Notice2024-22379
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Extension
Primary source
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Published
September 30, 2024
Issuing agencies
Federal Trade Commission
Abstract
The Federal Trade Commission ("FTC" or "Commission") is seeking public comments on its proposal to extend for an additional three years the current Paperwork Reduction Act ("PRA") clearance for information collection requirements contained in the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule ("COPPA Rule" or "Rule"). That clearance expires on April 30, 2025.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 189 (Monday, September 30, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 189 (Monday, September 30, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79596-79598]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-22379]
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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: The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') is
seeking public comments on its proposal to extend for an additional
three years the current Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA'') clearance for
information collection requirements contained in the Children's Online
Privacy Protection Rule (``COPPA Rule'' or ``Rule''). That clearance
expires on April 30, 2025.
DATES: Comments must be filed by November 29, 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 ``COPPA Rule: Paperwork
Comment, FTC File No. P155408'' 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: James Trilling, Attorney, (202) 326-
3497, Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, Bureau of Consumer
Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title of Collection: Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, 16
CFR part 312.
OMB Control Number: 3084-0117.
Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.
Affected Public: Private Sector: Businesses and other for-profit
entities.
Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 17,700.
Estimated Annual Labor Costs: $8,687,169.
Estimated Annual Non-Labor Costs: $0.
Abstract: The COPPA Rule, 16 CFR part 312, requires commercial
websites and online services to provide notice and obtain parental
consent before collecting, using, or disclosing personal information
from children under age thirteen, with limited exceptions. The COPPA
Rule contains certain statutorily required notice, consent, and other
requirements that apply to operators of any commercial website or
online service directed to children that collect personal information,
and operators of any commercial website or online service with actual
knowledge that they are collecting personal information from children.
The Rule also applies to operators that have actual knowledge that they
are collecting personal information directly from users of another
website or online service that is directed to children. Covered
operators must, among other things: (1) provide online notice and
direct notice to parents of how they collect, use, and disclose
children's personal information; (2) obtain the prior consent of the
child's parent in order to engage in such collection, use, and
disclosure; (3) provide reasonable means for the parent to obtain
access to the information and to direct its deletion; and (4) establish
procedures that protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of
personal information collected from children.
Burden Statement
A. Annual Hours Burden: 17,600 hours.
I. New Entrant Operators' Disclosure Burden
Based on public comments received by the Commission during its 2013
COPPA Rule amendments rulemaking,\1\ FTC staff estimates that the Rule
affects approximately 280 new operators per year.\2\ FTC staff
maintains its longstanding estimate that new operators of websites and
online services will require, on average, approximately 60 hours to
draft a privacy policy and design mechanisms to provide the required
online privacy notice and, where applicable, the direct notice to
parents.\3\ This yields an estimated annual hours burden of 16,800
hours (280 respondents x 60 hours).
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\1\ 78 FR 3972, 4005 (Jan. 17, 2013).
\2\ This consists of certain traditional website operators,
mobile app developers, plug-in developers, and advertising networks.
\3\ See, e.g., 80 FR 76491 (Dec. 9, 2015); 84 FR 1466 (Feb. 4,
2019).
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II. Safe Harbor Applicant Reporting Requirements
Operators can comply with the COPPA Rule by meeting the terms of
[[Page 79597]]
Commission approved self-regulatory program guidelines.\4\ While the
submission of industry self-regulatory guidelines to the agency is
voluntary, the COPPA Rule sets out the criteria for approval of
guidelines and the materials that must be submitted as part of an
application for approval of such self-regulatory guidelines. Based on
industry input, FTC staff estimates that it would require, on average,
265 hours per new safe harbor program applicant to prepare and submit
its safe harbor proposal in accordance with Sec. 312.11(c) of the
Rule, 16 CFR 312.11(c).\5\ Given that several safe harbor programs are
already available to operators of websites and online services, FTC
staff anticipates that no more than one additional safe harbor
applicant is likely to submit a request within the next three years of
PRA clearance. Thus, FTC staff estimates that annualized burden
attributable to this requirement would be approximately 88 hours per
year (265 hours / 3 years), which is rounded to 100 hours.
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\4\ See 16 CFR 312.11(c). Approved self-regulatory guidelines
can be found on the FTC's website at <a href="http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/privacyinitiatives/childrens_shp.html">http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/privacyinitiatives/childrens_shp.html</a>.
\5\ See 83 FR 49557 (Oct. 2, 2018). FTC staff believes that most
of the records submitted with a safe harbor request would be those
that these entities have kept in the ordinary course of business.
Under 5 CFR 1320.3(b)(2), OMB excludes from the definition of PRA
burden the time and financial resources needed to comply with
agency-imposed recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting requirements
that customarily would be undertaken independently in the normal
course of business.
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III. Annual Audit and Report for Safe Harbor Programs
The COPPA Rule requires safe harbor programs to audit their members
at least annually and submit annual reports to the Commission on the
aggregate results of these member audits. The burden for conducting
member audits and preparing these reports likely varies by safe harbor
program depending on the number of members. FTC staff estimates that
conducting audits and preparing reports will require approximately 100
hours per program per year. Aggregated for one new safe harbor (100
hours) and six existing safe harbor (600 hours) programs, this amounts
to an estimated cumulative reporting burden of 700 hours per year (7
respondents x 100 hours).
