Proposed Rules. Notice of availability of draft guidelines; request for public comment

Agency: Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
Action: Notice of availability of draft guidelines; request for public comment
Citation: FR Doc. 02-10690

Summary

The FTC is making available its draft guidelines to implement section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001 and government-wide guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget for ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information disseminated by Federal agencies.

Dates

Comments must be submitted on or before June 1, 2002.

Supplementary Information

Section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001, Public Law 106-554, and implementing guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) require agencies to develop and issue guidelines for ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information that they disseminate to the public. See 67 FR 8452 (Feb. 22, 2002) (OMB Guidelines republished in their entirety). Each agency is required to prepare and make available to the public a draft report, providing the agency's information quality guidelines and explaining how the guidelines will achieve information quality, utility, objectivity, and integrity. (In a notice published on March 4, 2002, OMB extended the original deadline for this draft report of April 1, 2002, to May 1, 2002. See 67 FR 9797.) The report must also detail the administrative mechanisms developed by the agency to allow affected persons to seek and obtain appropriate correction of information maintained and disseminated by the agency that does not comply with the OMB or the agency guidelines. The agency is required to publish a notice of availability of its draft report in the Federal Register and to post the report on the Web site to provide an opportunity for public comment. After consideration of such comment and appropriate revision, if any, the agency must submit the report to OMB no later than July 1, 2002. After comments, if any, are received from OMB, the agency must publish a notice of the availability of the report in its final form in the Federal Register and post the report on its Web site no later than October 1, 2002, which is the date the agency's guidelines are to become effective. The agency is required to submit further reports, on an annual fiscal-year basis, to OMB, by January 1 of each following year, regarding the number and nature of complaints received regarding agency compliance with the OMB guidelines and how such complaints were resolved. The first annual report is due January 1, 2004. In accordance with the above requirements, the FTC is publishing this notice of the availability of its draft report pursuant to section 515 and the OMB Guidelines. The FTC's report, which includes the draft information quality guidelines and draft administrative mechanism for resolving section 515 requests for correction of information dissemination products, is being posed on the FTC's Web site, www.ftc.gov. The FTC seeks public comment on the guidelines and administrative mechanism until June 1, 2002. The FTC will review the comments and make appropriate revisions, if any, before submitting the report to OMB by July 1, 2002, as required by section 515 and the OMB Guidelines. Paperwork Reduction Act The administrative mechanism for affected persons seeking correction of FTC information dissemination products is not an agency information collection activity that requires OMB review and approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520. See 5 CFR 1320.3(h)(1). By direction of the Commission. Donald S. Clark, Secretary. [FR Doc. 02-10690 Filed 4-30-02; 8:45 am]