2023-09276. Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Extension

AGENCY:

Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION:

Notice.

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 its Rule Governing Pre-Sale Availability of Written Warranty Terms. The current clearance expires on May 31, 2023.

DATES:

Comments must be filed by June 1, 2023.

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. Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting “Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function. The reginfo.gov web link is a United States Government website produced by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Services Administration (GSA). Under PRA requirements, OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) reviews Federal information collections.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Laura Basford, Attorney, Division of Marketing Practices, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580, (202) 326–2343.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Pre-Sale Availability of Written Warranty Terms (Pre-Sale Availability Rule or Rule), 16 Part CFR 702.

OMB Control Number: 3084–0112.

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Background

The Pre-Sale Availability Rule, 16 CFR part 702, is one of three rules ^[1] that the FTC issued as required by the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act, 15 U.S.C. 2301 et seq. (Warranty Act or Act).^[2] The Pre-Sale Availability Rule requires sellers and warrantors to make the text of any written warranty on a consumer product costing more than $15 available to the consumer before sale. Among other things, the Rule requires sellers to make the text of the warranty readily available either by (1) displaying it in close proximity to the product or (2) furnishing it on request and posting signs in prominent locations advising consumers that the warranty is available. The Rule requires warrantors to provide materials to enable sellers to comply with the Rule's requirements and also sets out the methods by which warranty information can be made available before the sale if the product is sold through catalogs, mail order, or door to door sales. In addition, in 2016, the FTC revised the Rule to allow warrantors to post warranty terms on internet websites if they also provide a non-internet based method for consumers to obtain the warranty terms and satisfy certain other conditions.^[3] The revised Rule also allows certain sellers to display warranty terms pre-sale in an electronic format if the warrantor has used the online method of disseminating warranty terms.

Likely Respondents: Manufacturers and retailers of consumer products.

Estimated Annual Hours Burden: 2,764,837 hours (149,017 hours for manufacturers + 2,615,820 hours for retailers).

• Manufacturers account for approximately 149,017 hours (27,094 manufacturers × 5.5 hours)
• Retailers account for approximately 2,615,820 hours (523,164 retailers × 5.0 burden hours)

Estimated Annual Cost Burden: $67,738,531 (which is derived from $35,942,894 for sales associates + $31,795,637 for clerical workers).

• Sales Associates: (1,382,419 hours) ($26/hour) = $35,942,894
• Clerical Workers: (1,382,419 hours) ($23/hour) = $31,795,637

Total Annual Capital or Other Non-labor Costs: De minimis.

Request for Comment

On January 9, 2023, the FTC sought public comment on the information collection requirements associated with the Rule. 88 FR 1229. No germane comments were received. Pursuant to the OMB regulations, 5 CFR part 1320, that implement the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., the FTC is providing this second opportunity for public comment while seeking OMB approval to renew the pre-existing clearance for the Rule.

Your comment—including your name and your state—will be placed on the public record of this proceeding. Because your comment will be made public, you are solely responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any sensitive personal information, such as anyone'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.

Josephine Liu,

Assistant General Counsel for Legal Counsel.

Footnotes

1.  The other two rules relate to the information that must appear in a written warranty on a consumer product costing more than $15 if a warranty is offered and minimum standards for informal dispute settlement mechanisms that are incorporated into a written warranty.

2.  40 FR 60168 (Dec. 31, 1975).

3.  81 FR 63664–70 (Sept. 15, 2016).