[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 34 (Wednesday, February 20, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11856-11857]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-03792]
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COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection Activities Under OMB Review
AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, this Notice
announces that the Information Collection Request (``ICR'') abstracted
below has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget
(``OMB'') for review and comment. The ICR describes the nature of the
information collection and its expected costs and burden.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before March 22, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Send comments regarding the burden estimated or any other
aspect of the information collection described in this Notice,
including suggestions for reducing the burden, to the addresses below.
Please refer to OMB Control No. 3038-NEW, Form TO in any
correspondence. Submit comments to: Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, by the following
method:
Mail: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of
Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for CFTC, 725 17th
Street NW., Washington, DC 20503.
And
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC''), by any of the
following methods:
Agency Web Site: http://comments.cftc.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments through the Web site.
Mail: Melissa Jurgens, Secretary of the Commission,
Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st
Street NW., Washington, DC 20581.
Hand Delivery/Courier: Same address as for ``Mail,''
above.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
Instructions: Please submit your comments to both OMB and CFTC (for
CFTC, use only one of the methods listed above), and identify all
comments as pertaining to OMB Control No. 3038-NEW, Form TO.
All comments must be submitted in English, or if not, accompanied
by an English translation. Comments will be posted as received, without
change, to www.cftc.gov. You should submit only information that you
wish to make available publicly. If you wish the Commission to consider
information that you believe is exempt from disclosure under the
Freedom of Information Act, a petition for confidential treatment of
the exempt information may be submitted according to the procedures
established in Sec. 145.9 of the Commission's regulations.\1\
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\1\ See 17 CFR 145.9.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Donald Heitman, Division of Market
Oversight, [email protected], (202) 418-5041, FAX: (202) 418-5507; or
David Aron, Office of the General Counsel, [email protected], (202) 418-
6621, FAX: (202) 418-5702; Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 1155
21st Street NW., Washington, DC 20581, and refer to OMB Control No.
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3038-NEW, Form TO.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Form TO, Annual Notice Filing for Counterparties to
Unreported Trade Options (OMB Control No. 3038-NEW, Form TO). This is a
request for approval of a new collection of information.
Abstract: In accordance with section 721 of the Dodd-Frank Act, on
April 27, 2012, the Commission published a final and interim final rule
governing commodity options (``Commodity Options Rules'').\2\ The final
rule portion of that rulemaking adopted the Commission's proposal to
generally permit market participants to trade commodity options, which
are statutorily defined as swaps,\3\ subject to the same rules
applicable to every other swap. The interim final rule portion of the
rulemaking includes a trade option exemption for physically delivered
commodity options purchased by commercial users of the commodities
underlying the options (``Trade Option Interim Final Rule'' or ``Trade
Option IFR''), subject to certain conditions. Those conditions, which
include both recordkeeping and reporting obligations, are primarily
intended to preserve a level of market visibility for the Commission
while reducing the regulatory compliance burden for market
participants. The requirement to file Form TO constitutes the
collection of information within the meaning of the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not
required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays
a currently valid OMB control number. The Form TO filing requirement
was promulgated last year in the Commodity Options Rules, and the
associated collection of information is now being submitted to OMB. The
Federal Register notice for the 60-day comment period on this request
for approval of a new collection of information was published on
December 17, 2012.\4\ That notice included a description of the content
of Form TO and when a person would be required to file Form TO.
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\2\ Commodity Options, 77 FR 25320, April 27, 2012.
\3\ See 7 U.S.C. 1a(47)(A)(i). Note that the swap definition
excludes options on futures (which must be traded on a designated
contract market (``DCM'') pursuant to part 33 of the Commission's
regulations) (see Commodity Exchange Act (``CEA'') section
1a(47)(B)(i), 7 U.S.C. 1a(47)(B)(i)), but it includes options on
physical commodities (whether or not traded on a DCM) (see CEA
section 1a(47)(A)(i), 7 U.S.C. 1a(47)(A)(i)). Other options excluded
from the statutory definition of swap are options on any security,
certificate of deposit, or group or index of securities, including
any interest therein or based on the value thereof, that are subject
to the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of
1934 (see CEA section 1a(47)(B)(iii), 7 U.S.C. 1a(47)(B)(iii)) and
foreign currency options entered into on a national securities
exchange registered pursuant to section 6(a) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 (see CEA section 1a(47)(B)(iv), 7 U.S.C.
