[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 221 (Friday, November 17, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54342-54344]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-24915]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request

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

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 proposed information requests sent pursuant to 
compulsory process to a combined ten or more of the largest domestic 
cigarette manufacturers and smokeless tobacco manufacturers. The 
information sought would include, among other things, data on 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, 2018. 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 December 18, 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: ``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 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 
Michael Ostheimer, Division of Advertising Practices, Bureau of 
Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue 
NW., Mailstop CC-10603, Washington, DC 20580. Telephone: (202) 326-
2699.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: FTC Cigarette and Smokeless Tobacco Data Collection.
    OMB Control Number: 3084-0134.
    Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.
    On August 10, 2017, the Commission sought comment on the 
information collection requirements associated with the Cigarette and 
Smokeless Tobacco Data Collection. 82 FR 37440 (``August 10, 2017 
Notice''). Pursuant to the OMB regulations, 5 CFR part 1320, that 
implement the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., the FTC is providing a 
second opportunity for the public to comment while seeking OMB approval 
to renew the existing clearance for the information the FTC proposes to 
seek from the largest domestic cigarette manufacturers and smokeless 
tobacco manufacturers.
    In response to the August 10, 2017 Notice, the Commission received 
comments from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (``CTFK'') and Altria 
Client Services (``Altria'').
    The CTFK comment specifically noted the utility and importance of 
the Commission's Cigarette and Smokeless Tobacco Reports, and urged the 
agency to continue collecting and reporting industry sales and 
marketing expenditure data, which CTFK stated provide ``critical data 
to researchers, policymakers, advocates and the general public.'' CTFK 
additionally observed:

    The FTC is currently the primary source for data on cigarette 
and smokeless tobacco companies' marketing and promotional 
expenditures. No other agency collects and publishes such 
information directly from the companies, making the FTC reports the 
most accurate and reliable assessment of tobacco marketing and 
promotion expenditures available.

CTFK at 1.

    CTFK, however, suggested certain modifications to the Commission's 
reports. Specifically, CTFK recommended that the Commission: (1) Report 
separately price discount expenditures for retailers and wholesalers; 
(2) clarify the definitions of certain expenditure categories--
specifically, in which category coupons that consumers obtain online 
are to be counted; (3) report data on a company-

[[Page 54343]]

specific or brand-specific basis, rather than on a fully-aggregated 
basis; (4) require manufacturers to report expenditures related to 
corporate sponsorships and advertisements; and (5) provide an option to 
download the published report data in spreadsheet format. Id. at 2.
    The Commission agrees that collecting and reporting separately 
price discount expenditures for retailers and wholesalers is useful. 
Beginning with its 6(b) Orders for 2014, the Commission has been 
separately collecting and reporting information about price discounts 
paid to retailers and price discounts paid to wholesalers.
    The Commission will clarify in future Orders that expenditures on 
coupons delivered online should be reported together with coupons 
delivered by other means. The full impact of couponing by the major 
cigarette and smokeless tobacco manufacturers can only be seen if 
expenditures for all coupons are reported together, regardless of how 
those coupons are delivered to consumers.
    Regarding CTFK's suggestion that data be reported on other than a 
fully-aggregated, nationwide basis, the cigarette and smokeless tobacco 
companies assert that those data are confidential and, as CTFK 
acknowledges, the Commission cannot publicly release trade secrets or 
certain commercial or financial information. Id. at 2 n.2.
    As for requiring manufacturers to report expenditures related to 
corporate sponsorships and advertisements, the Commission already 
requires the recipients of its 6(b) Orders to report certain 
expenditures made in the name of the company, rather than any of its 
brands.\1\ However, the Commission does not include those data in its 
Cigarette and Smokeless Tobacco Reports. The Commission will consider 
whether those expenditures should be reported in the future or whether 
to cease collecting this information.
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    \1\ Both the cigarette and smokeless tobacco Orders require the 
recipients to report expenditures on ``public entertainment events 
(including, but not limited to, concerts and sporting events) 
bearing or otherwise displaying the name of the Company or any 
variation thereof but not bearing or otherwise displaying the name, 
logo, or an image of any portion of the package'' of any of its 
cigarettes or smokeless tobacco products, or otherwise referring to 
those products.
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    The Commission agrees that it would be helpful to provide an option 
to download the published report data in spreadsheet format and will 
begin doing so with its next published reports.
    Altria stated that the Commission should no longer collect any 
information from cigarette and smokeless tobacco manufacturers ``in 
light of the Food and Drug Administration's . . . extensive, active 
regulatory authority over tobacco products under the Family Smoking 
Prevention and Tobacco Control Act,'' calling such collections 
``superfluous'' and ``unnecessary burdens.'' Altria at 1, 3. Altria 
contends that the FTC's most recent requests seek ``not only 
information that the companies already produce to FDA, but also 
information unrelated to the advertising and promotion of tobacco 
products.'' Id. at 3-4. It gives the following examples:

    (a) cigarette design data, including cigarette length, style, 
flavor, and filter type; (b) constituent data, including nicotine, 
carbon monoxide, and tar; (c) lists of cigarettes first sold or 
discontinued in 2016; and (d) lists of other product information, 
including brand varieties, pack size, and package type.

Id. at 4 n.15. Altria also suggests that the FTC has recently expanded 
its requests to seek information on expenditures from parent companies 
that do not sell or advertise tobacco products. Id. at 3.

