[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 14 (Monday, January 22, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2988-2992]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-00972]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
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 its proposal to extend for three years the current PRA 
clearance for information collection requirements pertaining to the 
Commission's administrative activities. That clearance expires on April 
30, 2018, and consists of: (a) Applications to the Commission, 
including applications and notices contained in the Commission's Rules 
of Practice (primarily Parts I, II, and IV); (b) the FTC's consumer 
complaint systems; and (c) the FTC's program evaluation activities.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 23, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment online or on paper by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comments part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``Paperwork Reduction 
Act: FTC File No. P072108'' on your comment, and file your comment 
online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/adminactivitiespra 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,

[[Page 2989]]

Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW, 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex 
J), Washington, DC 20024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For purposes specific to this Federal 
Register Notice: (a) Applications to the Commission: Gary Greenfield 
(Office of the General Counsel), 202-326-2753; (b) Complaint Systems: 
Nicholas Mastrocinque (Nick M.) and Ami Dziekan (Ami D.) (Bureau of 
Consumer Protection); Nick M., 202-326-3188 and Ami D., 202-326-2648; 
and (c) Program Evaluations: Jennifer Lee (Divestiture Orders), 202-
326-2246; Katherine Ambrogi (Review of Competition Advocacy Program), 
202-326-2205.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Proposed Information Collection Activities

    Under the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521, federal agencies must get OMB 
approval for each collection of information they conduct, sponsor, or 
require. ``Collection of information'' means 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). 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 information collection requirements pertaining to the 
Commission's administrative activities (OMB Control Number 3084-0047).
    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; (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 on those who 
are to respond.
    Estimated annual hours burden: 1,167,181 hours (110 + 1,166,994 + 
72 + 5).
    Estimated annual labor cost: $25,240 ($14,300 + $0 + $10,440 + 
$500).
    Estimated annual non-labor/capital cost: $0.
    (a) Applications to the Commission, including applications and 
notices supported pursuant to the Commission's Rules of Practice: 110 
hours.
    Most applications to the Commission generally fall within the ``law 
enforcement'' exception to the PRA and are mostly found in Part III 
(Rules of Practice for Adjudicative Proceedings) of the Commission's 
Rules of Practice. See 16 CFR 3.1-3.83. Nonetheless, there are various 
applications and notices to the Commission contained in other rules 
(generally in Parts I, II, and IV of the Commission's Rule of 
Practice). For example, based on an averaging of results in recent 
years, staff estimates that the FTC annually receives approximately 30 
requests for clearance submitted by former FTC employees in order to 
participate in certain matters and screening affidavits submitted by 
partners or legal or business associates of former employees pursuant 
to Rule 4.1, 16 CFR 4.1. There are also procedures set out in Rule 
4.11(e) for agency review of outside requests for Commission employee 
testimony, through compulsory process or otherwise, in cases or matters 
to which the agency is not a party. Rule 4.11(e) requires that a person 
who seeks such testimony submit a statement in support of the request. 
Staff estimates that agency personnel receive approximately 15 requests 
per year. Cumulatively, the above, along with various sundry additional 
requests of sporadic nature for which the Commission also specifies 
particular information required of the applicant or requester, amount 
to about 55 applications or notices per year. Staff estimates each 
respondent will incur, on average, approximately 2 hours of burden to 
submit an application or notice, resulting in a cumulative 110 burden 
hours per year (55 applications or notices x 2 burden hours).
    Annual labor cost burden: Using the burden hours estimated above, 
staff estimates that the total annual labor cost, based on an estimated 
average of $130/hour for executives' and attorneys' wages, would be 
approximately $14,300 (110 hours x $130).\1\ There are no capital, 
start-up, operation, maintenance, or other similar costs to 
respondents.
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    \1\ Figures based on national median salaries, including bonuses 
and benefits, divided by a 2,080 hour work year (52 weeks x 40 
hours/week), for a ``Managing Attorney ($145,'' ``Attorney II,'' 
``Attorney III,'' ``Attorney IV,'' and Attorney V'' at 
www.salary.com.
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    (b) Complaint Systems: 1,166,994 annual hours.

