Notice2024-07569
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Extension
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
April 10, 2024
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 rule governing Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods As Amended ("Care Labeling Rule"). This clearance expires on June 30, 2024.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 70 (Wednesday, April 10, 2024)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 10, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25266-25268]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-07569]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Extension
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 25267]]
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 rule governing Care Labeling
of Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods As Amended (``Care
Labeling Rule''). This clearance expires on June 30, 2024.
DATES: Comments must be filed by June 10, 2024.
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 ``Care Labeling Rule,
PRA Comment, P085405,'' 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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jock Chung, Attorney, Division of
Enforcement, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission,
(202) 326-2984, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0b6168637e656c4b6d7f68256c647d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="f69c959e839891b6908295d8919980">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title of Collection: Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel and
Certain Piece Goods As Amended, 16 CFR part 423.
OMB Control Number: 3084-0103.
Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.
Affected Public: Private Sector: Businesses and other for-profit
entities.
Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 27,489,476 hours.
Estimated Annual Labor Costs: $217,189,935.52.
Abstract:
The Care Labeling Rule requires manufacturers and importers of
textile wearing apparel and certain piece goods to attach labels to
their products disclosing the care needed for the ordinary use of the
product. The Rule also requires manufacturers or importers to possess a
reasonable basis for care instructions and allows the use of approved
care symbols in lieu of words to disclose those instructions.
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:
Staff estimates that approximately 10,744 manufacturers or
importers of textile apparel, producing about 18.4 billion textile
garments annually, are subject to the Rule's disclosure requirements.
Staff estimates the burden of determining care instructions to be 100
hours each year per firm, for a cumulative total of 1,074,400 hours.
Staff further estimates that the burden of drafting and providing
labels is 80 hours each year per firm, for a total of 859,520 hours.
Staff believes that the process of attaching labels is fully automated
and integrated into other production steps for about 50 percent
(approximately 9.2 billion) of the approximately 18.4 billion garments
that are required to have care instructions on permanent labels. For
the remaining 9.2 billion items, the process is semi-automated and
requires an average of approximately ten seconds per item, for a total
of 25,555,556 hours per year. Thus, the total estimated annual burden
for all firms is 27,489,476 hours.
The chart below summarizes the total estimated costs.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Task Hourly rate Burden hours Labor cost
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Determine care instructions............................ \1\ $31.49 1,074,400 $33,832,856.00
Draft and order labels................................. \2\ 19.47 859,520 16,734,854.40
Attach labels.......................................... \3\ 6.52 25,555,556 166,622,225.12
--------------------------------------------------------
Total.............................................. .............. ................. 217,189,935.52
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff believes that there are no current start-up costs or other
capital costs associated with the Care Labeling Rule. Because the
labeling of textile products has been an integral part of the
manufacturing process for decades, manufacturers have in place the
capital equipment necessary to comply with the Rule's labeling
requirements. Based on knowledge of the industry, staff believes that
much of the information required by the Rule would be included on the
product label even absent those requirements.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The wage rate for supervisors of Office and Administrative
Support Supervisors is based on data through May 2022 from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics Survey
at <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.htm">https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.htm</a> (released on April
25, 2023).
\2\ The wage rate for Information and Record Clerks is based on
recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational
Employment Statistics Survey at <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.htm">https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.htm</a>.
\3\ For imported products, the labels generally are attached in
the country where the products are manufactured. According to
information compiled by an industry trade association using data
from the U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade
Administration, and the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 97.1% of
apparel used in the United States is imported. With the remaining
2.9% attributable to U.S. production at an approximate domestic
hourly wage of $14.73 to attach labels, staff has calculated a
weighted average hourly wage of $6.52 per hour attributable to U.S.
and foreign labor combined.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
June 10, 2024. 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 ``Care Labeling Rule, PRA
Comment, P085405,'' on your comment and on the envelope, and mail it to
the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the
Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC-5610 (Annex J),
Washington, DC 20580.
Because your comment will become publicly available at https://
[[Page 25268]]
<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">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 June 10, 2024.
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. 2024-07569 Filed 4-9-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on April 10, 2024.
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.