[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 199 (Tuesday, October 14, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60702-60704]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-24339]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection;
Comment Request
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'' or ``FTC'').
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The FTC plans to conduct a study to examine consumer
perception of environmental marketing claims. This activity is part of
the Commission's regulatory review of the Guides for the Use of
Environmental Marketing Claims (``Green Guides'' or ``Guides''). Before
gathering this information, the FTC is seeking public comments on the
proposed study. Comments will be considered before the FTC submits a
request for Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') review under the
Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA'').
DATES: Comments must be received on or before December 15, 2008.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments
electronically or in paper form. Comments should refer to ``Green
Marketing Consumer Perception Study, Project No. P954501'' to
facilitate the organization of comments. Please note that comments will
be placed on the public record of this proceeding--including on the
publicly accessible FTC website, at (http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm) -- and therefore should not include any sensitive
or confidential information. In particular, comments should not include
any sensitive personal information, such as an individual'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. Comments also
should not include any sensitive health information, such as medical
records or other individually identifiable health information. In
addition, comments should not include any ``[t]rade secrets and
commercial or financial information obtained from a person and
privileged or confidential . . .,'' as provided in Section 6(f) of the
FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and Commission Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR
4.10(a)(2) (2008). Comments containing
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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).\1\
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\1\ FTC Rule 4.2(d), 16 CFR 4.2(d). The comment must be
accompanied by an explicit request for confidential treatment,
including the factual and legal basis for the request, and must
identify the specific portions of the comment to be withheld from
the public record. The request will be granted or denied by the
Commission's General Counsel, consistent with applicable law and the
public interest. See FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c) (2008).
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Because paper mail addressed to the FTC is subject to delay due to
heightened security screening, please consider submitting your comments
in electronic form. Comments filed in electronic form should be
submitted by using the following weblink: (https://secure.commentworks.com/ftc-GreenGuidesReview) (and following the
instructions on the web-based form). To ensure that the Commission
considers an electronic comment, you must file it on the web-based form
at the weblink (https://secure.commentworks.com/ftc-GreenGuidesReview).
If this Notice appears at (http://www.regulations.gov/search/index.jsp), you may also file an electronic comment through that
website. The Commission will consider all comments that regulations.gov
forwards to it. You may also visit the FTC website at http://www.ftc.gov to read the Notice and the news release describing it.
A comment filed in paper form should include the ``Green Marketing
Consumer Perception Study, Project No. P954501'' reference both in the
text and on the envelope, and should be mailed or delivered to the
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary,
Room H-135 (Annex J), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
20580. The FTC is requesting that any comment filed in paper form be
sent by courier or overnight service, if possible, because U.S. postal
mail in the Washington area and at the Commission is subject to delay
due to heightened security precautions.
The FTC Act and other laws 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, whether filed in paper or electronic
form. Comments received will be available to the public on the FTC
website, to the extent practicable, at (http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm). As a matter of discretion, the Commission makes
every effort to remove home contact information for individuals from
the public comments it receives before placing those comments on the
FTC website. More information, including routine uses permitted by the
Privacy Act, may be found in the FTC's privacy policy, at (http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.shtm).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laura Koss, Attorney, 202-326-2890, or
Michael J. Davis, Attorney, 202-326-2458, Division of Enforcement,
Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Commission issued the Green Guides, 16 CFR Part 260, to help
marketers avoid making environmental claims that are unfair or
deceptive under Section 5 of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 45.\2\ Guides are
administrative interpretations of the law. Therefore, they do not have
the force and effect of law and are not independently enforceable. The
Guides, however, are the Commission's interpretation of Section 5 of
the FTC Act as it applies to environmental marketing claims. The
Commission, therefore, can take action under the FTC Act if a business
makes environmental marketing claims inconsistent with the Guides. In
any such enforcement action, the Commission must prove that the act or
practice at issue is unfair or deceptive.
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\2\ The Commission issued the Green Guides in 1992, 57 FR 36363,
and subsequently revised them in 1996 (61 FR 53311) and 1998 (63 FR
24240).
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The Green Guides outline general principles that apply to all
environmental marketing claims and provide guidance regarding specific
categories of environmental claims. These categories include: general
environmental benefit claims, such as ``environmentally friendly'';
degradable claims; compostable claims; recyclable claims; recycled
content claims; source reduction claims; refillable claims; and ozone
safe/ozone friendly claims. For each of these claims, the Green Guides
explain how reasonable consumers are likely to interpret them. The
Guides also describe the basic elements necessary to substantiate
claims and present options for qualifying specific claims to avoid
deception.\3\ The illustrative qualifications provide ``safe harbors''
for marketers who want certainty about how to make environmental
claims, but do not represent the only permissible approaches to
qualifying a claim.