Consumer Response Center

    Consumers can submit complaints about fraud and other practices to 
the FTC's Consumer Response Center (CRC) by telephone or through the 
FTC's website. Telephone complaints and inquiries to the FTC are 
answered both by FTC staff and contractors. These telephone counselors 
ask for the same information that consumers would enter on the 
applicable forms available on the FTC's website. For telephone 
inquiries and complaints, the FTC staff estimates that it takes 6.1 
minutes per call to gather information, and an estimated 4.8 minutes 
for consumers to enter a complaint online. The burden estimate 
conservatively assumes that all of the phone call is devoted to 
collecting information from consumers, although frequently telephone 
counselors devote a small portion of the call to providing requested 
information to consumers.

Complaints Concerning the National Do Not Call Registry

    To receive complaints from consumers of possible violations of the 
rules governing the National Do Not Call Registry, 16 CFR 310.4(b), the 
FTC maintains both an online form and a toll free hotline with 
automated voice response system. Consumer complainants must provide the 
phone number that was called, whether the call was prerecorded, and the 
date and time of the call. They may also provide either the name or 
telephone number of the company about which they are complaining, their 
name and address so they can be contacted for additional information, 
as well as for a brief comment regarding their complaint. In addition, 
complainants have the option of answering three yes-or-no questions to 
help law enforcement investigating complaints. The FTC staff estimates 
that the time required of consumer complainants is 3.0 minutes for 
phone complaints and 2.5 minutes for online complaints.

Identity Theft

    To handle complaints about identity theft, the FTC must obtain more 
detailed information than is required of other complainants. Identity 
theft complaints generally require more information (such as a 
description of actions complainants have taken with credit bureaus, 
companies, and law enforcement, and the identification of multiple 
suspects) than general consumer complaints and fraud complaints.\2\ 
Moreover, since January 2016, with the rollout of enhanced features 
within the FTC's IdentityTheft.gov website, consumers can create a 
personal recovery plan and review various steps to implement it. For 
those that do, FTC staff estimates, based on contractor-provided 
information, that consumers will need 15 minutes, on average, to 
complete the

[[Page 2990]]

complaint form, create an IdentityTheft.gov account, and to review 
their personalized recovery plan. For those that do not, and based on 
contractor-provided information, FTC staff estimates that consumers 
will need 8.5 minutes, on average, to complete the online complaint 
form.\3\
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    \2\ The FTC received a mandate from a presidential executive 
order entitled ``Improving the security of Consumer Financial 
Transactions'' on October 17, 2014 to create a complete service and 
complaint form for Identity Theft victims.
    \3\ According to system-generated results, 84% of complainants 
using IdentityTheft.gov opt to create a personalized recovery plan. 
By extension, 16% do not. These apportionments inform the associated 
population figures that appear in the table below regarding identity 
theft complaints online.
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    For consumers who call the CRC with an identity theft complaint, 
staff estimates that it will take 6 minutes per call to obtain identity 
theft-related information. A substantial portion of identity theft-
related calls typically consists of counseling consumers on other steps 
they should consider taking to obtain relief (which may include 
directing consumers to a revised online complaint form). The time 
needed for counseling is excluded from the estimate.

CRC Surveys

    Consumer customer satisfaction surveys give the agency information 
about the overall effectiveness and timeliness of the CRC. Subsets of 
consumers contacted throughout the year are questioned about specific 
aspects of CRC customer service. Each consumer surveyed is asked 
several questions chosen from a list prepared by staff. The questions 
are designed to elicit information from consumers about the overall 
effectiveness of the call center and online complaint intake. For the 
online survey, half of the questions ask consumers to rate CRC 
performance on a scale or require a yes-or-no response. The second half 
of the online survey asks more open-ended questions seeking a short 
answer. In addition, the CRC may survey a sample of consumers 
immediately after they file their complaints regarding the services 
they received. Staff estimates that each respondent will require 4.3 
minutes to answer the questions during the phone survey and about 3.1 
minutes for the online survey (approximately 20-30 seconds per 
question).
    In addition, the FTC currently uses ForeSee, Inc. for online 
customer satisfaction surveys on www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov. It 
randomly selects consumers to take part in a brief survey to provide 
feedback about the website. Staff estimates the brief survey will 
require 6.5 minutes per respondent. This estimate and others relating 
to ForeSee surveys are included under ``Misc. and fraud-related 
consumer complaints (Web chat)'' in the table below.

