Notice2023-17420
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Extension
Primary source
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Published
August 14, 2023
Issuing agencies
Federal Trade Commission
Abstract
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 information collection requirements in its Contact Lens Rule (or Rule). That clearance expires on October 31, 2023.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 155 (Monday, August 14, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 155 (Monday, August 14, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55044-55048]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-17420]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Extension
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
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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
information collection requirements in its Contact Lens Rule (or Rule).
That clearance expires on October 31, 2023.
DATES: Comments must be filed by October 13, 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. Write ``Contact Lens Rule, PRA
Comment, P145403,'' on your comment, and file your comment online at
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> by following the instructions on the web-
based form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, mail your
comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of
the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC-5610 (Annex J),
Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center,
400 7th Street, SW, 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC
20024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Spelman, Attorney, Division of
Advertising Practices, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade
Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Mail Drop CC-10528, Washington,
DC 20580, at (202) 326-2487.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Contact Lens Rule (Rule), 16 CFR part 315.
OMB Control Number: 3084-0127.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
Abstract: The Rule was promulgated by the FTC pursuant to the
Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act (FCLCA), Pub. L. 108-164 (Dec.
6, 2003), which was enacted to enable consumers to purchase contact
lenses from the seller of their choice. The Rule became effective on
August 2, 2004, and was most recently amended in 2020.\1\ As mandated
by the FCLCA, the Rule requires the release and verification of contact
lens prescriptions which are generally valid for one year and contains
recordkeeping requirements applying to both prescribers and sellers of
contact lenses.
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\1\ Final Rule, 85 FR 50668 (Aug. 17, 2020).
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Specifically, the Rule requires that prescribers provide a copy of
the prescription to the consumer upon the completion of a contact lens
fitting, even if the patient does not request it, and verify or provide
prescriptions to authorized third parties. The Rule also mandates that
a contact lens seller may sell contact lenses only in accordance with a
prescription that the seller either: (a) has received from the patient
or prescriber; or (b) has verified through direct communication with
the prescriber. Additional provisions in the Rule that constitute
collections of information as defined by 5 CFR 1320.3(c) require that
sellers who use calls containing automated verification messages record
the entire call, and preserve such recordings for at least three years.
In addition, the Rule requires that prescribers either: (a) obtain from
patients, and maintain for a period of not less than three years, a
signed confirmation of prescription release on a separate stand-alone
[[Page 55045]]
document; (b) obtain from patients, and maintain for a period of not
less than three years, a patient's signature on a confirmation of
prescription release included on a copy of a patient's prescription;
(c) obtain from patients, and maintain for a period of not less than
three years, a patient's signature on a confirmation of prescription
release included on a copy of a patient's contact lens fitting sales
receipt; or (d) provide each patient with a copy of the prescription
via online portal, electronic mail, or text message, and for three
years retain evidence that such prescription was sent, received, or, if
provided via an online-patient portal, made accessible, downloadable,
and printable by the patient. For prescribers who choose to offer an
electronic method of prescription delivery, the Rule requires that such
prescribers maintain records or evidence of affirmative consent by
patients to such digital delivery for three years. The Rule also
requires prescribers to document in their records the medical reasons
for setting a contact lens prescription expiration date of less than
one year, and requires contact lens sellers to maintain records for
three years of all direct communications involved in obtaining
verification of a contact lens prescription, as well as prescriptions,
or copies thereof, which they receive directly from customers or
prescribers.
The information retained under the Rule's recordkeeping
requirements is used by the Commission to substantiate compliance with
the Rule and may also provide a basis for the Commission to bring an
enforcement action. Without the required records, it would be difficult
either to ensure that entities are complying with the Rule's
requirements or to bring enforcement actions based on violations of the
Rule.
Likely Respondents: Contact lens prescribers and contact lens
sellers.
Estimated Annual Labor Hours Burden: 2,979,050 hours (derived from
1,920,650 contact lens prescriber hours + 1,058,400 contact lens seller
hours).
