[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 59 (Tuesday, March 26, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20972-20974]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-06351]


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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 pertaining to the Commission's 
administrative activities, consisting of: responding to applications to 
the Commission pursuant to the Commission's Rules of Practice (Parts 1 
and 4); the FTC's consumer reporting systems; and the FTC's program 
evaluation activities. The current clearance expires on June 30, 2024.

DATES: Comments must be filed by May 28, 2024.

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 ``Administrative 
Activities, PRA Comment, P085405,'' 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: G. Richard Gold, Attorney, Office of 
the

[[Page 20973]]

General Counsel, Federal Trade Commission, (202) 326-3355, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title of Collection: FTC Administrative Activities.
    OMB Control Number: 3084-0169.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Affected Public: Private Sector: Businesses and other for-profit 
entities.
    Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 1,414,080 hours.
    Estimated Annual Labor Costs: $21,600.

Discussion

    Pursuant to its Rules of Practice, the Commission collects 
information to carry out its administrative responsibilities. For 
example, any person, partnership, or corporation may request advice 
from the Commission or FTC staff regarding a course of action the 
requester contemplates. The Commission's rules require requesters to 
provide the information necessary to facilitate resolution of the 
requests, including information on the question to be resolved, the 
identity of the companies or persons involved, and other material 
facts. See FTC Rule 1.2, 16 CFR 1.2. As another example, the FTC's 
ethics regulations require former employees who are seeking ethical 
clearance to participate in FTC matters to submit screening affidavits 
to facilitate resolution of their requests. See FTC Rule 4.1(b), 16 CFR 
4.1(b). Requests to participate must include, among other things, a 
description of the proceeding in which participation is contemplated; 
the name of the Commission office or division in which the former 
employee was employed and the position the employee occupied; and a 
statement whether, while employed by the Commission, the former 
employee participated in any proceeding or investigation concerning the 
same company, individual, or industry currently involved in the matter 
in question. These requirements prevent the improper use of 
confidential nonpublic information acquired while working at the FTC. 
The Commission's Rules of Practice also authorize outside parties to 
request employee testimony, through compulsory process or otherwise, 
and to request documentary material through compulsory process in cases 
or matters to which the agency is not a party. See FTC Rule 4.11(e), 16 
CFR 4.11(e). These rules require persons seeking testimony or material 
from the Commission to submit a statement in support of the request 
setting forth the party's interest in the case or matter, the relevance 
of the desired testimony or material, and a discussion of whether it is 
reasonably available from other sources.
    The Commission receives approximately 60 such requests annually. 
Staff estimates respondents will incur, on average, approximately 2 
hours of burden to submit a request, resulting in a cumulative 120 
burden hours per year (60 requests x 2 burden hours). Based on an 
estimated average wage of $150/hour for executive and attorney wages, 
staff estimates a total annual cost burden of $18,000 (120 hours x 
$150). Staff estimates that requesters would incur no capital, start-
up, operation, maintenance, or other similar costs associated with 
submitting covered requests.
    The FTC also allows consumers to report fraud, identity theft, 
National Do Not Call Registry violations, and other violations of law 
through telephone hotlines and three online consumer report forms. 
Consumers may call a hotline phone number or log on to the FTC's 
website to report violations using the applicable reporting forms. The 
provision of this information is voluntary. The FTC also conducts 
customer satisfaction surveys regarding the support that the 
Commission's Consumer Response Center provides to consumers to obtain 
information about the overall effectiveness of the call center and 
online complaint intake forms. This information assists Bureau of 
Consumer Protection staff in carrying out the agency's consumer 
protection mission. The FTC is also mandated by Congress under the 
Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998, 18 U.S.C. 1001 et 
seq., to serve as the central clearinghouse for identity theft 
complaints.
    As shown below this paragraph, the time necessary to file a 
consumer report or participate in related customer satisfaction surveys 
will vary. FTC staff estimates approximately 9,705,304 respondents will 
annually submit information pursuant to these processes. The time that 
each respondent will need to spend will depend on the type of consumer 
report being filed or the type of survey being filled out, as well as 
the method of participation (phone, online, web chat). Aggregated 
across the different types of activities, FTC staff estimates that the 
associated burden will be 1,413,936 hours per year over the course of 
the three-year clearance. The cost per respondent to file a complaint 
is negligible. Participation is voluntary and will not require any 
labor expenditures by respondents. In addition, there are no capital, 
start-up, operation, maintenance, or other similar costs for 
respondents.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                     Number of
                            Activity                                 Number of       minutes/       Total hours
                                                                    respondents      activity
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Misc. and fraud-related consumer complaints (phone).............         476,175             8.7          69,045
Identity theft complaints (phone)...............................         293,597             7.2          35,232
CRC Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire (phone).................          13,376             4.3             959
CRC Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire (online)--                        22,241             3.1           1,149
 ReportFraud.ftc.gov............................................
CRC Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire (online)--                         4,728             3.1             244
 IdentityTheft.gov..............................................
Misc. and fraud-related consumer complaints (online)............       4,364,003            5.16         375,304
Identity theft complaints (online)..............................       3,119,075             9.8         509,449
Misc. and fraud-related consumer complaints (Web chat)..........          77,614            5.57           7,205
Identity theft complaints (Web chat)............................         104,282             4.6           7,995
Misc. and fraud-related consumer complaints (Live Web chat).....           3,950             9.6             632
Identity theft complaints (Live Web chat).......................          23,934             9.9           3,949
Do-Not-Call related consumer complaints (phone).................       1,022,325               3          51,116
Do-Not-Call related consumer complaints (online)................       8,473,199             2.5         353,050
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    Totals......................................................       9,705,304  ..............       1,413,936
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    The FTC also conducts evaluations of the effectiveness of its 
merger divestiture orders. Following an order of divestiture in a 
merger matter, the FTC's Bureau of Competition's Compliance Division 
conducts brief calls with

[[Page 20974]]

acquirers of divested assets to assess the effectiveness of these 
divestitures. In 2023, 2022, and 2021, the Commission issued 9, 14, and 
6 orders, respectively, and a few required divestitures. For interviews 
with purchasers of divested assets, each interview typically takes less 
than one hour to complete. FTC staff estimates that it takes each 
participant no more than one hour to prepare for the interview. 
Accordingly, staff estimates that, for each interview, two individuals 
(typically a company executive and an attorney) will devote two hours 
each (one hour preparing and one hour participating) to responding to 
questions for a total of four hours. Assuming that staff evaluates 
approximately 4 divestitures per year during the three-year clearance 
period, staff estimates that the total hours burden will be 16 hours 
per year (4 divestiture reviews x 4 hours for preparing and 
participating). Staff may include approximately two monitor interviews 
a year, which would add at most 4 hours (2 interviews x 2 hours for 
preparing and participating). 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. At most, this yields a 
total burden of 24 burden hours per year. Staff estimates that the 
total annual labor cost, based on an estimated average of $150/hour for 
executive and attorney wages, would be $3,600 (24 hours x $150). There 
are no capital, start-up, operation, maintenance, or other similar 
costs to respondents.

Request for Comment

    Pursuant to Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, the FTC invites 
comments on: (1) whether the disclosure and recordkeeping 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 the collection of information.
    For the FTC to consider a comment, we must receive it on or before 
May 28, 2024. 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.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. Due to 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 file your comment on paper, write ``Administrative 
Activities, PRA Comment, P085405,'' 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.
    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 (1) be filed in paper form, (2) be clearly labeled 
``Confidential,'' and (3) 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 May 28, 2024. 
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. 2024-06351 Filed 3-25-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P