Consumer Sentinel Network Survey

    The FTC might conduct a brief survey of Consumer Sentinel Network 
satisfaction within the next three years. It will likely be an online 
survey with ten-minute duration. If so, estimated maximum burden would 
be 417 hours if every member completed it, given that the maximum 
possible Sentinel user base is 2,500 users.
    What follows is a tabular presentation of staff's estimates of 
burden for these various collections of information, including the 
surveys. The figures for the online forms and consumer hotlines are an 
average of annualized volume for the respective programs, including 
both current and projected volumes over the 3-year clearance period 
sought. The number of respondents for each activity has been rounded to 
the nearest thousand. The vast increase from the last estimate, 186,884 
hours, to the current estimate, 1,166,994 hours, reflects strong 
consumer participation in the agency's complaint collection process.\4\
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    \4\ The population estimates generally present marked increases 
from prior submissions for OMB clearance regarding information 
collected through these activities. While the FTC cannot 
definitively explain such pronounced increase in consumer visits to 
the FTC complaint site, the following are several possible factors: 
(1) A sharp rise in Do-Not-Call violations (by extension, an 
associated increase in consumer complaints); (2) increased media 
coverage regarding the Do-Not-Call and identity theft portals; and 
(3) expanded FTC outreach regarding its ftccomplaintassistant.gov 
website.

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                                                                                     Number of
                            Activity                                 Number of       minutes/       Total hours
                                                                    respondents      activity
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Misc. and fraud-related consumer complaints (phone).............         973,690             6.1          98,992
Misc. and fraud-related consumer complaints (online)............       1,228,635             4.8          98,291
Misc. and fraud-related consumer complaints (web chat)..........         175,926             6.5          19,058
Do-Not-Call related consumer complaints (phone).................       1,795,155             3.0          89,758
Do-Not-Call related consumer complaints (online)................      13,800,657             2.5         575,027
Identity theft complaints (phone)...............................       1,183,533             6.0         118,353
Identity theft complaints (online) (those who create a personal          589,209            15.0         147,302
 recovery plan).................................................
Identity theft complaints (online) (those who complete online            112,230             8.5          15,899
 form but do not create a personal recovery plan)...............
CRC Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire(phone)..................          20,084             4.3           1,439
CRC Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire (online)................          47,572             3.1           2,458
Consumer Sentinel Network Survey................................           2,500              10             417
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    Totals......................................................      19,929,191  ..............       1,166,994
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    Annual Labor Cost Burden: The cost per respondent should be 
negligible. Participation is voluntary and will not require any labor 
expenditures by respondents. There are no capital, start-up, operation, 
maintenance, or other similar costs to the respondents.
    (c) Program Evaluations: 77 hours.
    Review of Divestiture Orders--72 hours.
    The Commission issues, on average, approximately 15-17 orders in 
merger cases per year that require divestitures or other remedies. As a 
result of a 1999 divestiture study and a more recent 2015 remedy study 
authorized by OMB and conducted by the staffs of the Bureau of 
Competition (BC) and the Bureau of Economics, as well as ongoing 
experience, BC monitors these required remedies by interviewing 
representatives of the Commission-approved buyers of the divested 
assets or other affected market participants within the first year 
after the divestiture is completed.
    BC staff interviews representatives of the buyers to ask whether 
all assets required to be divested were, in fact, divested; whether the 
buyer has used the divested assets to enter the market of concern to 
the Commission and, if so, the extent to which the buyer is 
participating in the market; whether the divestiture met the buyer's 
expectations; and whether the buyer believes the