<bullet> Contact Lens Prescribers: 750,000 hours (45 million
contact lens wearers x 1 minute per prescription release/60 minutes) +
93,750 hours (33,750,000 contact lens wearers x 10 seconds per
confirmation of prescription release) + 31,250 hours (11,250,000
contact lens wearers x 10 seconds per affirmative consent to electronic
prescription delivery) + 295,650 hours (3,547,800 verification requests
x 5 minutes per response/60 minutes) + 750,000 hours recordkeeping =
1,920,650 hours.
<bullet> Contact Lens Sellers: 985,500 hours (11,826,000 orders x 5
minutes per verification/60 minutes) + 72,900 burden hours (4,374,000
orders x 1 minute recordkeeping/60 minutes) = 1,058,400 hours.
Estimated Total Labor Cost Burden: Approximately $120,173,486
(derived from ($63.99 x 968,490 optometrist hours) + ($127.62 x 170,910
ophthalmologist hours) + ($19.78 x 1,839,650 office clerk hours)).
Estimated Total Non-Labor Cost Burden: $591,300 (11,826,000 x $.05
per automated message recording).
Estimated Total Annual Cost Burden: $120,764,786 ($120,173,486
labor cost + $591,300 non-labor cost).
As required by section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, 44 U.S.C.
3506(c)(2)(A), the FTC is providing this opportunity for public comment
before requesting that OMB extend the existing clearance for the
information collection requirements contained in the Rule.
Burden Statement
Estimated annual hours burden: 2,979,050 hours.
This figure is derived by adding disclosure and recordkeeping-hours
for contact lens prescribers to recordkeeping hours for contact lens
sellers. This estimate is an increase from the 2,104,050 hours annual
burden hours submitted to OMB in 2019. The increase is due to
amendments to the Rule in 2020 which added new requirements for
prescribers and sellers.
1. Prescribers and Their Office Staff
The Rule requires prescribers to collect information and make
disclosures in three ways. Upon completing a contact lens fitting, the
Rule requires that prescribers (1) provide a copy of the contact lens
prescription to the patient,\2\ (2) collect a patient's signature on
either a Confirmation of Prescription Release or a consent-to-
electronic-prescription-release and preserve such record, and (3) as
directed by any person designated to act on behalf of the patient,
provide or verify the contact lens prescription. Prescribers can verify
a prescription either by responding affirmatively to a request for
verification, or by not responding at all, in which case the
prescription will be ``passively verified'' after eight business hours.
Prescribers are also required to correct an incorrect prescription
submitted by a seller, and notify a seller if the prescription
submitted for verification is expired or otherwise invalid. Staff
believes that the burden of complying with these requirements is
relatively low.
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\2\ The 2020 amendments to the Contact Lens Rule altered the
definition of ``provide to the patient a copy'' of the contact lens
prescription to include electronic delivery of the prescription,
such as via email, text, or by uploading it to a patient portal. In
order to avail themselves of this option, prescribers must obtain
and maintain evidence of the patients' affirmative consent to
electronic delivery for three years.
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The number of contact lens wearers in the United States is
estimated by the Centers for Disease Control to be approximately 45
million.\3\ Therefore, assuming an annual contact lens exam for each
contact lens wearer, approximately 45 million people would receive a
copy of their prescription each year under the Rule and be required to
either sign a Confirmation of Prescription Release or consent to
electronic delivery of their prescription.\4\
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\3\ Centers for Disease Control, Healthy Contact Lens Wear and
Care, Fast Facts, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/contactlenses/fast-facts.html">https://www.cdc.gov/contactlenses/fast-facts.html</a>.
See also U.S. Food & Drug Administration, Focusing on Contact Lens
Safety, <a href="https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/focusing-contact-lens-safety">https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/focusing-contact-lens-safety</a>.
\4\ In the past, some commentators have suggested that typical
contact lens wearers obtain annual exams every 18 months or so, not
every year. However, because prescriptions under the Rule are valid
for a minimum of one year, we continue to estimate that patients
seek exams every 12 months. Staff believes a calculation that
assumes adherence to the Rule will provide the best estimate of the
Rule's contemplated burden, even if, in practical terms, it
overestimates the burden.
