[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 219 (Thursday, November 12, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71900-71902]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-25035]


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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: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(``PRA''), the Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') is 
seeking public comment on its proposal to extend for an additional 
three years the Office of Management and Budget clearance for 
information collection requirements in its rule governing Care Labeling 
of Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods As Amended (``Care 
Labeling Rule''). The current clearance expires on May 31, 2021.

DATES: Comments must be filed by January 11, 2021.

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 ``Care Labeling Rule: 
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.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Hampton Newsome, Attorney, Division of 
Enforcement, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 
Mail Code CC-9528, 600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20580, 
(202) 326-2889.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title of Collection: Care Labeling of 
Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods As Amended, 16 CFR 423.
    OMB Control Number: 3084-0103.
    Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.
    Affected Public: Private Sector: Businesses and other for-profit 
entities.
    Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 27,489,476 hours.
    Estimated Annual Labor Costs: $187,184,518.
    Abstract: The Care Labeling Rule requires manufacturers and 
importers of textile wearing apparel and certain piece goods to attach 
labels to their products disclosing the care needed for the ordinary 
use of the product. The Rule also requires manufacturers or importers 
to possess a reasonable basis for care instructions, and allows the use 
of approved care symbols in lieu of words to disclose those 
instructions.
    Burden Statement: Staff estimates that approximately 10,744 
manufacturers or importers of textile apparel, producing about 18.4 
billion textile garments annually, are subject to the Rule's disclosure 
requirements. Staff estimates the burden of determining care 
instructions to be 100 hours each year per firm, for a cumulative total 
of 1,074,400 hours. Staff further estimates that the burden of drafting 
and providing labels is 80 hours each year per firm, for a total of 
859,520 hours. Staff believes that the process of attaching labels is 
fully automated and integrated into other production steps for about 50 
percent (approximately, 9.2 billion) of the approximately 18.4 billion 
garments that are required to have care instructions on permanent 
labels. For the remaining 9.2 billion items, the process is semi-
automated and requires an average of approximately ten seconds per 
item, for a total of 25,555,556 hours per year. Thus, the total 
estimated annual burden for all firms is 27,489,476 hours.
    The chart below summarizes the total estimated costs.

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                                                                    Hourly rate
                              Task                                      \1\        Burden hours     Labor cost
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Determine care instructions.....................................          $29.00       1,074,400     $31,157,600
Draft and order labels..........................................           18.00         859,520      15,471,360
Attach labels...................................................        \2\ 5.50      25,555,556     140,555,558
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................................  ..............  ..............     187,184,518
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    Staff believes that there are no current start-up costs or other 
capital costs associated with the Care Labeling Rule. Because the 
labeling of textile products has been an integral part of the 
manufacturing process for decades, manufacturers have in place the 
capital equipment necessary to comply with the Rule's labeling 
requirements. Based on knowledge of the industry, staff believes that 
much of the information required by the Rule would be included on the 
product label even absent those requirements.
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    \1\ All hourly rates except for ``Attach labels'' are rounded to 
the nearest dollar and drawn from the U.S. Dep't of Labor, Bureau of 
Labor Statistics, ``Table 1. National employment and wage data from 
the Occupational Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 
2019,'' at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm. The 
hourly labor cost estimate for determining care instructions is 
based on mean hourly rates for Office and Administrative Support 
Supervisors and the estimate for drafting and ordering labels is 
based on mean hourly rates for Information and Record Clerks.
    \2\ For imported products, the labels generally are attached in 
the country where the products are manufactured. According to 
information compiled by an industry trade association using data 
from the U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade 
Administration and the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 97.5% of 
apparel purchased in the United States is imported. With the 
remaining 2.5% attributable to U.S. production at an approximate 
domestic hourly wage of $12 to attach labels (derived from the U.S. 
Dep't of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, ``Occupational 
Employment Statistics--May 2019'' which is cited in footnote 1), 
staff has calculated a weighted average hourly wage of $5.50 per 
hour attributable to U.S. and foreign labor combined. Wages in major 
textile exporting countries, factored into the above hourly wage 
estimate, were based on data from the U.S. Department of Labor, 
Bureau of Labor Statistics, available at: http://www.bls.gov/fls/#compensation.
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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 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. All comments should be filed as prescribed in the 
ADDRESSES section above, and must be received on or before January 11, 
2021.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before January 11, 
2021. Write ``Care Labeling Rule: FTC File No. P072108'' on your 
comment. 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 through the https://www.regulations.gov website by following the instructions on the web-
based form provided. 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.
    If you file your comment on paper, write ``Care Labeling Rule: 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, Washington, DC 20024. If 
possible, please submit your paper comment to the Commission by courier 
or overnight service.
    Because your comment will be placed on the public record, 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

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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 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 January 11, 
2021. 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. 2020-25035 Filed 11-10-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P