2023-06308
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 59 (Tuesday, March 28, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18301-18302]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-06308]
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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 Information and
Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), of 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 April 27, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be submitted within 30 days of this
notice's publication to OIRA, at https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Please find this particular information collection by
selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments''
or by using the website's search function. Comments can be entered
electronically by clicking on the ``comment'' button next to the
information collection on the ``OIRA Information Collections Under
Review'' page, or the ``View ICR--Agency Submission'' page. A copy of
the supporting statement for the collection of information discussed
herein may be obtained by visiting https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
In addition to the submission of comments to https://Reginfo.gov as
indicated above, a copy of all comments submitted to OIRA may also be
submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the
``Commission'' or ``CFTC'') by clicking on the ``Submit Comment'' box
next to the descriptive entry for OMB Control No. 3038-0013, at https://comments.cftc.gov/FederalRegister/PublicInfo.aspx.
Or by either of the following methods:
Mail: Christopher Kirkpatrick, Secretary of the
Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three Lafayette
Centre, 1155 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20581.
Hand Delivery/Courier: Same as Mail above.
All comments must be submitted in English, or if not, accompanied
by an English translation. Comments submitted to the Commission should
include 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-
[[Page 18302]]
screen, filter, redact, refuse or remove any or all of your submission
from https://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
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: Steven A. Haidar, Assistant Chief
Counsel, Division of Market Oversight, (202) 418-5611, email:
[email protected]; or Grey Tanzi, Assistant Chief Counsel, Division of
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Market Oversight, (312) 596-0635, email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Part 150, Position Limits, (OMB Control No. 3038-0013). This
is a request for extension of a currently approved information
collection.
Abstract: Commodity Exchange Act (``CEA'') section 4a directs the
Commission to establish limits on speculative positions, as the
Commission determines to be necessary, to prevent the harms caused by
excessive speculation. This Position Limits collection of information
(OMB Control No. 3038-0013) includes collections of information
required under both the Final Rule and the Aggregation Rule (as each
Rule is defined below).
In 2021, the Commission issued a final rule on position limits that
implemented CEA section 4a and established the Commission's new
position limits regime found in part 150 of the Commission's
Regulations (``Final Rule'').\2\ The Final Rule, among other things,
included: new and amended Federal spot-month limits for the 25 core
referenced futures contracts; (2) amended Federal non-spot limits for
the nine legacy agricultural contracts subject to existing Federal
position limits; (3) amended rules governing exchange-set limit levels
and grants of exemptions therefrom; (4) an amended process for
requesting certain spread exemptions and non-enumerated bona fide hedge
recognitions for purposes of Federal position limits directly from the
Commission; (5) a new streamlined process for recognizing non-
enumerated bona fide hedge positions from Federal limit requirements;
and (6) amendments to part 19 of the Commission's Regulations and
related provisions that eliminated certain reporting obligations that
require traders to submit a Form 204 and Parts I and II of Form 304.
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\2\ See ``Position Limits for Derivatives,'' 86 FR 3236 (Jan.
24, 2021).
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Separately, in 2016 the Commission issued a final rule amending
Commission Regulation 150.4, which sets forth requirements regarding
the aggregation of positions subject to federal position limits (the
``Aggregation Rule'').\3\ Among other things, Regulation 150.4 includes
standards for the aggregation of accounts and procedures for seeking an
exemption from position aggregation requirements under the Commission's
federal position limits.
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\3\ See ``Aggregation of Positions,'' 81 FR 91454 (Dec. 16,
2016). The position aggregation requirements set forth in Regulation
150.4 are the subject of No-Action Letter 22-09 and have been the
subject of similar no-action letters since the rule's effective
date. As such, as of the date of this notice, market participants do
not submit the reports set forth in Regulation 150.4. Accordingly,
all collections of information and related burden estimates under
Regulation 150.4 are hypothetical.
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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.\4\ On January 19, 2023, 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, 88 FR 3395 (``60-Day
Notice''). The Commission did not receive any relevant comments on the
60-Day Notice.
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\4\ 44 U.S.C. 3512, 5 CFR 1320.5(b)(2)(i) and 1320.8 (b)(3)(vi).
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Burden Statement: The Commission anticipates that there will
continue to be approximately 776 respondents and the hourly burden will
remain the same as provided in the 60-Day Notice. The respondent burden
for this collection is estimated to be as follows:
Estimated number of respondents: 776.
Estimated average burden hours per respondent: 15.14 hours.
Estimated total annual burden hours for all respondents: 11,748
hours.
Frequency of Collection: As needed.
There are no capital costs or operating and maintenance costs
associated with this collection.
(Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.)
Dated: March 22, 2023.
Robert Sidman,
Deputy Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2023-06308 Filed 3-27-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6351-01-P