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At an estimated one minute per prescription, the annual time spent
by prescribers complying with the requirement to release prescriptions
to patients would be approximately 750,000 hours. [(45 million x 1
minute)/60 minutes = 750,000 hours]. Since the Rule requires that
prescriptions be released automatically at completion of a fitting, the
Commission--for purposes of calculating the PRA burden--assumes that
prescription releases to patients are handled by the prescriber rather
than the prescriber's office staff.\5\ In all likelihood, this estimate
overstates the actual burden because it includes the time spent by
prescribers who already release prescriptions to patients in the
ordinary course of business. Furthermore, this estimate allocates the
same time for both paper and electronic delivery of prescriptions, even
though the latter likely takes less time for the prescriber.
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\5\ This assumption may be incorrect, particularly in instances
where a contact lens fitting is not completed during the
prescriber's examination itself, but rather after the patient tests
out the lenses for a few days. Nonetheless, the Commission does not
have empirical data on what percentage of prescriptions are released
by prescribers or by prescribers' staff, and thus will calculate the
PRA with the assumption that they are all released by the
prescriber.
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The time required to collect a signature from a patient confirming
release of a prescription is estimated at
[[Page 55046]]
ten seconds.\6\ It is estimated that 25% of patients would opt for
electronic delivery of their prescriptions and thus would not need to
sign a Confirmation of Prescription Release.\7\ The time spent by
prescribers complying with the requirement to obtain signed
confirmations from the other 75% of patients is approximately 93,750
hours annually [(75% x 45 million prescriptions yearly x 10 seconds) =
93,750 hours].
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\6\ 85 FR 50709.
\7\ Id.
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As noted above, it is estimated that approximately 25% of patients
would opt for electronic delivery of their prescriptions. In order to
opt for electronic delivery, patients are required to sign an
affirmative consent to receive their prescription via email, text, or
patient portal. The time required to collect an affirmative consent
signature is estimated at ten seconds,\8\ and the annual time spent
complying with the requirement to obtain such signatures is
approximately 31,250 hours [(25% x 45 million prescriptions yearly x 10
seconds) = 31,250 hours]. Based on our knowledge of the industry and
how the medical field operates, the Commission believes most signed
patient consents are obtained by prescribers' office staff rather than
by the prescribers themselves.
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\8\ Id., note 584.
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As stated above, prescribers may also be required to provide or
verify contact lens prescriptions to sellers. According to survey data,
approximately 36% of contact lens purchases are from a source other
than the prescriber.\9\ Assuming that each of the 45 million contact
lens wearers in the U.S. makes one purchase per year, this means that
approximately 16,200,000 contact lens purchases (45 million x 36% =
16,200,000) are made from sellers other than the prescriber.
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\9\ Jason J. Nichols & Deborah Fisher, ``2018 Annual Report,''
Contact Lens Spectrum, Jan. 1, 2019, <a href="https://www.clspectrum.com/issues/2019/january-2019">https://www.clspectrum.com/issues/2019/january-2019</a>.
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Based on prior discussions with industry, approximately 73% of
sales by non-prescriber sellers require verification, and prescribers
affirmatively respond (by notifying the seller that the prescription is
invalid or incorrect) to approximately 15% of those verification
requests. Using a response rate of 15%, the FTC therefore estimates
that prescribers' offices respond to approximately 1,773,900
verification requests annually [(16,200,000 purchases x 73%) x 15% =
1,773,900 responses]. Additionally, some prescribers may voluntarily
respond to verification requests and confirm prescriptions (as opposed
to simply letting the prescription passively verify). Because
correcting or declining incorrect prescriptions is mandated by the Rule
and occurs in response to approximately 15% of requests, staff assumes
that prescribers voluntarily confirm prescriptions less often, and
confirm at most an additional 15% of prescriptions (and, in all
likelihood, significantly less). Using a combined response rate of 30%,
the FTC estimates that prescribers' offices respond to approximately
3,547,800 requests annually.
