Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Extension
| Court | Federal Trade Commission |
| Citation | 88 FR 55044 |
| Published date | 14 August 2023 |
| Record Number | 2023-17420 |
| Section | Notices |
55044
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 155 / Monday, August 14, 2023 / Notices
1
Final Rule, 85 FR 50668 (Aug. 17, 2020).
Reserve Bank and from the Board’s
Freedom of Information Office at
https://www.federalreserve.gov/foia/
request.htm. Interested persons may
express their views in writing on the
question whether the proposal complies
with the standards of section 4 of the
BHC Act.
Unless otherwise noted, comments
regarding the applications must be
received at the Reserve Bank indicated
or the offices of the Board of Governors,
Ann E. Misback, Secretary of the Board,
20th Street and Constitution Avenue,
NW, Washington, DC 20551–0001, not
later than August 29, 2023.
A. Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas
City (Jeffrey Imgarten, Assistant Vice
President) 1 Memorial Drive, Kansas
City, Missouri 64198–0001. Comments
can also be sent electronically to
KCApplicationComments@kc.frb.org:
1. Clark Bancshares, Inc., Clarks,
Nebraska; to acquire substantially all of
the assets of M & L Cave, Inc., d/b/a
Silver Creek Insurance Agency, Silver
Creek, Nebraska, and thereby engage in
insurance agency activity located in a
place that has a population not
exceeding 5,000 pursuant to section
225.28(b)(11)(iii) of the Board’s
Regulation Y.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System.
Michele Taylor Fennell,
Deputy Associate Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2023–17336 Filed 8–11–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
Formations of, Acquisitions by, and
Mergers of Bank Holding Companies
The companies listed in this notice
have applied to the Board for approval,
pursuant to the Bank Holding Company
Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 1841 et seq.)
(BHC Act), Regulation Y (12 CFR part
225), and all other applicable statutes
and regulations to become a bank
holding company and/or to acquire the
assets or the ownership of, control of, or
the power to vote shares of a bank or
bank holding company and all of the
banks and nonbanking companies
owned by the bank holding company,
including the companies listed below.
The public portions of the
applications listed below, as well as
other related filings required by the
Board, if any, are available for
immediate inspection at the Federal
Reserve Bank(s) indicated below and at
the offices of the Board of Governors.
This information may also be obtained
on an expedited basis, upon request, by
contacting the appropriate Federal
Reserve Bank and from the Board’s
Freedom of Information Office at
https://www.federalreserve.gov/foia/
request.htm. Interested persons may
express their views in writing on the
standards enumerated in the BHC Act
(12 U.S.C. 1842(c)).
Comments regarding each of these
applications must be received at the
Reserve Bank indicated or the offices of
the Board of Governors, Ann E.
Misback, Secretary of the Board, 20th
Street and Constitution Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20551–0001, not later
than September 13, 2023.
A. Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas
City (Jeffrey Imgarten, Assistant Vice
President) One Memorial Drive, Kansas
City, Missouri 64198–0001. Comments
can also be sent electronically to
KCApplicationComments@kc.frb.org:
1. Commerce Financial Company,
Duncan, Oklahoma; to become a bank
holding company by merging with
Commerce Bancorp, Inc., Duncan,
Oklahoma, thereby indirectly acquiring
Bank of Commerce, Duncan, Oklahoma.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System.
Michele Taylor Fennell,
Deputy Associate Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2023–17335 Filed 8–11–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
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 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 https://
www.regulations.gov 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.
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
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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.
3
Centers for Disease Control, Healthy Contact
Lens Wear and Care, Fast Facts, https://
www.cdc.gov/contactlenses/fast-facts.html. See also
U.S. Food & Drug Administration, Focusing on
Contact Lens Safety, https://www.fda.gov/
consumers/consumer-updates/focusing-contact-
lens-safety.
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.
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.
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).
•Contact Lens Prescribers: 750,000
hours (45 million contact lens wearers
× 1 minute per prescription release/60
minutes) + 93,750 hours (33,750,000
contact lens wearers × 10 seconds per
confirmation of prescription release) +
31,250 hours (11,250,000 contact lens
wearers × 10 seconds per affirmative
consent to electronic prescription
delivery) + 295,650 hours (3,547,800
verification requests × 5 minutes per
response/60 minutes) + 750,000 hours
recordkeeping = 1,920,650 hours.
•Contact Lens Sellers: 985,500 hours
(11,826,000 orders × 5 minutes per
verification/60 minutes) + 72,900
burden hours (4,374,000 orders × 1
minute recordkeeping/60 minutes) =
1,058,400 hours.
Estimated Total Labor Cost Burden:
Approximately $120,173,486 (derived
from ($63.99 × 968,490 optometrist
hours) + ($127.62 × 170,910
ophthalmologist hours) + ($19.78 ×
1,839,650 office clerk hours)).
