2013-03792

Federal Register, Volume 78 Issue 34 (Wednesday, February 20, 2013)[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 34 (Wednesday, February 20, 2013)]

[Notices]

[Pages 11856-11857]

From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing 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, dheitman@cftc.gov, (202) 418-5041, FAX: (202) 418-5507; or

David Aron, Office of the General Counsel, daron@cftc.gov, (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

Last Updated: February 20, 2013