[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 10, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25266-25268]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-07569]


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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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[[Page 25267]]

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''). This clearance expires on June 30, 2024.

DATES: Comments must be filed by June 10, 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 ``Care Labeling Rule, 
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: Jock Chung, Attorney, Division of 
Enforcement, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 
(202) 326-2984, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title of Collection: Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel and 
Certain Piece Goods As Amended, 16 CFR part 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: $217,189,935.52.
    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.
    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 Rule.
    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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                          Task                             Hourly rate      Burden hours         Labor cost
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Determine care instructions............................      \1\ $31.49          1,074,400        $33,832,856.00
Draft and order labels.................................       \2\ 19.47            859,520         16,734,854.40
Attach labels..........................................        \3\ 6.52         25,555,556        166,622,225.12
                                                        --------------------------------------------------------
    Total..............................................  ..............  .................        217,189,935.52
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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\ The wage rate for supervisors of Office and Administrative 
Support Supervisors is based on data through May 2022 from the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics Survey 
at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.htm (released on April 
25, 2023).
    \2\ The wage rate for Information and Record 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.
    \3\ 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 97.1% of 
apparel used in the United States is imported. With the remaining 
2.9% attributable to U.S. production at an approximate domestic 
hourly wage of $14.73 to attach labels, staff has calculated a 
weighted average hourly wage of $6.52 per hour attributable to U.S. 
and foreign labor combined.
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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 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 
June 10, 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 ``Care Labeling Rule, 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://

[[Page 25268]]

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 June 10, 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. 2024-07569 Filed 4-9-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P