According to prior industry comments,\10\ responding to
verification requests requires approximately five minutes per request.
Using that data, we estimate that these responses require an additional
295,650 hours annually. [(3,547,800 x 5 minutes)/60 minutes = 295,650
hours]. Based on investigations and anecdotal comments, FTC staff is
aware that many verification requests are handled by office staff
rather than by the prescribers themselves. FTC staff, however, does not
possess reliable information as to what percentage of verification
requests are performed by prescribers or their staff, and thus will
allocate all such hours to prescribers.
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\10\ Notice and Request for Comment, 81 FR 62501 (Sept. 9,
2016).
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Lastly, the Rule and FCLCA also impose recordkeeping requirements
on prescribers' offices. First, they must maintain signed
confirmations, or signed consent to electronic prescription delivery
and proof that such prescriptions were delivered via email, text, or
patient portal, for a period of three years. For purposes of PRA
analysis, the Commission has used the assumption that all prescriber
offices require a full minute to store and maintain each confirmation
record, and a full minute to store and maintain each consent to
electronic prescription delivery and proof of electronic prescription
delivery.\11\ The Commission thus allots an additional 750,000 annual
hours for prescribers' offices to store and maintain records of patient
confirmations and consents. The Commission believes these labor hours
are most likely performed by prescribers' office staff.
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\11\ 85 FR 5709.
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The Rule also requires prescribers to document the specific medical
reasons for setting a contact lens prescription expiration date shorter
than the one-year minimum established by the FCLCA. This burden is
likely to be nil because the requirement applies only in cases when the
prescriber invokes the medical judgment exception, which is expected to
occur infrequently, and prescribers are likely to record this
information in the ordinary course of business as part of their
patients' medical records. As mentioned previously, the OMB regulation
that implements the PRA defines ``burden'' to exclude any effort that
would be expended regardless of a regulatory requirement.
Combining all hours spent annually disclosing prescriptions to
consumers, obtaining confirmations of prescription release from
consumers, obtaining affirmative consent to electronic prescription
delivery from consumers, responding to verification requests, and
maintaining records as required by the Rule, we estimate a total of
1,920,650 hours for all contact lens prescribers to comply with the
Rule. [750,000 prescription-release hours + 93,750 confirmation-
collection hours + 31,250 electronic-delivery-consent hours + 295,650
verification-response hours + 750,000 recordkeeping hours = 1,920,650
hours]. Of this total, we estimate 1,139,400 are prescriber labor
hours, and 781,250 are labor hours performed by prescribers' clerical
office staff.
2. Sellers
As noted above, a seller may sell contact lenses only in accordance
with a valid prescription that the seller has (a) received from the
patient or prescriber, or (b) verified through direct communication
with the prescriber. The FCLCA also requires sellers to retain
prescriptions and records of communications with prescribers relating
to prescription verification for three years.
As stated previously, there are approximately 16,200,000 sales by
non-prescriber sellers annually and approximately 73% of such sales
require verification. Therefore, sellers verify approximately
11,826,000 orders annually and retain two records for such sales: the
verification request and any response from the prescriber. Staff
estimates that sellers' verification and recordkeeping for those orders
will entail a maximum of five minutes per sale. At an estimated five
minutes per sale to each of the approximately 11,826,000 orders,
contact lens sellers will spend a total of 985,500 burden hours
complying with this portion of the requirement. [(11,826,000 x 5
minutes)/60 minutes = 985,500 hours].
Approximately 27% of sales to non-prescriber sellers do not require
verification and thus require only that the seller retain the
prescription provided. Staff estimates that this recordkeeping burden
requires at most one minute per order (in truth, in many
[[Page 55047]]
cases this retention is electronic and automatic and will not require
any time) for 4,374,000 orders [16,200,000 sales x 27%], resulting in
72,900 recordkeeping burden hours. [(4,374,000 orders x 1 minute)/60
minutes = 72,900 hours].