IV. Safe Harbor Program Recordkeeping Requirements
FTC staff understands that most of the records listed in the COPPA
Rule's safe harbor recordkeeping provisions consist of documentation
that covered entities retain in the ordinary course of business
irrespective of the COPPA Rule. As noted above, OMB excludes from the
definition of PRA burden, among other things, recordkeeping
requirements that customarily would be undertaken independently in the
normal course of business. In FTC staff's view, any incremental burden,
such as that for maintaining the results of independent assessments
under Sec. 312.11(d), would be marginal.
B. Estimated Annual Labor Costs: $8,687,169.
I. New Entrant Operators' Disclosure Burden
Consistent with its past estimates and based on its 2013 rulemaking
record, FTC staff assumes that the time spent on compliance for new
operators covered by the COPPA Rule would be apportioned five to one
between legal (outside counsel lawyers or similar professionals) and
technical (e.g., computer programmers, software developers, and
information security analysts) personnel. FTC staff therefore estimates
that outside counsel costs will account for 14,000 of the estimated
16,800 hours required as estimated in Section A.I above. FTC staff
anticipates that the workload among law firm partners and associates
for assisting with COPPA compliance would be distributed among
attorneys at varying levels of seniority. Assuming two-thirds of such
work is done by junior associates at a rate of approximately $510 per
hour, and one-third by senior partners at approximately $798 per hour,
the weighted average of outside counsel costs would be approximately
$606 per hour.\6\ FTC staff anticipates that computer programmers
responsible for posting privacy policies and implementing direct
notices and parental consent mechanisms would account for the remaining
2,800 hours. FTC staff estimates an hourly wage of $56.03 for technical
personnel, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics (``BLS'') data.\7\
Accordingly, associated annual labor costs would be $8,640,884 [(14,000
hours x $606/hour) + (2,800 hours x $56.03/hour)] for the estimated 280
new operators.
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\6\ These estimates are drawn from the ``Fitzpatrick Matrix.''
The Fitzpatrick Matrix was developed to provide a tool for the
``reliable assessment of fees charged for complex [civil] federal
litigation,'' in the District of Columbia, and has been adopted by,
among others, the Civil Division of the United States Attorney's
Office for the District of Columbia. See Fitzpatrick Matrix, Civil
Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the District of
Columbia, Fitzpatrick Matrix, 2013-2024 (quoting DL v. District of
Columbia, 924 F.3d 585, 595 (D.C. Cir. 2019)), available at <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/media/1353286/dl?inline">https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/media/1353286/dl?inline</a>. It is used here as
a proxy for market rates for litigation counsel in the Washington,
DC area. For 2024, the Fitzpatrick Matrix sets forth estimates
ranging from $500 per hour for the most junior associates to $864
per hour for the most senior partners. See id. For the purpose of
this analysis, FTC staff determined the hourly rate for work
performed by junior associates based on the average of the 2024
hourly rates for junior associates with zero to one year of
experience, and the hourly rate for work performed by senior
partners based on the average of the 2024 hourly rates for senior
partners with more than eleven years of experience.
\7\ The estimated mean hourly wages for technical personnel
($56.03) is based on an average of the mean hourly wage for computer
programmers, software developers, information security analysts, and
web developers as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. See
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wages--May
2023, Table 1 (May 2023), available at <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm">https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm</a> (National employment and wage data from
the Occupational Employment Statistics survey by occupation)
[hereinafter ``BLS Table 1''].
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II. Safe Harbor Applicant Reporting Requirements
Previously, industry sources have advised that all of the labor to
comply with new safe harbor applicant requirements would be
attributable to the efforts of in-house lawyers.\8\ To determine in-
house legal costs, FTC staff applied an approximate average between the
BLS reported mean hourly wage for lawyers ($84.84),\9\ and estimated
in-house hourly attorney rates ($300) that are likely to reflect the
costs associated with some safe harbor applicant costs. This yields an
approximate hourly rate of $193. Applying this hourly labor cost
estimate to the hours burden associated with approval for a new safe
harbor application yields an estimated annual labor cost burden of
$19,300 (100 hours x $193).
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\8\ See 83 FR 49558 (Oct. 2, 2018).
\9\ See BLS Table 1 (attorneys).
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III. Annual Audit and Report for Safe Harbor Programs
FTC staff assumes that compliance officers, at a mean hourly wage
of $38.55, will prepare annual reports.\10\ Applying this hourly labor
cost estimate to the hours burden associated with preparing annual
audit reports yields an estimated annual labor cost burden of $26,985
(700 hours x $38.55).
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\10\ See BLS Table 1 (compliance officers, $38.55).
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IV. Safe Harbor Program Recordkeeping Requirements
For the reasons stated in Section A.IV above, FTC staff anticipates
that the labor costs associated with safe harbor program recordkeeping
are de minimis.
C. Estimated Annual Non-Labor Costs: $0.
FTC staff understands that covered operators already have in place
the computer equipment and software necessary to comply with the Rule's
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notice requirements. Accordingly, the predominant costs incurred by
operators are the aforementioned labor costs. Similarly, FTC staff
anticipates that covered entities already have in place the means to
retain and store the records that must be kept under the Rule's safe
harbor recordkeeping provisions, because they are likely to retain such
records independent of the Rule. Accordingly, FTC staff estimates that
the capital and non-labor costs associated with Rule compliance are de
minimis.
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
November 29, 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 ``COPPA Rule: Paperwork
Comment, FTC File No. P155408'' 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 <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 November 29,
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. 2024-22379 Filed 9-27-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P
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