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\3\ The Guides do not, however, establish standards for
environmental performance or prescribe testing protocols.
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II. Regulatory Review of the Green Guides
The Commission reviews all of its rules and guides periodically to
examine their efficacy, costs, and benefits, and to determine whether
to retain, modify, or rescind them. On November 26, 2007, the FTC
commenced its review of the Green Guides and sought public comment.\4\
As part of this comprehensive review, the FTC also announced a series
of public workshops to explore emerging environmental marketing issues
and, through subsequent notices, opened public comment periods in
connection with each workshop.\5\ The Commission sought comment on a
number of issues, including the continuing need for and economic impact
of the Guides, the effect of the Guides on the accuracy of
environmental claims, and whether the Guides should illustrate certain
environmental claims--such as carbon neutrality, sustainability, and
renewability--not currently addressed in the Guides. The Commission
also sought specific consumer survey evidence and consumer perception
data addressing environmental claims. Few commenters submitted consumer
survey evidence or consumer perception data. The Commission, therefore,
is considering conducting its own consumer study related to consumer
perception of environmental marketing claims. This study would aid the
Commission in determining what revisions, if any, it should make to the
Guides to ensure that the Guides are appropriately responsive to any
changes in consumer perception of environmental claims.
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\4\ 72 FR 66091.
\5\ See 72 FR 66094, Carbon Offsets and Renewable Energy
Certificates (held on January 8, 2008); 73 FR 11371, Green Packaging
Claims (held on April 30, 2008); and 73 FR 32662, Green Building and
Textiles (held on July 8, 2008).
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III. Paperwork Reduction Act Notice
As required by Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501-21,
the FTC is providing this opportunity for public comment before
requesting that OMB approve the study. Under the PRA, federal agencies
must obtain OMB approval for each collection of information they
conduct or sponsor. ``Collection of information'' means agency requests
or requirements that members of the public submit reports, keep
records, or provide information to a third party. 44 U.S.C. 3502(3); 5
CFR 1320.3(c).
Specifically, the FTC invites comments on: (1) whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary
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for the proper performance of the functions of the FTC, including
whether the information will have practical utility; (2) the accuracy
of the FTC's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of
information; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of
the information to be collected; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of
collecting information on those who are to respond, including through
the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other
technological collection techniques or other forms of information
technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses. All
comments should be filed as prescribed in the ADDRESSES section above,
and must be received on or before December 15, 2008.
IV. FTC's Proposed Study of Consumer Perception
The FTC proposes to collect information from up to 7,000 consumers
in order to gather data on consumer perception of environmental
marketing claims. All information will be collected on a voluntary
basis. The FTC plans to contract with a consumer research firm to
identify consumers and conduct the study via the Internet. Among other
things, the research firm will be expected to study a stratified sample
of the adult United States population broadly representative of
consumer group characteristics (e.g., geographic location, housing
characteristics, gender, age, education, and race/ethnicity), relative
to the most recent Census Bureau Current Population Survey.
The FTC expects that selected respondents will be asked questions
about a number of express or implied environmental marketing claim
concepts, such as ``renewable'' and ``sustainable.'' Each concept may
be featured in a separate module of questions. Such questions may
explore perceptions about the unqualified general concept and
variations on the concept. The results will assist the FTC in its
review of the Green Guides by helping to ensure that the Green Guides
are consistent with consumer perception of environmental marketing
claims.
The FTC is considering pre-testing the consumer questionnaires on
approximately 100 respondents to ensure that all questions are easily
understood. The FTC expects that the pre-test would take approximately
25 minutes on average per person, approximately 42 hours total (100
respondents x 25 minutes each). Once the pretest is completed, the FTC
plans to seek information from up to 7,000 respondents for
approximately 25 minutes each. Thus, answering the FTC's information
requests will require up to 2,917 hours total (7,000 respondents x 25
minutes each). Accordingly, cumulative total burden hours for the
survey will be approximately 3,000 hours.
The cost per respondent should be negligible. Participation is
voluntary and will not require start-up, capital, or labor expenditures
by respondents.
By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8-24339 Filed 10-10-08: 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-S