, the NFDA provides 
online guidance for compliance with the Rule: http://www.nfda.org/onlinelearning-ftc.html.
    \12\ See supra note 7 and accompanying text.
    \13\ Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``May 2015 National Industry-
Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, NAICS 812200--
Death Care Services,'' available at http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_812200.htm#11-0000 (mean hourly wages for funeral service 
manager, funeral director, embalmer). See supra note 8 and 
accompanying text regarding the mean hourly wage for ``receptionists 
and information clerks.''
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    The total labor cost of the three disclosure requirements imposed 
by the Funeral Rule is $3,641,506 ($1,404,130 + $102,113 + $2,135,263). 
The total labor cost for recordkeeping is $225,874. The total labor 
cost for disclosure, recordkeeping, and training is $4,810,873 
($3,641,506 for disclosure + $225,874 for recordkeeping + $943,493 for 
training).
    Capital or other non-labor costs: The Rule imposes minimal capital 
costs and no current start-up costs. The Rule first took effect in 1984 
and the revised Rule took effect in 1994, so funeral providers should 
already have in place necessary equipment to carry out tasks associated 
with Rule compliance. Moreover, most funeral homes already have access, 
for other business purposes, to the ordinary office equipment needed 
for compliance, so the Rule likely imposes minimal additional capital 
expense.
    Compliance with the Rule, however, does entail some expense to 
funeral providers for printing and duplication of required disclosures. 
Assuming, as required by the Rule, that one copy of the general price 
list is provided to consumers for each funeral or cremation conducted, 
at a cost of 25[cent] per copy,\14\ this would amount to 2,626,418 
copies per year at a cumulative industry cost of $656,605 (2,626,418 
funerals per year \15\ x 25[cent] per copy). In addition, the funeral 
providers that furnish consumers with a statement of funeral goods and 
services solely because of the Rule's mandate will incur additional 
printing and copying costs. Assuming that those 2,512 providers (19,322 
funeral providers x 13%) use the standard two-page form shown in the 
compliance guide, at twenty-five cents per copy, at an average of 
twenty funerals per year, the added cost burden would be $12,560 (2,512 
providers x 20 funerals per year x 25[cent]). Thus, estimated non-labor 
costs total $669,165 ($656,605 + 12,560).
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    \14\ Although copies of the casket price list and outer burial 
container price list must be shown to consumers, the Rule does not 
require that they be given to consumers. Thus, the cost of printing 
a single copy of these two disclosures to show consumers is de 
minimis, and is not included in this estimate of printing costs. 
Moreover, the general price list need not exceed, and may be still 
shorter than, the two-page model provided in the compliance guide.
    \15\ See supra note 2 and accompanying text.
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    Request for Comment: Pursuant to Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, 
the FTC invites comments on: (1) Whether the recordkeeping and 
disclosure requirements are necessary, including whether the resulting 
information will be practically useful; (2) the accuracy of our burden 
estimates, including whether the methodology and assumptions used are 
valid; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of 
providing the required information to consumers. All comments should be 
filed as prescribed in the ADDRESSES section above, and must be 
received on or before May 5, 2017.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before May 5, 2017. 
Write ``Funeral Rule PRA Comment: FTC File No. P084401'' 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

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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 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\ Your comment will be kept confidential only if 
the FTC General Counsel grants your request in accordance with the law 
and the public interest. Once your comment is posted, as legally 
required by FTC Rule 4.9(b), we cannot redact or remove your comment 
from the FTC's public record, including the FTC's Web site, unless you 
submit a confidentiality request that meets the requirements for such 
treatment under FTC Rule 4.9(c), and the General Counsel grants that 
request in accordance with the law and the public interest, as 
explained above.
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    \16\ 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. To make sure that the Commission considers your 
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/funeralrulepra, 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 ``Funeral Rule PRA 
Comment: FTC File No. P084401'' on your comment and on the envelope, 
and 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. 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 May 5, 2017. 
For information on the Commission's privacy policy, including routine 
uses permitted by the Privacy Act, see http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.

David C. Shonka,
Acting General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2017-04289 Filed 3-3-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6750-01-P