[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 19 (Wednesday, January 29, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 4290]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-2208]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Commission Divestiture
Orders Information Collection Requirement
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Notice of application to The Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) for
clearance of a telephone survey, requests for documents, and a
questionnaire in conjunction with a study of Commission divestiture
orders in merger cases.
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SUMMARY: The application for OMB review concerns information collection
to be undertaken in a study to assess the effectiveness of Commission
divestiture orders in merger cases. The study will assist the
Commission in evaluating the effectiveness of its merger enforcement
actions. Specifically, the study will inform the Commission about
whether to modify its current divestiture procedures so as to make
divestitures more timely and effective. The study includes some
collection of information from the public by means of telephone
interviews, requests for documents, and a limited questionnaire. All
interviews will be conducted on a voluntary basis. All information will
be collected on a voluntary basis.
Staff will study a total of 49 divestitures arising out of 36
orders. Staff have already contacted nine buyers. Staff, thus, will
contact another 40 buyers (plus any subsequent buyers of the divested
assets), 36 respondents, and 147 third-parties (on average, three per
divestiture), for a total of 223 telephone interviews. Each interview
should take about one hour and 30 minutes to complete, for a total
burden estimate of approximately 335 hours.
After the telephone interviews, the buyers of divested assets and
the respondents will be asked to submit financial documents for a five-
year period beginning the year before the divestiture occurred. Only
documents prepared in the ordinary course of business will be
requested. To the extent that no such financial documents exist, staff
will not request that such documents be prepared. Because only
documents already in existence will be requested, the anticipated
burden of producing these documents will be minimal, approximately two
hours, per participant, for a total of 170 hours (49 + 36 = 85 x 2 =
170).
Staff will also ask that the respondents and buyers complete a two-
question chart that will request sales in dollars and units of the
product that was the subject of the Commission's initial concern in the
case over a five-year period beginning the year before the divestiture.
Staff estimate that the burden on each participant to provide this
information will be 4 hours, for a total of 392 hours (49 buyers + 36
respondents asked about 49 divested products = 98 x 4 = 392). The
total cumulative burden of the document production will be 562 hours
(392 + 170). The estimated total burden for the entire study is
therefore calculated to be 897 hours (335 + 562), which has been
rounded to 1000 hours to allow for small additions such as subsequent
buyers of divested assets.
DATES: Comments on the proposed study must be submitted on or before
February 28, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Send comments both to the Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive
Office Building, Room 3228, Washington, D.C. 20503, ATN: Desk Officer
of the Federal Trade Commission and to the Federal Trade Commission,
Compliance Division, ATN: Kenneth Davidson, Room S 2122, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20508.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kenneth Davidson, Compliance Division, Bureau of Competition, Federal
Trade Commission, Washington, D.C. 20580 (202) 326-2863.
By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 97-2208 Filed 1-28-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-M
