SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Fuel Rating Rule, 16 CFR part 306.

OMB Control Number: 3084-0068.

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Likely Respondents:

(a) Recordkeeping: Refiners, Producers, Importers, Distributors, and Retailers of the Covered Fuel Types.

(b) Disclosure: Retailers of the Covered Fuel Types.

Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 28,163 (derived from 11,394 recordkeeping hours added to 16,769 disclosure hours).

Estimated Annual Labor Costs: $455,731.

Estimated Annual Capital or Other Non-Labor Costs: $308,536.

Background: The Fuel Rating Rule, 16 CFR part 306 (OMB Control Number 3084-0068), establishes standard procedures for determining, certifying, and disclosing the octane rating of automotive gasoline and the automotive fuel rating of alternative liquid automotive fuels, as required by the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act. 15 U.S.C. 2822(a)-(c). The Rule also requires refiners, producers, importers, distributors, and retailers to retain records showing how the ratings were determined, including delivery tickets or letters of certification.

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 Fuel Rating Rule.

Burden Statement

Total annual hours burden: 28,163 (derived from 11,394 recordkeeping hours added to 16,769 disclosure hours).

Recordkeeping: Based on industry sources, staff estimates that approximately 136,727 fuel industry members ^[1] each incur an average annual burden of approximately five minutes to ensure retention of relevant business records ^[2] for the period required by the Rule, resulting in a total of 11,394 hours.

Disclosure: Staff estimates that affected industry members incur an average burden of approximately one hour to produce, distribute, and post ( printed page 46440) octane rating labels. Because the labels are durable, only about one of every eight industry member retailers (16,769 of 134,146 industry member retailers) incur this burden each year, resulting in a total annual burden of 16,769 hours.

Total annual labor cost: $455,731.

Labor costs are derived by applying appropriate hourly cost figures to the burden hours described above. Here, the average hourly wages of refiners, producers, distributors, and importers is $45.03.^[3] The average hourly wages of retailers is $15.96.^[4] The recordkeeping component, 11,394 hours, consists of approximately 215 hours for producers, distributors, and importers; and 11,179 hours for retailers. Thus, the total annual labor cost for recordkeeping is $188,098 ((215 hours × $45.03/hour) + (11,179 hours × $15.96/hour)). The disclosure component, which concerns retailers, is approximately 16,769 hours. Thus, total annual labor cost for disclosure is $267,633 (16,769 hours × $15.96/hour).

Total annual capital or other non-labor costs: $308,536.

Staff believes that the Rule does not impose any capital costs for producers, importers, or distributors of fuels. Retailers, however, incur the cost of procuring and replacing fuel dispenser labels to comply with the Rule. Staff conservatively estimates that the price per automotive fuel label is $3.06 and that the average automotive fuel retailer has six dispensers; thus, $18.36 labeling cost per retailer at inception and each time a retailer must replace labels.^[5] Staff has previously estimated a dispenser useful life range of 6 to 10 years and based on that, assumed a useful life of 8 years for labels, the mean of that range. Annualizing the $18.36 labeling cost per retailer over a label's average useful life yields $2.30. Cumulative annual labeling cost would thus be $308,536 (134,146 retailers × $2.30 per year).

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 September 21, 2026. 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 “Fuel Rating Rule, PRA Comment, R811005,” 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 E), Washington, DC 20580.

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 September 21, 2026. 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.

91 FR 46439