Notice2025-12627
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed OMB Generic Clearance; Comment Request; Generic Clearance for Information Collection Using Voluntary Surveys for Studies Conducted by the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Economics To Support the FTC's Missions To Protect Consumers and Competition
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
July 8, 2025
Issuing agencies
Federal Trade Commission
Abstract
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of certain information through voluntary surveys for studies conducted by the agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (the PRA), Federal agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information and to allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice. This notice solicits comments on a generic clearance for the FTC to conduct voluntary surveys/experiments for social and behavioral research that support FTC's consumer protection and competition missions.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 128 (Tuesday, July 8, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 128 (Tuesday, July 8, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30072-30073]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-12627]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. P072108]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed OMB Generic
Clearance; Comment Request; Generic Clearance for Information
Collection Using Voluntary Surveys for Studies Conducted by the Federal
Trade Commission Bureau of Economics To Support the FTC's Missions To
Protect Consumers and Competition
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Notice and request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is announcing an
opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of certain
information through voluntary surveys for studies conducted by the
agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (the PRA), Federal
agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register
concerning each proposed collection of information and to allow 60 days
for public comment in response to the notice. This notice solicits
comments on a generic clearance for the FTC to conduct voluntary
surveys/experiments for social and behavioral research that support
FTC's consumer protection and competition missions.
DATES: Comments must be filed by September 8, 2025.
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 ``Generic Clearance for
Information Collection Using Voluntary Surveys; PRA Comment; P072108''
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, Mail Stop H-144 (Annex G),
Washington, DC 20580.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Spurlino, Economist, Division of
Consumer Protection, Bureau of Economics, Federal Trade Commission,
(202) 326-2516, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#87e2f4f7f2f5ebeee9e8c7e1f3e4a9e0e8f1"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="284d5b585d5a44414647684e5c4b064f475e">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title of Collection: Generic Clearance for Information Collection
Using Voluntary Surveys for Studies Conducted by the Federal Trade
Commission Bureau of Economics to Support the FTC's Missions to Protect
Consumers and Competition.
OMB Control Number: 3084-XXXX.
Type of Review: Proposed Collection.
Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 10,000 hours.
Abstract: Understanding consumers' perceptions and behaviors plays
an important role in improving FTC law enforcement by better
understanding potentially harmful and anticompetitive business
practices and enabling efficient new methods to compute consumer
injury. The FTC seeks to collect data using voluntary participation in
surveys under this generic clearance to help with determining the
issues and mechanisms underlying consumer behavior in response to
unfair or deceptive business practices and to inform the FTC about how
best to protect consumers in light of these practices. Data collected
under this generic clearance may also be useful for monitoring emerging
trends in deceptive and unfair practices in the marketplace and to
understand the effectiveness of FTC's enforcement actions and consumer
education efforts.
The Federal Trade Commission Act (the Act), 15 U.S.C. 41 through
58, authorizes the agency to conduct research and gather information on
issues related to consumer protection and competition. Specifically,
section 6(a) of the Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(a) provides the Commission shall
have power ``to gather and compile information concerning, and to
investigate from time to time the organization, business, conduct,
practices, and management of any person, partnership, or corporation
engaged in or whose business affects commerce.'' Accordingly, this
generic clearance seeks to cover research consisting of voluntary focus
groups, interviews, surveys, and experiments relating to consumers'
perceptions of industry and business practices, and their behavior as
it pertains to their relationship with these practices.
The information will be collected from voluntary participants
through one-on-one telephone, internet, or in-person interviews, online
focus groups, self-administered (online) surveys, or (online or in-
person) economics experiments, depending upon the target audience,
expectations about whether the information will be evaluated in an
individual or group context, and the need to present educational or
interventional materials. The methods to be used serve the narrowly
defined need for direct and informal opinion on a specific topic and as
qualitative and quantitative research tools, and have two major
purposes:
1. Increase understanding of consumers' perceptions and behavioral
responses to potentially harmful business practices.
2. To stay current on the latest trends in consumer experience with
deceptive, unfair, or anticompetitive practices in the marketplace.
The FTC will use this information to better understand where to
dedicate resources in investigation and enforcement, as well as to
improve methods for assessing consumer harm and demand estimation. The
research conducted under this voluntary information collection falls
primarily under the Bureau of Economics within the FTC. However, other
Bureaus or Offices within the FTC may offer advice and input into the
research conducted. The research would not be used specifically for the
purposes of making policy or regulatory decisions. Rather, the findings
would help expand the agency's knowledge and understanding of consumer
perception issues prevalent in its law-enforcement investigations. The
FTC's Bureau of Economics will use this voluntary information
collection to test communications and social and behavioral methods
about consumer behavior and beliefs in ways that increase our
understanding of consumer experiences as well as ways in which business
practices may be or have the potential to be, inflicting harm on
consumers. For one example, the FTC intends to use this information
collection to conduct a voluntary survey of American consumers about
their experiences of fraud in the marketplace.
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.
Burden statement: Annually, the FTC projects about 10 social and
behavioral studies, involving voluntary respondents, using the variety
of test
[[Page 30073]]
methods listed in this document. The FTC is requesting this clearance
so as not to restrict the agency's ability to gather voluntary
information on public sentiment for its proposals in its enforcement
and communications programs.
The FTC estimates the burden of this collection of information as
follows:
Table 1--Estimated Annual Reporting Burden
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Average
Number of Number of Total annual burden per
Activity respondents responses per responses response Total hours
respondent (minutes)
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Interviews/Surveys.............. 20,000 1 20,000 30 10,000
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Staff believes there are no current start-up costs or other capital
costs associated with this collection of information.
Request for Comment
Pursuant to section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, the FTC invites
comments on: (1) whether the collection of information is necessary for
the performance of the functions of the agency, 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
September 8, 2025. 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 ``Generic Clearance for Information Collection
Using Voluntary Surveys; PRA Comment; P072108,'' 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, Mail
Stop H-144 (Annex G), Washington, DC 20580. If possible, submit your
paper comment to the Commission by 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 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 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 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 September 8, 2025. 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>.
By direction of the Commission.
Joel Christie,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2025-12627 Filed 7-7-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P
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