2018-23539
Federal Register, Volume 83 Issue 209 (Monday, October 29, 2018)
[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 209 (Monday, October 29, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54326-54327]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-23539]
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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 of 1995 (PRA),
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 November 28, 2018.
ADDRESSES: Comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect
of the information collection, including suggestions for reducing the
burden, may be submitted directly to the Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in OMB within 30 days of this notice's
publication by either of the following methods. Please identify the
comments by ``OMB Control No. 3038-0085.''
By email addressed to: [email protected] or
By mail addressed to: The Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention Desk
Officer for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 725 17th Street
NW, Washington, DC 20503.
A copy of all comments submitted to OIRA should be sent to the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission) by either of the
following methods. The copies should refer to ``OMB Control No. 3038-
0085.''
By mail addressed to: Christopher Kirkpatrick, Secretary
of the Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three
Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20581;
By Hand Delivery/Courier to the same address; or
Through the Commission's website at http://comments.cftc.gov. Please follow the instructions for submitting
comments through the website.
A copy of the supporting statement for the collection of
information discussed herein may be obtained by visiting http://RegInfo.gov.
All comments must be submitted in English, or if not, accompanied
by an English translation. Comments will be posted as received to
http://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\ The
Commission reserves the right, but shall have no obligation, to review,
pre-screen, filter, redact, refuse or remove any or all of your
submission from http://www.cftc.gov that it may deem to be
inappropriate for publication, such as obscene language. All
submissions that have been redacted or removed that contain comments on
the merits of the ICR will be retained in the public comment file and
will be considered as
[[Page 54327]]
required under the Administrative Procedure Act and other applicable
laws, and may be accessible under the Freedom of Information Act.
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\1\ 17 CFR 145.9.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melissa D'Arcy, Special Counsel,
Division of Clearing and Risk, Commodity Futures Trading Commission,
(202) 418-5086; email: [email protected], and refer to OMB Control No.
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3038-0085.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Rule 50.50 End-User Notification of Non-Cleared Swap (OMB
Control No. 3038-0085). This is a request for an extension and revision
of a currently approved information collection.
Abstract: The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection
Act (Dodd-Frank Act) amended Section 2(h)(1) of the Commodity Exchange
Act (CEA) to provide that it shall be unlawful for any person to engage
in a swap unless that person submits such swap for clearing to a
derivatives clearing organization if the swap is required to be
cleared. However, Section 2(h)(7) of the CEA, as added by the Dodd-
Frank Act, also provides that a swap otherwise subject to the clearing
requirement is eligible for an elective exception from clearing if one
party to the swap is not a financial entity, is using swaps to hedge or
mitigate commercial risk, and notifies the Commission, in a manner set
forth by the Commission, how it generally meets its financial
obligations associated with entering into non-cleared swaps (End-User
Exception).
The Commission adopted Commission regulation 39.6 to specify
requirements for electing the End-User Exception, including the
reporting of certain information to a registered swap data repository
(SDR) or the Commission. Following the publication of Commission
regulation 39.6, the Commission recodified it as Commission regulation
50.50 (17 CFR 50.50). The information reported and collected under
Commission regulation 50.50 is necessary as part of the overall package
of swap-related information that must generally be submitted by
reporting counterparties to SDRs under the Dodd-Frank Act. The
Commission uses this information to assess and monitor the market
participants electing the End-User Exception to the swap clearing
requirement in order to prevent evasion of the clearing requirement.
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. On August 13, 2018, the Commission
published in the Federal Register notice of the proposed extension of
this information collection and provided 60 days for public comment on
the proposed extension, 83 FR 39991 (60-Day Notice). The Commission
received one comment on the 60-Day Notice.
In a comment letter submitted in response to the 60-Day Notice, the
American Bankers Association (ABA) urged the Commission to amend
Commission regulation 50.50 with respect to the frequency of the
reporting requirement.\2\ Currently, end-users electing the exception
are required to report information to the Commission annually, if not
more frequently. The ABA requested that the Commission issue a notice
of proposed rulemaking to consider revising the reporting requirement
in Commission regulation 50.50(b)(2) to permit end-users to report this
information less frequently than annually, in certain cases. The ABA's
request for an amendment to the rule text in Commission regulation
50.50 is outside the scope of the request for an extension of the
subject collection. The ABA did not submit any comments to the
Commission related to the burdens associated with this information
collection, such as the estimated number of respondents or the
estimated average burden hours per respondent. Accordingly, the
Commission continues to believe that the burden estimates published in
the 60-Day Notice are appropriate.
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\2\ ABA's comment letter submitted in response to the 60-Day
Notice, Oct. 12, 2018, available at: https://comments.cftc.gov/PublicComments/ViewComment.aspx?id=61830&SearchText=.
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Burden Statement: The respondent burden for this collection is
estimated to be as follows:
Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,815.
Estimated Average Burden Hours per Respondent: 0.58.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,053.\3\
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\3\ 1815 x .58 hr = 1,052.7, and when rounded up to the next
whole number equals 1,053 (the estimated total annual burden hours).
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Frequency of Collection: On occasion; annually.
There are no capital costs or operating and maintenance costs
associated with this collection.
Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.
Dated: October 24, 2018.
Robert Sidman,
Deputy Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2018-23539 Filed 10-26-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6351-01-P