[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 233 (Wednesday, December 6, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57599-57600]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-26254]


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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 the FTC's enforcement of the 
information collection requirements in its Fair Packaging and Labeling 
Act regulations (``FPLA Rules''). That clearance expires on April 30, 
2018.

DATES: Comments must be filed by February 5, 2018.

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 ``FPLA Rules, PRA 
Comment, P074200'' on your comment and file your comment online at 
https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/fplaregspra 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: Megan Gray, Attorney, Division of 
Enforcement, Bureau of Consumer Protection, (202) 326-3405, 600 
Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Room 9541, Washington, DC 20580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FPLA, 15 U.S.C. 1451-1461, was enacted 
to eliminate consumer deception concerning product size and package 
content. Section 4 of the FPLA specifically requires packages or labels 
to be marked with: (1) A statement of identity; (2) a net quantity of 
contents disclosure; and (3) the name and place of business of the 
company responsible for the product. The FPLA regulations, 16 CFR parts 
500-503, specify how manufacturers, packagers, and distributors of 
``consumer commodities'' must do this.\1\
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    \1\ ``The term consumer commodity or commodity means any 
article, product, or commodity of any kind or class which is 
customarily produced or distributed for sale through retail sales 
agencies or instrumentalities for consumption by individuals, or use 
by individuals for purposes of personal care or in the performance 
of services ordinarily rendered within the household, and which 
usually is consumed or expended in the course of such consumption or 
use.'' 16 CFR 500.2(c). For the precise scope of the term's coverage 
see 16 CFR 500.2(c); 503.2; 503.5. See also http://ftc.gov/enforcement/rules/rulemaking-regulatory-reform-proceedings/fair-packaging-labeling-act.
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    Under the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521, federal agencies must get OMB 
approval for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. 
``Collection of information'' includes agency requests or requirements 
to submit reports, keep records, or provide information to a third 
party. 44 U.S.C. 3502(3); 5 CFR 1320.3(c). The FTC seeks clearance for 
the disclosure requirements under the FPLA Rules and the FTC's 
associated PRA burden estimates that follow.
    Pursuant to Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, the FTC invites 
comments on: (1) Whether the disclosure requirements are necessary, 
including whether the 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.
    A. Estimated Number of Respondents: 808,425.\2\
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    \2\ Commission staff identified categories of entities under its 
jurisdiction that supply consumer commodities as defined in the FPLA 
Rules. Those categories include retailers, wholesalers, and 
manufacturers. Commission staff estimated the number of retailers 
(735,038) based on Census data (under NAICS subsectors 445, 452, and 
453, respectively, for food and beverage stores, general merchandise 
stores, and miscellaneous store retailers) compiled by 
PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLC for the National Retail Federation 
report, ``Retail's Impact Across America'': https://nrf.com/advocacy/retails-impact. Commission staff estimated the number of 
wholesalers (44,719) (https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ECN/2012_US/42SLLS1) and manufacturers (28,668) (https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview 
.xhtml?pid=ECN_2012_US_31SG1&prodType=table) based on 2012 Economic 
Census data. Although the stated number of respondents suggests 
precision, it is an estimate in that it aggregates the number of 
establishments under industry codes that FTC staff believes reflect 
entities subject to the FPLA. But, even allowing for industries that 
may apply, the Census data do not separately break out non-household 
products from household use. Accordingly, the source information is 
over-inclusive and thus overstates what is actually subject to the 
FPLA.
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    B. Burden Hours: 8,084,250 hours, cumulative (yearly recurring 
burden of 10 hours per respondent to modify and distribute notices x 
808,425 respondents).
    C. Labor Costs: $199,680,975.
    Labor costs are derived by applying appropriate estimated hourly 
cost figures to the burden hours described above. The FTC assumes that 
respondents will use employees to create compliant labels. Of the 10 
hours spent by each respondent, Commission staff assumes the hour 
breakdown will be as follows: 1 hour of managerial and/or professional 
time per covered entity, at an hourly wage of $60,\3\ 2 hours of

[[Page 57600]]

specialized clerical support, at an hourly wage of $27,\4\ 7 hours of 
clerical time per covered entity, at an hourly wage of $19,\5\ for a 
total of $199,680,975 ($247 blended labor cost per covered entity x 
808,425 entities).
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    \3\ Based on ``General and Operations Managers'' ($58.70), 
rounded up to $60, available from Bureau of Labor Statistics, 
Economic News Release, March 31, 2017, Table 1, ``National 
employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics 
survey by occupation, May 2016'' (``BLS Table 1''). https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.nr0.htm.
    \4\ ``Specialized clerical support'' consists of computer 
support personnel who design the appearance and layout of product 
packaging, including appropriate display of the disclosures required 
by the FPLA regulations. The wage estimate is based on mean hourly 
wages for ``Computer support specialist'' ($27.21), rounded. See BLS 
Table 1.
    \5\ See id. The clerical wage estimate is a rounded average of 
mean hourly wages for ``computer operators'' ($21.10) and ``data 
entry and information processing workers'' ($16.24).
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    D. Capital/Non-Labor Costs: $0.
    Commission staff believes that the FPLA Rules impose negligible 
capital or other non-labor costs, as the affected entities are likely 
to have the necessary supplies and/or equipment already (e.g., offices 
and computers) for the information collections discussed above.
    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 February 5, 2018. Write ``FPLA Rules, PRA Comment, P074200'' 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.
    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/fplaregspra, 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 ``FPLA Rules, PRA Comment, 
P074200'' 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 February 5, 
2018. 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.

David C. Shonka,
Acting General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2017-26254 Filed 12-5-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6750-01-P