83 FR 50928 - SmartStart Employment Screening, Inc.; Analysis To Aid Public Comment

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 196 (October 10, 2018)

The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both the allegations in the complaint and the terms of the consent order--embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these allegations.

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 196 (Wednesday, October 10, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50928-50930]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2018-21946]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 182 3154]


SmartStart Employment Screening, Inc.; Analysis To Aid Public 
Comment

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Proposed consent agreement.

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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged 
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or 
practices. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both 
the allegations in the

[[Page 50929]]

complaint and the terms of the consent order--embodied in the consent 
agreement--that would settle these allegations.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before October 29, 2018.

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: ``SmartStart Employment 
Screening, Inc.'' on your comment, and file your comment online at 
https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/smartstartconsent/ by following 
the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file your 
comment on paper, write ``SmartStart Employment Screening, Inc.; File 
No. 1823154'' on your comment and on the envelope, and mail your 
comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of 
the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC-5610 (Annex D), 
Washington, DC 20580; or deliver your comment to: Federal Trade 
Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th 
Street SW, 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ruth Yodaiken (202-326-2127), Bureau 
of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania 
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34, 
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement 
containing a consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with 
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been 
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The 
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the 
consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic 
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained 
from the FTC Home Page (for September 27, 2018), on the World Wide Web, 
at https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/commission-actions.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before October 29, 
2018. Write ``SmartStart Employment Screening, Inc.; File No. 1823154'' 
on your comment. Your comment--including your name and your state--will 
be placed on the public record of this proceeding, including, to the 
extent practicable, on the public Commission website, at https://www.ftc.gov/policy/public-comments.
    Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to 
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit 
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your 
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/smartstartconsent/ by following the instructions on the web-based 
form. If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you 
also may file a comment through that website.
    If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``SmartStart 
Employment Screening, Inc.; File No. 1823154'' on your comment and on 
the envelope, and mail your comment to the following address: Federal 
Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, 
Suite CC-5610 (Annex D), 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 D), Washington, DC 20024. If possible, submit your paper 
comment to the Commission by courier or overnight service.
    Because your comment will be placed on the publicly accessible FTC 
website at http://www.ftc.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 be filed in paper form, must be clearly labeled 
``Confidential,'' and must 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 on the public FTC website--as legally required by FTC Rule 
4.9(b)--we cannot redact or remove your comment from the FTC website, 
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.
    Visit the FTC website at http://www.ftc.gov to read this Notice and 
the news release describing it. 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 29, 2018. 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.

Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

    The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') has 
accepted, subject to final approval, a consent agreement applicable to 
SmartStart Employment Screening, Inc. (``SmartStart'' or ``the 
company'').
    The proposed consent order has been placed on the public record for 
thirty (30) days for receipt of comments by interested persons. 
Comments received during this period will become part of the public 
record. After thirty days, the Commission will again review the 
agreement and the comments received, and will decide whether it should 
withdraw from the agreement and take appropriate action or make final 
the agreement's proposed order.
    This matter concerns alleged false or misleading representations 
that SmartStart made to consumers concerning its participation in the 
Privacy Shield framework agreed upon by the U.S. and the European Union 
(``EU''). The Privacy Shield framework allows U.S. companies to 
transfer data outside the EU consistent with EU law. To join the EU-
U.S. Privacy Shield

[[Page 50930]]

framework, a company must self-certify to the U.S. Department of 
Commerce (``Commerce'') that it complies with a set of principles and 
related requirements that have been deemed by the European Commission 
as providing ``adequate'' privacy protection. The principles include 
notice; choice; accountability for onward transfer; security; data 
integrity and purpose limitation; access; and recourse, enforcement, 
and liability. The related requirements include, for example, securing 
an independent recourse mechanism to handle any disputes about how the 
company handles information about EU citizens. Commerce reviews these 
applications for self-certification and maintains a public website, 
https://www.privacyshield.gov/list, where it posts the names of 
companies that have self-certified to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield 
framework and completed the requirements for certification. The listing 
of companies indicates whether their self-certification is current. 
Companies are required to re-certify every year in order to retain 
their status as current members of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield 
framework.
    SmartStart offers background and employment screening services. 
According to the Commission's complaint, the company has set forth on 
its website, http://www.smartstartemploymentscreeninginc.com, privacy 
policies and statements about its practices, including statements 
related to the status of its participation in the EU-U.S. Privacy 
Shield framework.
    The Commission's complaint alleges that SmartStart deceptively 
represented that it was a current participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy 
Shield framework when, in fact, it was not. The complaint also alleges 
that the company deceptively represented that it would abide by the EU-
U.S. Privacy Shield framework principles, but did not do so. The 
principles include a requirement that if a company ceases to 
participate in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework, it must affirm to 
Commerce that it will continue to apply the principles to personal 
information that it received during the time it participated in the 
program, but according to the complaint, SmartStart did not make such 
an affirmation.
    Part I of the proposed order prohibits the company from making 
misrepresentations about its membership in any privacy or security 
program sponsored by the government or any other self-regulatory or 
standard-setting organization, including, but not limited to, the EU-
U.S. Privacy Shield framework and the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield 
framework. Because the company had a certification that had lapsed, 
Part II requires the company to comply with the Privacy Shield 
requirement to continue to protect, on a going forward basis, personal 
information it had received while in the program, or return or delete 
the information.
    Parts III through VII of the proposed order are reporting and 
compliance provisions. Part III requires acknowledgement of the order 
and dissemination of the order now and in the future to persons with 
responsibilities relating to the subject matter of the order. Part IV 
ensures notification to the FTC of changes in corporate status and 
mandates that the company submit an initial compliance report to the 
FTC. Part V requires the company to retain documents relating to its 
compliance with the order for a five-year period.
    Part VI mandates that the company make available to the FTC 
information or subsequent compliance reports, as requested. Part VII is 
a provision ``sunsetting'' the order after twenty (20) years, with 
certain exceptions.
    The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the 
proposed order. It is not intended to constitute an official 
interpretation of the proposed complaint or order or to modify the 
order's terms in any way.

    By direction of the Commission, Commissioner Wilson not 
participating.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-21946 Filed 10-9-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6750-01-P