1a(47)(B)(iv)).
Note also that the Commission's regulations define a commodity
option transaction or commodity option as ``any transaction or
agreement in interstate commerce which is or is held out to be of
the character of, or is commonly known to the trade as, an `option,'
`privilege,' `indemnity,' `bid,' `offer,' `call,' `put,' `advance
guaranty' or `decline guaranty'.'' 17 CFR 1.3(hh). For purposes of
this release, the Commission uses the term ``commodity options'' to
apply solely to commodity options not excluded from the swap
definition set forth in CEA section 1a(47)(A), 7 U.S.C. 1a(47)(A).
Last year, the Commission published, jointly with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (``SEC'') final rules to further define, among
other things, the term ``swap.'' See Further Definition of ``Swap,''
``Security-Based Swap,'' and ``Security-Based Swap Agreement'';
Mixed Swaps; Security-Based Swap Agreement; Final Rule, 77 FR 48207,
August 13, 2012 (``Product Definitions Final Rules''). The Product
Definitions Final Rules address the determination of whether a
commodity option or a transaction with optionality is subject to the
swap definition in the first instance. If a commodity option or a
transaction with optionality is excluded from the scope of the swap
definition (for example, if it is an excluded forward contract--see
id. at 48227), the commodity options rules, including the Form TO
reporting requirement, are not applicable.
\4\ See Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed
Collection, Comment Request: Form TO, Annual Notice Filing for
Counterparties to Unreported Trade Options, 77 FR 74647.
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[[Page 11857]]
Burden statement: The Commission estimates the burden of this
collection of information as follows:
Estimated Annual Reporting Burden Hours and Burden Hour Costs
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Annual number Frequency of response Hours per response and
17 CFR of respondents per respondent cost Total annual responses Total hours cost
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Part 32, Appendix A, Form TO........ 100 Annually................ 2 hours at $200 per 100 (one form per $20,000 (100 responses
response \5\. otherwise unreported times 2 hours per
trade option response, based on
participant). $100/hour).
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\5\ The Commission estimates that entities will spend $100 per
hour. The $100 per hour estimate was used as the average hourly wage
rate in the PRA section of the Internal Business Conduct Standards
for Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants final rule (see Duties
Rules; Futures Commission Merchant and Introducing Broker Conflicts
of Interest Rules; and Chief Compliance Officer Rules for Swap
Dealers, Major Swap Participants, and Futures Commission Merchants,
77 FR 20128, 20194 (Apr. 3, 2012)) and the wage rate for CCOs under
the DCO final rules (see Proposed Collection, Comment Request:
Further Definition of ``Swap,'' ``Security-Based Swap,'' and
``Security-Based Swap Agreement'''; Mixed Swaps; Security-Based Swap
Agreement Recordkeeping: Book-out Agreement Confirmation, 76 FR
69344, 69428 (Aug. 16, 2012)). As the Commission explained in the
Internal Business Conduct Standards final rule, the estimate of $100
per hour was based on recent Bureau of Labor Statistics findings,
including the mean hourly wage of an employee under occupation code
23-1011, ``Lawyers,'' that is employed by the ``Securities and
Commodity Contracts Intermediation and Brokerage Industry,'' which
is $85.20. The mean hourly wage of an employee under occupation code
11-3031, ``Financial Manager,'' in the same industry is $80.90.
Additionally, SIFMA's ``Report on Management & Professional Earnings
in the Securities Industry--2011'' estimates the average wage of a
compliance attorney at $96.42 and a compliance specialist in the
U.S. at $74.85 per hour. As in those rules, the Commission is using
a $100 per hour wage rate in calculating the cost burdens imposed by
this collection of information and requests comment on the accuracy
of its estimate.
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(Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.)
Dated: February 13, 2013.
Melissa D. Jurgens,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2013-03792 Filed 2-19-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6351-01-P