[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 224 (Thursday, November 19, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73708-73710]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-25582]


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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM


Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment 
Request

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

ACTION: Notice, request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) 
invites comment on a proposal to extend for three years, with revision, 
the Government-Administered, General-Use Prepaid Card Surveys.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before January 19, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by FR 3063, by any of 
the following methods:
     Agency Website: https://www.federalreserve.gov/. Follow 
the instructions for submitting comments at https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx.
     Email: [email protected]. Include the OMB 
number in the subject line of the message.

[[Page 73709]]

     Fax: (202) 452-3819 or (202) 452-3102.
     Mail: Ann E. Misback, Secretary, Board of Governors of the 
Federal Reserve System, 20th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, 
Washington, DC 20551.
    All public comments are available from the Board's website at 
https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/foia/proposedregs.aspx as 
submitted, unless modified for technical reasons or to remove 
personally identifiable information at the commenter's request. 
Accordingly, comments will not be edited to remove any identifying or 
contact information. Public comments may also be viewed electronically 
or in paper in Room 146, 1709 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20006, 
between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. For security reasons, the 
Board requires that visitors make an appointment to inspect comments. 
You may do so by calling (202) 452-3684. Upon arrival, visitors will be 
required to present valid government-issued photo identification and to 
submit to security screening in order to inspect and photocopy 
comments.
    Additionally, commenters may send a copy of their comments to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Desk Officer--Shagufta Ahmed--
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and 
Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, 725 17th Street NW, 
Washington, DC 20503, or by fax to (202) 395-6974.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Federal Reserve Board Clearance 
Officer--Nuha Elmaghrabi--Office of the Chief Data Officer, Board of 
Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551, (202) 
452-3829.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 15, 1984, OMB delegated to the Board 
authority under the PRA to approve and assign OMB control numbers to 
collections of information conducted or sponsored by the Board. In 
exercising this delegated authority, the Board is directed to take 
every reasonable step to solicit comment. In determining whether to 
approve a collection of information, the Board will consider all 
comments received from the public and other agencies.
    A copy of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) OMB submission, 
including the reporting form and instructions, supporting statement, 
and other documentation will be available at https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain, if approved. These documents will also be made 
available on the Board's public website at https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/reportforms/review.aspx or may be requested 
from the agency clearance officer, whose name appears above.

Request for Comment on Information Collection Proposal

    The Board invites public comment on the following information 
collection, which is being reviewed under authority delegated by the 
OMB under the PRA. Comments are invited on the following:
    a. Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the Board's functions, including whether the 
information has practical utility;
    b. The accuracy of the Board's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed information collection, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    c. Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected;
    d. Ways to minimize the burden of information collection on 
respondents, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology; and
    e. Estimates of capital or startup costs and costs of operation, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.
    At the end of the comment period, the comments and recommendations 
received will be analyzed to determine the extent to which the Board 
should modify the proposal.

Proposal Under OMB Delegated Authority To Extend for Three Years, With 
Revision, the Following Information Collection

    Report title: Government-Administered, General-Use Prepaid Card 
Surveys.
    Agency form number: FR 3063.
    OMB control number: 7100-0343.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Respondents: Depository institutions that administer general-use 
prepaid cards.
    Estimated number of respondents: 15.
    Estimated average hours per response: 10.
    Estimated annual burden hours: 150.
    General description of report: The issuer survey (FR 3063a) 
collects data from issuers of government-administered, general-use 
prepaid cards including information on the pre-paid card program, the 
number of cards outstanding, card funding, ATM transactions, purchase 
transactions, fees paid by issuers to third parties, interchange fees, 
and cardholder fees. The issuer survey (FR 3063a) is mandatory. The 
government survey (FR 3063b), which is being discontinued, was 
originally designed to collect data from state governments, the 
District of Columbia, and U.S. territories (collectively ``state 
governments''), and municipal government offices located within the 
United States (local government offices) that administer general-use 
prepaid card payment programs. It was intended that the FR 3063b survey 
would collect similar information from state governments and local 
government offices to supplement the information collected from card 
issuers in the FR 3063a survey on the usage of general-use prepaid 
cards in federal, state or local government-administered payment 
programs. However, the government survey was voluntary and, ultimately, 
did not end up being utilized to collect information from state 
governments or local government offices because relevant information on 
the use of prepaid cards was obtained from the issuer survey.
    The Board uses data from the FR 3063a survey to support an annual 
report to Congress on the prevalence of use of general-use prepaid 
cards in federal, state, and local government-administered payment 
programs and on the interchange and cardholder fees charged with 
respect to such use of such cards.
    Proposed revisions: The Board proposes to revise and streamline the 
FR 3063a reporting structure to reduce burden on respondents by 
deleting various questions, which are no longer necessary to support 
the Board's annual report. The Board believes that the proposed 
structure would reduce reporting burden without significantly 
compromising the value of the data collected. The proposed revisions to 
the FR 3063a would be effective for the data collection administered 
during the first half of 2021 for calendar year 2020 data. In addition, 
the Board proposes to discontinue the FR 3063b.
    Legal authorization and confidentiality: The issuer survey is 
authorized by subsection 920(a)(7) of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, 
15 U.S.C. 1693o-2(a)(7), which was added by section 1075(a) of the 
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This 
subsection requires the Board to submit an annual report to Congress on 
the prevalence of the use of general-use prepaid cards in federal, 
state or local government-administered payment programs and the 
interchange transaction fees and card-holder fees charged with respect 
to the use of such general-use prepaid cards (15 U.S.C. 1693o-
2(a)(7)(D)). It also provides the Board with authority to require 
issuers

[[Page 73710]]

to provide information to enable the Board to carry out the provisions 
of the subsection (15 U.S.C. 1693o-2(a)(3)(B)). The obligation of 
issuers to respond to the issuer survey is mandatory. The Board 
generally regards the information collected from each individual issuer 
on the FR 3063a survey as confidential commercial and financial 
information, which is protected by exemption 4 of the Freedom of 
Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)). The Board, however, may publicly 
release aggregate or summary information in a way that does not reveal 
the individual issuer.

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, November 16, 
2020.
Michele Taylor Fennell,
Deputy Associate Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2020-25582 Filed 11-18-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210-01-P