Estimated Total Non-Labor Cost
Burden: $591,300 (11,826,000 × $.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.
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
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 × 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.
The time required to collect a
signature from a patient confirming
release of a prescription is estimated at
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85 FR 50709.
7
Id.
8
Id., note 584.
9
Jason J. Nichols & Deborah Fisher, ‘‘2018
Annual Report,’’ Contact Lens Spectrum, Jan. 1,
2019, https://www.clspectrum.com/issues/2019/
january-2019.
10
Notice and Request for Comment, 81 FR 62501
(Sept. 9, 2016).
11
85 FR 5709.
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% × 45 million
prescriptions yearly × 10 seconds) =
93,750 hours].
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% × 45
million prescriptions yearly × 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.
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 × 36% = 16,200,000) are made
from sellers other than the prescriber.
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 × 73%) × 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 × 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.
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.
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 × 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
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Press Release, Bureau of Labor Statistics,
United States Department of Labor, Occupational
Employment and Wage Statistics—May 2022,
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm.
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.
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.
14
See 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. Some
estimates put the U.S. contact lens market as high
as $17 billion, see https://www.visionmonday.com/
business/article/us-optical-retail-market-estimated-
at-765-billion-in-the-vision-councils-first-
comprehensive-market-insights-report/.
cases this retention is electronic and
automatic and will not require any time)
for 4,374,000 orders [16,200,000 sales ×
27%], resulting in 72,900 recordkeeping
burden hours. [(4,374,000 orders × 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 ×
968,490 optometrist hours =
$61,973,675) + ($127.62 × 170,910
ophthalmologist hours = $21,811,534) +
($19.78 × 781,250 prescribers’ office
clerk hours = $15,453,125) + ($19.78 ×
1,058,400 sellers’ office clerk hours =
$20,935,152) = $120,173,486.]
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
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 × $.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.
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 https://
www.regulations.gov 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 https://
www.regulations.gov 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,
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 155 / Monday, August 14, 2023 / Notices
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 https://
www.regulations.gov, 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
www.regulations.gov, 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
https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/
privacy-policy.
Josephine Liu,
Assistant General Counsel for Legal Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2023–17420 Filed 8–11–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention
Fees for Cruise Ship Operational
Sanitation, Construction, and
Renovation Inspections
AGENCY
: Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS).
ACTION
: General notice.
SUMMARY
: The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), located
within the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS), announces fees
for vessel sanitation, construction, and
renovation inspections for fiscal year
(FY) 2024. These inspections are
conducted by HHS/CDC’s Vessel
Sanitation Program (VSP). VSP helps
the cruise industry fulfill its
responsibility for developing and
implementing comprehensive sanitation
programs to minimize the risk for acute
gastroenteritis. Every passenger cruise
vessel that has a foreign itinerary
involving a U.S. port and carries 13 or
more passengers is subject to twice-
yearly unannounced operational
sanitation inspections and, when
necessary, reinspection. Cruise vessel
design and equipment must meet VSP’s
sanitary design criteria standards and
routine operational inspection
requirements. Cruise vessel owners or
shipyards that build or renovate cruise
vessels can request construction or
renovation inspections of new or
renovated vessels before their first or
next operational inspection.
DATES
: These fees apply to inspections
conducted from October 1, 2023,
through September 30, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
:
CAPT Luis Rodriguez, Acting Chief,
Vessel Sanitation Program, National
Center for Environmental Health,
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway NE,
MS 106–6, Atlanta, Georgia 30341–
3717; phone: 800–323–2132; email:
vsp@cdc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
:
Purpose and Background
HHS/CDC established the Vessel
Sanitation Program (VSP) in the 1970s
as a cooperative activity with the cruise
industry. VSP helps the cruise industry
prevent and control the introduction,
transmission, and spread of
gastrointestinal illnesses on cruise
ships. VSP operates under the authority
of the Public Health Service Act
(Section 361 of the Public Health
Service Act; 42 U.S.C. 264). Regulations
found at 42 CFR 71.41 (Foreign
Quarantine—Requirements Upon
Arrival at U.S. Ports: Sanitary
Inspection; General Provisions) state
that carriers arriving at U.S. ports from
foreign areas are subject to sanitary
inspections to determine whether there
exists rodent, insect, or other vermin
infestations; contaminated food or
water; or other insanitary conditions
requiring measures for the prevention of
the introduction, transmission, or
spread of communicable diseases.
The fee schedule for sanitation
inspections of passenger cruise ships by
VSP was first published in the Federal
Register on November 24, 1987 (52 FR
45019). HHS/CDC began collecting fees
on March 1, 1988. This notice
announces fees for inspections
conducted during FY 2024 (beginning
on October 1, 2023, through September
30, 2024).
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