Combining burden hours for all orders [985,500 hours + 72,900
hours], staff estimates a total of 1,058,400 hours for contact lens
sellers. It is likely that this estimate overstates the actual burden
because it includes the time spent by sellers who already keep records
pertaining to contact lens sales in the ordinary course of business,
and those whose records are generated and preserved automatically when
a customer orders online, which staff believes is the case for many
online sellers.
Estimated total labor cost burden: Approximately $120,173,486.
This figure is derived from applying hourly wage figures for
optometrists, ophthalmologists, and office clerical staff to the burden
hours described above. This estimate is higher than the $84,548,448
labor cost estimate submitted to OMB in 2019 due to new information
collection and recordkeeping requirements in the Rule, and to wage
increases for optometrists, ophthalmologists, and office staff.
According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), salaried
optometrists earn an average wage of $63.99 per hour,
ophthalmologists--which are listed by BLS under ``surgeons''--earn an
average wage of $127.62 per hour, and general office clerks earn an
average wage of $19.78 per hour.\12\ Based on our knowledge of the
industry and the number of optometrists and ophthalmologists in the
United States, we assume that of the 1,139,400 prescriber labor hours
relating to the Rule, optometrists are performing 85% of such hours and
ophthalmologists are performing the remaining 15% of prescriber hours.
We credit general office clerks for performing the remaining hours,
both for prescribers' offices (781,250 hours) and for non-prescriber
sellers (1,058,400 hours). Based on these assumptions and estimates
above, the estimated total labor cost attributable to the Rule is
approximately $120,173,486. [($63.99 x 968,490 optometrist hours =
$61,973,675) + ($127.62 x 170,910 ophthalmologist hours = $21,811,534)
+ ($19.78 x 781,250 prescribers' office clerk hours = $15,453,125) +
($19.78 x 1,058,400 sellers' office clerk hours = $20,935,152) =
$120,173,486.]
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\12\ Press Release, Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States
Department of Labor, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics--
May 2022, <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm">https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm</a>. Median
salaries for prescribers and clerks are slightly lower than average
salaries and, consequently, would result in a lower overall burden
imposed by the Rule. It is possible that medians are more
representative since they do not include salary outliers that can
distort the average. Salaries can also vary by region. However,
since Contact Lens Rule PRA submissions have historically used
national salary averages to estimate the burden, the FTC will
continue to do so for this submission.
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Estimated annual non-labor cost burden: $591,300.
Staff believes that the Rule's disclosure and recordkeeping
requirements described above impose negligible capital or other non-
labor costs, as the affected entities are likely to have the necessary
supplies and/or equipment already (e.g., prescription pads, patients'
medical charts, facsimile machines and paper, telephones, and
recordkeeping facilities such as filing cabinets or other storage) to
perform those requirements. The 2020 Rule amendments, however, modified
the Rule to require that sellers who use automated verification
messages record the calls and preserve the recordings for three years.
The Commission does not believe that requiring sellers who use
automated messages for verification to record the calls and preserve
them will create a substantial burden. The requirement will not require
additional labor time, since the calls will be for the same duration as
they were previously, but may require capital and other non-labor costs
to record the calls and store them electronically. Based on comments
supplied during the Rule modification process, the Commission estimates
the cost to record each verification call at five cents apiece.\13\
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\13\ 85 FR 50711. It is possible this would be a one-time
expense for sellers to invest in recording equipment, as opposed to
an annual outlay. But in the absence of information as to how
sellers manage such recordings, the Commission will assume, for the
purpose of this PRA analysis, that recording expense is a recurring
annual cost burden.
