[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 24 (Monday, February 8, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8640-8642]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-02471]


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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 (OMB) clearance for information 
collection

[[Page 8641]]

requirements in the Commission's rules and regulations under the Wool 
Products Labeling Act of 1939 (Wool Rules). That clearance expires on 
May 31, 2021.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 9, 2021.

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 ``Wool Rules; 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: Jock K. Chung, Attorney, Division of 
Enforcement, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 
Mail Code CC-9528, 600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20580, 
(202) 326-2984.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Rules and Regulations under the Wool Products Labeling Act 
of 1939, 16 CFR part 300.
    OMB Control Number: 3084-0100.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Likely Respondents: Manufacturers, importers, processors and 
marketers of wool products.
    Frequency of Response: Third party disclosure; recordkeeping 
requirement.
    Estimated annual hours burden: 1,880,000 hours (160,000 
recordkeeping hours + 1,720,000 disclosure hours).
    Recordkeeping: 160,000 hours [4,000 wool firms incur an average 40 
hours per firm].
    Disclosure: 1,720,000 hours [240,000 hours for determining label 
content + 480,000 hours to draft and order labels + 1,000,000 hours to 
attach labels].
    Estimated annual cost burden: $25,620,000 (solely relating to labor 
costs).
    Abstract: The Wool Products Labeling Act of 1939 (Wool Act) 
prohibits the misbranding of wool products. The Wool Rules establish 
disclosure requirements that assist consumers in making informed 
purchasing decisions and recordkeeping requirements that assist the 
Commission in enforcing the Rules.
    As required by section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2)(A), the FTC is providing this opportunity for public comment 
before requesting that OMB extend the existing clearance for the 
information collection requirements contained in the Commission's Wool 
Rules.

Burden Statement

    Staff's burden estimates for the Wool Rules are based on data from 
the Department of Commerce's Bureau of the Census, the International 
Trade Commission, the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics 
(BLS), and data or other input from the main industry association, the 
American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA), and from SICCode.com, 
which specializes in the business classification of SIC (Standard 
Industrial Classification) and NAICS (North American Industry 
Classification System) codes for business identification, verification, 
and targeting. The AAFA, a national trade association which represents 
U.S. apparel, footwear and other sewn products companies and their 
suppliers, has stated that ``[t]he use of labels on textiles and 
apparels is beneficial to consumers, manufacturers, and business in 
general as it allows for the necessary flow of information along the 
supply chain.'' \1\ The relevant information collection requirements in 
these rules and staff's corresponding burden estimates follow. The 
estimates address the number of hours needed and the labor costs 
incurred to comply with the requirements. Staff believes that a 
significant portion of hours and labor costs currently attributable to 
burden below are time and financial resources usually and customarily 
incurred by persons in the course of their regular activity (e.g., 
industry participants already have and/or would have care labels 
regardless of the Rules) and could be excluded from PRA-related 
burden.\2\
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    \1\ Page one from comment by Kevin M. Burke, President and CEO, 
American Apparel & Footwear Association, March 26, 2012, Advance 
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking; Request for Public Comment; Rules and 
Regulations under the Wool Products Labeling Act of 1939; 77 FR 4498 
(Jan. 30, 2012).
    \2\ 5 CFR 1320.3(b)(2).
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    Estimated annual hours burden: 1,880,000 hours (160,000 
recordkeeping hours + 1,720,000 disclosure hours).
    Recordkeeping: Staff estimates that approximately 4,000 wool firms 
are subject to the Wool Rules' recordkeeping requirements. Based on an 
average annual burden of 40 hours per firm, the total recordkeeping 
burden is 160,000 hours.
    Disclosure: Approximately 8,000 wool firms, producing or importing 
about 600,000,000 wool products annually, are subject to the Wool 
Rules' disclosure requirements. Staff estimates the burden of 
determining label content to be 30 hours per year per firm, or a total 
of 240,000 hours, and the burden of drafting and ordering labels to be 
60 hours per firm per year, or a total of 480,000 hours. Staff believes 
that the process of attaching labels is now fully automated and 
integrated into other production steps for about 40 percent of all 
affected products. For the remaining 360,000,000 items (60 percent of 
600,000,000), the process is semi-automated and requires an average of 
approximately ten seconds per item, for a total of 1,000,000 hours per 
year. Thus, the total estimated annual burden for all firms is 
1,720,000 hours (240,000 hours for determining label content + 480,000 
hours to draft and order labels + 1,000,000 hours to attach labels). 
Staff believes that any additional burden associated with advertising 
disclosure requirements would be minimal (less than 10,000 hours) and 
can be subsumed within the burden estimates set forth above.
    Estimated annual cost burden: $25,620,000, rounded to the nearest 
thousand (solely relating to labor costs). The chart below summarizes 
the total estimated costs.

[[Page 8642]]



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                              Task                                  Hourly rate    Burden hours     Labor cost
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Determine label content.........................................      \3\ $29.00         240,000      $6,960,000
Draft and order labels..........................................        \4\ 9.00         480,000       9,120,000
Attach labels...................................................        \5\ 6.50       1,000,000       6,500,000
Recordkeeping...................................................       \6\ 19.00         160,000       3,040,000
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................................  ..............  ..............      25,620,000
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    Staff believes  that there are no current start-up costs or other 
capital costs associated with the Wool Rules. Because the labeling of 
wool products has been an integral part of the manufacturing process 
for decades, manufacturers have in place the capital equipment 
necessary to comply with the Rules. Based on knowledge of the industry, 
staff believes that much of the information required by the Wool Act 
and Rules would be included on the product label even absent their 
requirements. Similarly, recordkeeping and advertising disclosures are 
tasks performed in the ordinary course of business so that covered 
firms would incur no additional capital or other non-labor costs as a 
result of the Rules.
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    \3\ The wage rate for supervisors of office and administrative 
support workers is based on data through May 2019 from the Bureau of 
Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics Survey at 
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.htm (released on March 31, 
2020).
    \4\ The wage rate for correspondence clerks is based on recent 
data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment 
Statistics Survey at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.htm.
    \5\ 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 used 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, staff has calculated a weighted 
average hourly wage of $6.50 per hour attributable to U.S. and 
foreign labor combined.
    \6\ This estimate includes the wage rate for correspondence 
clerks.
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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 April 9, 2021.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the FTC to consider 
your comment, we must receive it on or before April 9, 2021. Write 
``Wool Rules; 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 ``Wool Rules; 
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 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 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 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 April 9, 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. 2021-02471 Filed 2-5-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P