[Federal Register: November 28, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 228)]
[Notices]
[Page 68892-68894]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr28no06-122]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request
AGENCY: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Treasury.
ACTION: Notice and request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork
[[Page 68893]]
and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal
agencies to take this opportunity to comment on a continuing
information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a respondent is not
required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a
currently valid OMB control number. The OCC is soliciting comment
concerning its information collection titled, ``Privacy of Consumer
Financial Information (12 CFR part 40).'' The OCC is also giving notice
that it has sent the information collection to OMB for review.
DATES: You should submit written comments by December 28, 2006.
ADDRESSES: You should direct your comments to:
Communications Division, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency,
Public Information Room, Mailstop 1-5, Attention: 1557-0216, 250 E
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20219. In addition, comments may be sent by
fax to (202) 874-4448, or by electronic mail to
regs.comments@occ.treas.gov. You can inspect and photocopy the comments
at the OCC's Public Information Room, 250 E Street, SW., Washington, DC
20219. You can make an appointment to inspect the comments by calling
(202) 874-5043.
Additionally, you should send a copy of your comments to OCC Desk
Officer, 1557-0216, by mail to U.S. Office of Management and Budget,
725, 17th Street, NW., 10235, Washington, DC 20503, or by fax
to (202) 395-6974.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: You can request additional information
or a copy of the collection from Mary Gottlieb, OCC Clearance Officer,
or Camille Dickerson, (202) 874-5090, Legislative and Regulatory
Activities Division, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 250 E
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20219.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The OCC is proposing to extend OMB approval
of the following information collection:
Title: Privacy of Consumer Financial Information (12 CFR part 40).
OMB Number: 1557-0216.
Description: This submission covers an existing regulation and
involves no change to the regulation or to the information collection
requirements. The OCC requests only that OMB approve its revised
estimates.
These information collection requirements are required under the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (Pub. L. 106-102), which required the OCC to
issue regulations as necessary to implement notice requirements and
restrictions on a financial institution's ability to disclose nonpublic
personal information about consumers to nonaffiliated third parties.
The information collection requirements in part 40 are as follows:
Section 40.4(a)--Disclosure (institution)--Initial privacy notice
to consumers requirement--A bank must provide a clear and conspicuous
notice that accurately reflects its privacy policies and practices to
customers and consumers.
Section 40.5(a)--Disclosure (institution)--Annual privacy notice to
customers requirement--A bank must provide a clear and conspicuous
notice to customers that accurately reflects its privacy policies and
practices not less than annually during the continuation of the
customer relationship.
Section 40.8--Disclosure (institution)--Revised privacy notices--If
a bank wishes to disclose information in a way that is inconsistent
with the notices previously given to a consumer, the bank must provide
consumers with a revised notice of the bank's policies and procedures
and a new opt out notice.
Section--40.7(a)--Disclosure (institution)--Form of opt out notice
to consumers; opt out methods--Form of opt out notice--If a bank is
required to provide an opt out notice under Sec. 40.10(a), it must
provide a clear and conspicuous notice to each of its consumers that
accurately explains the right to opt out under that section. The notice
must state:
That the bank discloses or reserves the right to disclose
nonpublic personal information about its consumer to a nonaffiliated
third party.
That the consumer has the right to opt out of that
disclosure.
A reasonable means by which the consumer may exercise the
opt out right
The bank must provide reasonable opt out means such as by--
Designating check-off boxes on the relevant forms with opt
out notice.
Including reply form with opt out notice.
Providing electronic means to opt out; or,
Providing a toll-free number to opt out.
Sections 40.10(a)(2) and 40.10(c)--Consumers must take affirmative
actions to exercise their rights to prevent financial institutions from
sharing their information with nonaffiliated parties--
Opt out--Consumers may direct that the bank not disclose
nonpublic personal information about them to a nonaffiliated third
party, other than permitted by Sec. Sec. 40.13-40.15.
Partial opt out--Consumers may also exercise partial opt
out rights by selecting certain nonpublic personal information or
certain nonaffiliated third parties with respect to which the consumer
wishes to opt out.
Sections 40.7(f) and (g)--Reporting (consumer)--Consumers may
exercise continuing right to opt out--Consumer may opt out at any
time--A consumer's direction to opt out is effective until the consumer
revokes it in writing or, if the consumer agrees, electronically. When
a customer relationship terminates, the customer's opt out direction
continues to apply.
At the time part 40 was promulgated, the OCC used nominal burden
estimates due to the uncertainty of what institutions would do to
comply with the opt-out requirements and how consumers would react. The
OCC is now revisiting its estimates to determine how they could be made
more accurate.
The OCC does not require its institutions to report the percentage
of consumers choosing to opt out. Absent this information, we estimate
that between 2% and 12% of consumers with new mortgages or credit cards
and 1% of consumers with deposit accounts under $100,000 will opt out
under part 40. While we understand that an increase in the number of
consumers opting out will increase the burden on the industry due to
the processing time associated with the additional opt outs, we have
not adjusted our burden estimates for the industry because we do not
have reliable figures about the rate of opt outs.
Therefore, we estimate that between 3 and 17.9 million consumers
will opt out. Our estimates set forth in this notice reflect the
midpoint of 9 million. We invite comment on our estimates and welcome
any other information that might assist us in making them more
accurate.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit; individuals.
Estimated Annual Number of Institution Respondents: Initial Notice,
50; Annual Notice and Change in Terms, 1,869; Opt-out Notice, 935.
Estimated Average Time Per Response Per Institution: Initial
Notice, 80 hours; Annual Notice and Change in Terms, 8 hours; Opt-out
Notice, 8 hours.
Estimated Subtotal Annual Burden Hours for Institutions: 26,432
hours.
Estimated Annual Number of Consumer Respondents: 9,000,000.
Estimated Average Time Per Consumer Response: 0.25 hours.
Estimated Subtotal Annual Burden Hours for Consumers: 2,250,000
hours.
[[Page 68894]]
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 2,276,432 hours.
On September 22, 2006, the OCC published a 60-Day Federal Register
Notice setting forth these estimates. 71 FR 55545. No comments were
received. Comments continue to be invited on:
(a) Whether the collection of information is necessary for the
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether
the information has practical utility;
(b) The accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the
collection of information;
(c) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected;
(d) Ways to minimize the burden of the 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.
Dated: November 22, 2006.
Stuart Feldstein,
Assistant Director, Legislative and Regulatory Activities Division.
[FR Doc. E6-20108 Filed 11-27-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-33-P