[Federal Register: November 13, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 220)]
[Notices]
[Page 67174-67175]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr13no08-41]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'' or ``FTC'').
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The information collection requirements described below will
be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') for
review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA''). The FTC
is seeking public comments on its proposal to extend through January
31, 2012, the current PRA clearance for information sought through
compulsory process orders to a combined ten or more of the largest
cigarette manufacturers and smokeless tobacco manufacturers in order to
obtain from them information including, among other things, their sales
and marketing expenditures. The current clearance expires on January
31, 2009.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before December 15, 2008.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments
electronically or in paper form. Comments should refer to ``Tobacco
Reports: Paperwork Comment, FTC File No. P054507'' 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).
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).\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).
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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-TobaccoReports) (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-TobaccoReports). 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.
A comment filed in paper form should include the ``Tobacco Reports:
Paperwork Comment, FTC File No. P054507'' 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.
All comments should additionally be submitted to: Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs of OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for
the Federal Trade Commission. Comments should be submitted via
facsimile to (202) 395-6974 because U.S. Postal Mail is subject to
lengthy delays 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: Requests for additional information or
copies of the proposed collection requirements should be addressed to
Shira Modell, Attorney, Division of Advertising Practices, Bureau of
Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue,
N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580; telephone: (202) 326-3116.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For forty years, the Federal Trade
Commission has published periodic reports containing data on domestic
cigarette sales and marketing expenditures by the major U.S. cigarette
manufacturers. The Commission has published comparable reports on
smokeless tobacco sales and marketing expenditures since 1987. Both
reports originally were issued pursuant to statutory mandates. After
those statutory mandates were terminated, the Commission continued to
collect and publish information obtained from the cigarette and
smokeless tobacco industries pursuant to Section 6(b) of the FTC Act,
15 U.S.C. 46(b). The current PRA clearance to collect this information
is valid through January 31, 2009, under OMB Control No. 3084-0134.
The FTC plans to continue sending information requests annually to
the ultimate parent company of several of the largest cigarette
companies and smokeless tobacco companies in the United States
(``industry members''). The information requests will seek data
regarding, inter alia: (1) the tobacco sales of industry members; (2)
how much industry members spend advertising and promoting their tobacco
products, and the specific amounts
[[Page 67175]]
spent in each of several specified expenditure categories; (3) whether
industry members are involved in the appearance of their tobacco
products in television shows or movies; (4) how much industry members
spend on advertising intended to reduce youth tobacco usage; (5) the
events, if any, during which industry members' tobacco brands are
televised; and (6) for the cigarette industry, the tar, nicotine, and
carbon monoxide ratings of their cigarettes, to the extent they possess
such data. The information will again be sought using compulsory
process under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act.
On August 7, 2008, the FTC sought public comment on its proposed
information collection requests to the major cigarette and smokeless
tobacco manufacturers. 73 FR 46006. One comment was received, which is
discussed below.\2\ Pursuant to the OMB regulations that implement the
PRA, 5 CFR Part 1320, the FTC is providing this second opportunity for
public comment while seeking OMB approval to extend the existing
paperwork clearance for the information collection requests. All
comments should be filed as prescribed in the ADDRESSES section above,
and must be received on or before December 15, 2008.
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\2\ That comment is available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/comments/
tobaccoreportspra/index.shtm.
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Comment Received:
Altria Client Services Inc. filed a comment on behalf of Philip
Morris USA Inc. (``PM USA''), in which it stated that PM USA believes
the FTC's authority to collect the proposed information ``should be
extended given the important role that the FTC has played and should
continue to play relative to these products.'' The comment then
referenced a separate Commission matter, noting that if the FTC were to
rescind its guidance that factual statements of cigarette tar and
nicotine yields based on the Cambridge Filter Method generally do not
violate the FTC Act,\3\ PM USA would question the Commission's need to
continue collecting such information.
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\3\ On July 14, 2008, the Commission published a Federal
Register notice seeking comment on a proposal to rescind its
guidance, issued in 1966, that it is generally not a violation of
the FTC Act to make factual statements of the tar and nicotine
yields of cigarettes when statements of such yields are supported by
testing conducted pursuant to the Cambridge Filter Method. 73 FR
40,351.
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The matter referred to by PM USA is still being considered by the
Commission. If the 1966 guidance is rescinded, the Commission will
decide whether to continue collecting tar, nicotine, and carbon
monoxide yield data to the extent the companies possess them.
Estimated annual hours burden:
The FTC staff's estimate of the hours burden is based on the time
required to respond to each information request. Although the FTC
currently anticipates sending information requests to the six largest
cigarette companies and the five largest smokeless tobacco companies in
2009,\4\ the burden estimate is based on up to 15 information requests
being issued per year to take into account any future changes in these
industries. These companies vary greatly in size, in the number of
products that they sell, and in the extent and variety of their
advertising and promotion. Prior input received from the industries,
combined with staff's knowledge of them, suggests that the time most
companies would require to gather, organize, format, and produce their
responses would range from 30 to 80 hours per information request for
the smaller companies, to as much as hundreds of hours for the very
largest companies. As an approximation, staff continues to assume a per
company average of 180 hours for the ten largest recipients of the
Commission's information request to comply with it; cumulatively, 1,800
hours per year.\5\ Staff further estimates that for the eleventh
recipient of the information request to be issued in 2009 and the four
possible additional recipients, all of which would be smaller companies
than the initial ten recipients, the burden should not exceed 60 hours
per company or 300 hours, cumulatively. Thus, the overall estimated
burden for a maximum of 15 recipients of the information request is
2,100 hours. These estimates include any time spent by separately
incorporated subsidiaries and other entities affiliated with the
ultimate parent company that has received the information request.
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\4\ In August 2008, the Commission issued information requests
to six cigarette companies and five smokeless tobacco companies. The
Commission anticipates that it will issue requests to the same
number of companies in 2009.
\5\ 70 FR 24415 (May 9, 2005); 70 FR 62313 (Oct. 31, 2005).
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Estimated cost burden:
It is not possible to calculate with precision the labor costs
associated with this data production, as they entail varying
compensation levels of management and/or support staff among companies
of different sizes. Financial, legal, marketing, and clerical personnel
may be involved in the information collection process. Commission staff
assumes that professional personnel will handle most of the tasks
involved in gathering and producing responsive information, and have
applied an average hourly wage of $150/hour for their combined labor.
Staff's best estimate for the total labor costs for up to 15
information requests is $315,000. Staff believes that the capital or
other non-labor costs associated with the information requests are
minimal. Although the information requests may necessitate that
industry members maintain the requested information provided to the
Commission, they should already have in place the means to compile and
maintain business records.
William Blumenthal,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. E8-26882 Filed 11-12-08: 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-S