    The FTC staff and FDA staff have a long tradition of working 
together on the many areas where the two agencies share jurisdiction. 
The FDA is not collecting cigarette or smokeless tobacco sales and 
marketing expenditure data like that required by the Commission's 6(b) 
Orders, so there is no overlap or duplication with respect to such 
data. Moreover, to the extent there might be some overlap in the 
collection of information about whether brand styles of cigarettes are 
filtered or unfiltered, menthol or non-menthol, and their cigarette 
length, the Commission needs those data so it can combine them with 
sales information for each brand style in order to report the 
percentages of cigarettes sold by the leading manufacturers falling 
into each product type category (e.g., 26% of the cigarettes sold by 
these manufacturers in 2015 were menthol). FDA is not collecting 
cigarette sales information, so it cannot calculate sales percentages 
by product types. The Commission intends to continue collecting 
cigarette and smokeless tobacco sales and marketing expenditure data, 
together with cigarette length, flavor, and filter information. To the 
extent that in the future the FDA duplicates the FTC's data collection, 
the FTC can modify or cease its collection.
    Until 2000, the Commission collected cigarette tar, nicotine, and 
carbon monoxide yields and published that information by brand style. 
Because of concerns that the yield information was misleading 
consumers, the Commission ceased publishing that information, but it 
has continued to collect tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide yields to 
the extent recipients of the 6(b) Orders possess it, and the Commission 
releases the data to researchers in response to Freedom of Information 
Act requests. In recent years, however, there have been very few 
requests for the data. Given that the Commission no longer publishes 
tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide reports and the limited interest in 
these data, the Commission intends to cease collecting tar, nicotine, 
and carbon monoxide yield data.
    There are other information fields that the Commission no longer 
needs to collect, including information about cigarette package type, 
cigarette package size, cigarette styles, and whether a cigarette 
variety's tar yield and its nicotine yield are disclosed on its 
package. The Commission intends to continue to collect UPC-Codes in 
order to distinguish one variety from another, but does not need any 
other variety descriptors beyond cigarette length, flavor, and filter 
information. The Commission also no longer needs lists of cigarettes 
first sold or discontinued in a calendar year.
    Contrary to Altria's suggestion, the FTC did not recently expand 
its requests to seek information from parent companies. More than a 
decade ago, the Commission began directing its orders to the ultimate 
domestic parents of the cigarette and smokeless tobacco manufacturers 
because some parent companies owned more than one subsidiary selling 
those products and the Commission wanted to ensure that no relevant 
data from affiliated companies went unreported. Moreover, the 6(b) 
Orders ask several questions about whether the recipient engages in 
certain practices, such as paying for cigarette or smokeless tobacco 
product placement in movies, and the Commission wants to be sure that 
such practices by any related company are reported, even if that 
company does not itself sell cigarette or smokeless tobacco products. 
The Commission intends to continuing directing its 6(b) Orders to the 
parent companies of the leading cigarette and smokeless tobacco 
manufacturers.
    Burden Statement: \2\
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    \2\ The details and assumptions underlying these estimates were 
set forth in the August 10, 2017 Federal Register notice.
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    Estimated Annual Burden: 1,980 hours.\3\
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    \3\ The Commission intends to use this PRA clearance renewal to 
collect information from the companies concerning their marketing 
and sales activities for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019. The 
Commission expects to issue compulsory process orders seeking this 
information annually, but it is possible that orders might not be 
issued in any given year and that orders seeking information for two 
years would be issued the next year. The figures set forth in this 
notice for the estimated hours and labor costs associated with this 
information collection represent average annual burden over the 
course of the prospective PRA clearance.

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[[Page 54344]]

    Estimated Number of Respondents: 15 maximum.
    These estimates include any time spent by separately incorporated 
subsidiaries and other entities affiliated with the ultimate parent 
companies that receive the information requests.
    Estimated Average Burden per Year per Respondent: 180 hours.
    (a) Information requests to the four largest cigarette companies 
and five largest smokeless tobacco companies, at a per company average 
each year of 180 hours = 1,620 hours, cumulatively, per year; and
    (b) Information requests to six additional respondents, of smaller 
size, at a per company average each year of 60 hours = 360 hours, 
cumulatively, per year.
    Estimated Annual Labor Cost: $198,000.
    Estimated Capital or Other Non-Labor Cost: De minimis.
    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 December 18, 2017. 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.
    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. 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 ``Tobacco Reports: 
Paperwork Comment, FTC File No. P054507'' 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.
    Because your comment will be placed on the publicly accessible FTC 
Web site at https://www.ftc.gov/, you are solely responsible for making 
sure that your comment does not include any sensitive or confidential 
information. In particular, your comment should not include any 
sensitive personal information, such as your or anyone else'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, your comment 
should not include any ``trade secret or any commercial or financial 
information which . . . is privileged or confidential''--as provided by 
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)--including in particular competitively sensitive 
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas, 
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
    Comments containing material for which confidential treatment is 
requested must be filed in paper form, must be clearly labeled 
``Confidential,'' and must comply with FTC Rule 4.9(c). 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). Your comment will be kept 
confidential only if the General Counsel grants your request in 
accordance with the law and the public interest. Once your comment has 
been posted on the public FTC Web site--as legally required by FTC Rule 
4.9(b)--we cannot redact or remove your comment from the FTC 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.
    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 December 18, 
2017. For information on the Commission's privacy policy, including 
routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, see https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/privacy-policy.
    Comments on the information collection requirements subject to 
review under the PRA should additionally be submitted to OMB. If sent 
by U.S. mail, they should be addressed to Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk 
Officer for the Federal Trade Commission, New Executive Office 
Building, Docket Library, Room 10102, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, 
DC 20503. Comments sent to OMB by U.S. postal mail are subject to 
delays due to heightened security precautions. Thus, comments instead 
can also be sent via email to [email protected].

David C. Shonka,
Acting General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2017-24915 Filed 11-16-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6750-01-P