[[Page 2991]]

divestiture has been successful. In a few cases, BC staff may also 
interview monitors, if appropriate. In cases in which a remedy other 
than a divestiture is required, staff will interview market 
participants such as competitors or customers to monitor the 
effectiveness of the remedy. In all these interviews, staff seeks to 
learn about pricing and other basic facts regarding competition in the 
markets of concern to the FTC.
    Participation by the buyers or other market participants is 
voluntary. Each responding company designates the company 
representative most likely to have the necessary information; 
typically, a company executive and an attorney represent the company. 
Each interview takes less than one hour to complete. BC staff further 
estimates that it takes each participant no more than one hour to 
prepare for the interview. Staff conservatively estimates that, for 
each interview of the responding company, two individuals (a company 
executive and an attorney) will devote two hours (one hour preparing 
and one hour participating) each to responding to questions for a total 
of four hours. Interviews of monitors typically involve only the 
monitor and take approximately one hour to complete with no more than 
one hour to prepare for the interview. Assuming that staff evaluates 
approximately 17 divestitures per year during the three-year clearance 
period, the total hours burden for the responding companies will be 
approximately 68 hours per year (17 divestiture reviews x 4 hours for 
preparing and participating). Staff may include approximately 2 monitor 
interviews a year, which would add at most 4 hours (2 interviews x 2 
hours for preparing and participating).
    Annual Labor Cost Burden: Using the burden hours estimated above, 
staff estimates that the total annual labor cost, based on a 
conservative estimated average of $145/hour for executives' and 
attorneys' wages, would be approximately $10,440 (72 hours x $145).\5\ 
There are no capital, start-up, operation, maintenance, or other 
similar costs to respondents.
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    \5\ See supra note 1 (attorney salary source data for ``Managing 
Attorney'').
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    Review of Competition Advocacy Program--5 hours.
    The FTC's competition advocacy program draws on the Commission's 
expertise in competition and consumer protection matters to encourage 
state and federal legislators, agencies and regulatory officials, and 
courts to consider the effects of their decisions on competition and 
consumer welfare. The Commission and staff send approximately 20 
letters to such decision makers annually regarding the likely effects 
of various bills and regulations.
    In the past, the Office of Policy Planning (``OPP'') has evaluated 
the effectiveness of these advocacy comments by surveying comment 
recipients and other relevant decision makers. OPP intends to continue 
this evaluation by sending a paper or electronic questionnaire to 
relevant parties within a year after sending an advocacy.
    Most survey questions ask the respondent to agree or disagree with 
a statement concerning the advocacy comment that they received. 
Specifically, these questions ask about the consideration, content, 
influence, and public effect of our comments. The questionnaire also 
provides respondents with an opportunity to provide additional remarks 
regarding the comments they received, advocacy comments in general, and 
the outcome of the matter. These survey results are also included in 
the FTC's internal performance management indicators, and are used to 
guide the FTC's selection and prioritization of future competition 
advocacy opportunities.
    OPP staff estimates that, on average, respondents will each require 
15 minutes or less to complete the questionnaire. Thus, staff estimates 
a cumulative total of 5 burden hours per year (15 minutes of burden per 
respondent x 20 respondents per year). OPP staff does not intend to 
conduct any follow-up activities that would involve the respondents' 
participation.
    Annual Labor Cost Burden: OPP staff estimates a conservative hourly 
labor cost of $100 for the time of the survey participants (primarily 
state representatives and senators). Thus, staff estimates a total 
labor cost of $25 for each response (15 minutes of burden at $100 per 
hour). Assuming 20 respondents will complete the questionnaire on an 
annual basis, staff estimates cumulative yearly labor costs will 
approximate $500. There are no capital, start-up, operation, 
maintenance, or other similar costs to respondents.

Request for Comments

    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the FTC to consider 
your comment, we must receive it on or before March 23, 2018. Write 
``Paperwork Reduction Act: FTC File No. P072108'' 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 website, 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 website.
    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/adminactivitiespra 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 website.
    If you file your comment on paper, write ``Paperwork Reduction Act: 
FTC File No. P072108'' 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.
    Because your comment will be placed on the publicly accessible FTC 
website 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,

[[Page 2992]]

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 website--as legally required by FTC Rule 
4.9(b)--we cannot redact or remove your comment from the FTC website, 
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 March 23, 
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. 2018-00972 Filed 1-19-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6750-01-P