[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 123 (Thursday, June 25, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38139-38141]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-13706]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Extension
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) seeks public
comments on proposed information requests to be sent pursuant to
compulsory process to a combined ten or more of the largest cigarette
manufacturers and smokeless tobacco manufacturers. The information
sought would include, among other things, data on manufacturer annual
sales and marketing expenditures. The current FTC clearance from the
Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') to conduct such information
collection expires December 31, 2020. The Commission plans to ask OMB
for renewed three-year clearance to collect this information.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 24, 2020.
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 ``Tobacco Reports; PRA
Comment: FTC File No. P072108'' on your comment, and file your comment
online at https://www.regulations.gov 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: Michael Ostheimer, Division of
Advertising Practices, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade
Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Mailstop CC-10507, Washington,
DC 20580, (202) 326-2699.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: FTC Cigarette and Smokeless Tobacco Data Collection.
OMB Control Number: 3084-0134.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
Likely Respondents: Parent companies of several of the largest
cigarette companies and smokeless tobacco companies.
Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 1,980 disclosure hours.
Estimated Annual Labor Costs: $198,000.
Abstract
For over 50 years, the FTC has published periodic reports
containing data on domestic cigarette sales and marketing expenditures
by the major U.S. cigarette manufacturers. The Commission has published
comparable reports on smokeless tobacco sales and marketing
expenditures for more than thirty years. Originally, both reports were
issued pursuant to statutory mandates. After those statutory mandates
were terminated, the Commission continued to collect and
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publish information obtained from the cigarette and smokeless tobacco
industries pursuant to Section 6(b) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(b). As
noted above, the current PRA clearance to collect this information is
valid through December 31, 2020 (OMB Control No. 3084-0134).
The Commission plans to continue sending information requests
annually to the ultimate parent company of several of the largest
cigarette companies and smokeless tobacco companies in the United
States (``industry members''). The information requests will seek data
regarding, inter alia: (1) The tobacco sales of industry members; (2)
how much industry members spend advertising and promoting their tobacco
products, and the specific amounts spent in each of a number of
specified expenditure categories; (3) whether industry members are
involved in the appearance of their products or brand imagery in
television shows, motion pictures, on the internet, or on social media;
(4) how much industry members spend on advertising intended to reduce
youth tobacco usage; (5) the events, if any, during which industry
members' tobacco brands are televised; and (6) how much industry
members spend on public entertainment events promoting their companies
but not specific tobacco products or tobacco products generally. The
information will again be sought using compulsory process under Section
6(b) of the FTC Act.
Under the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521, the FTC is requesting that OMB
renew the clearance for the PRA burden associated with the proposed
collection.
Burden Statement
Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 1,980.
The FTC staff's estimated hours of burden is based on the time
required each year to respond to the Commission's information request.
Although the FTC currently anticipates sending information requests
each year to the four largest cigarette companies and the five largest
smokeless tobacco companies, the burden estimate is based on up to 15
information requests being issued per year to take into account any
future changes in these industries.
These companies vary greatly in size, in the number of products
they sell, and in the extent and variety of their advertising and
promotion.
The companies have not disputed the staff's burden estimates in
prior requests for PRA reauthorization,\1\ suggesting that the time
most companies would require to gather, organize, format, and produce
their responses would range from 30 to 80 hours per information request
for the smaller companies, to as much as hundreds of hours for the very
largest companies. As an approximation, staff continues to assume a per
company average of 180 hours for the nine largest recipients of the
Commission's information requests to comply--cumulatively, 1,620 hours
per year.
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\1\ E.g., 82 FR 37440 (Aug. 10, 2017); 82 FR 54342 (Nov. 17,
2017).
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Staff anticipates that if the Commission decides to issue
information requests to any additional companies, those companies would
be smaller than the primary nine recipients and that the response
burden per additional recipient would be less than for the larger
companies. Staff believes that the burden should not exceed 60 hours
per entity for the smaller recipients of the information requests.
Cumulatively, then, the total burden for six additional respondents
should not exceed 360 hours per year. Thus, the overall estimated
burden for a maximum of 15 recipients of the information requests is
1,980 hours per year. These estimates include any time spent by
separately incorporated subsidiaries and other entities affiliated with
the ultimate parent company that has received the information request.
Estimated Annual Cost Burden: $198,000.
Commission staff cannot calculate with precision the labor costs
associated with this data production, as those costs entail varying
compensation levels of management and/or support staff among companies
of different sizes. The staff assumes that paralegals and computer
analysts will perform most of the work involved in responding to the
Commission Orders, although in-house legal personnel will be involved
in reviewing the actual submission to the Commission. The staff
continues to use a combined hourly wage of $100/hour for the combined
efforts of these individuals.\2\ Using this figure, staff's best
estimate for the total labor costs for up to 15 information requests is
$198,000 per year. Staff believes that the capital or other non-labor
costs associated with the information requests are minimal.
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\2\ Commission staff believes this estimate is conservative:
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mean
hourly wages for these three occupations are as follows: $26.45 for
paralegals; $46.91 for computer and information analysts; and $69.86
for lawyers. Economic News Release, Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Table 1--National employment and wage data from the Occupational
Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 2019 (Table 1),
available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm. Even if
employees of the major cigarette and smokeless tobacco manufacturers
earn more than these hourly wages, the staff believes its $100/hour
estimate is appropriate.
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Although the information requests may necessitate that industry
members maintain the requested information provided to the Commission,
they should already have in place the means to compile and maintain
business records.
Request for Comments
Pursuant to Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, 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 maintaining records and providing disclosures to
consumers. All comments must be received on or before August 24, 2020.
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the FTC to consider
your comment, we must receive it on or before August 24, 2020. Write
``Tobacco Reports; PRA Comment: 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 the https://www.regulations.gov website.
Due to the public health emergency in response to the COVID-19
outbreak and the agency's heightened security screening, postal mail
addressed to the Commission will be subject to delay. We encourage you
to submit your comments online through the https://www.regulations.gov
website.
If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``Tobacco
Reports; PRA Comment: FTC File No. P072108'' 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 become publicly available at https://www.regulations.gov, you are solely
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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 Sec. 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 Sec. 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 publicly at www.regulations.gov, we cannot
redact or remove your comment unless you submit a confidentiality
request that meets the requirements for such treatment under FTC Rule
Sec. 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 August 24,
2020. 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.
Josephine Liu,
Assistant General Counsel for Legal Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2020-13706 Filed 6-24-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P