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Based on survey data, approximately 36% of contact lens purchases
are from a source other than the prescriber. Assuming that each of the
45 million contact lens wearers in the U.S. makes on purchase per year,
this would mean that approximately 16,200,000 contact lens purchases
are made annually from sellers other than the prescribers. And since
approximately 73% of sales by non-prescriber sellers require
verification, this means that approximately 11,826,000 contact lens
purchases would require verification calls, faxes, or emails. The
Commission does not possess information as to the percentage of
verifications completed by telephone versus fax or email, and thus for
purposes of this analysis will assume that all verifications are
performed via phone and deliver automated messages that are subject to
the call-recording requirement. Based on the aforementioned
assumptions, the Commission estimates that the requirement to record
automated telephone verification messages will cost sellers, in
aggregate, $591,300 (11,826,000 x $.05).
Combining the annual labor cost burden with the non-labor cost
burden, the total cost burden of the Rule is estimated at $120,764,786
($120,173,486 + $591,300 = $120,764,786).
To put this in perspective, a recent survey estimated that the U.S.
contact lens market revenue is approximately $9.6 billion (not counting
examination revenue) as of 2021, and growing at a steady pace.\14\
Therefore, the total cost burden estimate of $120,764,786, imposed by
the Rule, while not insubstantial, represents a cost of approximately
1.3% of the overall retail revenue generated.
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\14\ See <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2022/09/05/2509723/0/en/Contact-Lenses-Market-Size-Will-Achieve-USD-17-4-Billion-by-2030-growing-at-6-9-CAGR-Exclusive-Report-by-Acumen-Research-and-Consulting.html">https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2022/09/05/2509723/0/en/Contact-Lenses-Market-Size-Will-Achieve-USD-17-4-Billion-by-2030-growing-at-6-9-CAGR-Exclusive-Report-by-Acumen-Research-and-Consulting.html</a>. Some estimates put the U.S. contact
lens market as high as $17 billion, see <a href="https://www.visionmonday.com/business/article/us-optical-retail-market-estimated-at-765-billion-in-the-vision-councils-first-comprehensive-market-insights-report/">https://www.visionmonday.com/business/article/us-optical-retail-market-estimated-at-765-billion-in-the-vision-councils-first-comprehensive-market-insights-report/</a>.
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Request for Comment
Pursuant to Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, the FTC invites
comments on: (1) whether the disclosure and recordkeeping requirements
are necessary, including whether the information will be practically
useful; (2) the accuracy of our burden estimates, including whether the
methodology and assumptions used are valid; (3) ways to enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and
(4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information.
For the FTC to consider a comment, we must receive it on or before
October 13, 2023. Your comment, including your name and your state,
will be placed on the public record of this proceeding, including the
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> website.
You can file a comment online or on paper. Due to heightened
security screening, postal mail addressed to the Commission will be
subject to delay. We encourage you to submit your comments online
through the <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> website.
If you file your comment on paper, write ``Contact Lens Rule, PRA
Comment, P145403,'' on your comment and on the envelope, and mail it to
the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the
Secretary,
[[Page 55048]]
600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC-5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC
20580, or deliver your comment to the following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th
Street SW, 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC 20024. If
possible, submit your paper comment to the Commission by courier or
overnight service.
Because your comment will become publicly available at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, you are solely responsible for making sure that
your comment does not include any sensitive or confidential
information. In particular, your comment should not include any
sensitive personal information, such as your or anyone else'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.
Comments containing material for which confidential treatment is
requested must (1) be filed in paper form, (2) be clearly labeled
``Confidential,'' and (3) comply with FTC Rule 4.9(c). In particular,
the written request for confidential treatment that accompanies the
comment must include the factual and legal basis for the request, and
must identify the specific portions of the comment to be withheld from
the public record. See FTC Rule 4.9(c). Your comment will be kept
confidential only if the General Counsel grants your request in
accordance with the law and the public interest. Once your comment has
been posted publicly at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>, we cannot redact or remove
your comment unless you submit a confidentiality request that meets the
requirements for such treatment under FTC Rule 4.9(c), and the General
Counsel grants that request.
The FTC Act and other laws that 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 on or before October 13,
2023. For information on the Commission's privacy policy, including
routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, see <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/privacy-policy">https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/privacy-policy</a>.
Josephine Liu,
Assistant General Counsel for Legal Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2023-17420 Filed 8-11-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on August 14, 2023.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.