Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 8 / Wednesday, January 12, 2011 / Notices 2155 

3See rule 24b–3 under the Investment Company 

Act (17 CFR 270.24b–3), which provides that any 

sales material, including rule 482 advertisements, 

shall be deemed filed with the Commission for 

purposes of Section 24(b) of the Investment 

Company Act upon filing with FINRA. 

Rule 482 contains certain 

requirements regarding the disclosure 

that funds are required to provide in 

qualifying advertisements. These 

requirements are intended to encourage 

the provision to investors of information 

that is balanced and informative, 

particularly in the area of investment 

performance. For example, a fund is 

required to include disclosure advising 

investors to consider the fund’s 

investment objectives, risks, charges and 

expenses, and highlighting the 

availability of the fund’s prospectus. In 

addition, rule 482 advertisements that 

include performance data of open-end 

funds or insurance company separate 

accounts offering variable annuity 

contracts are required to include certain 

standardized performance information, 

information about any sales loads or 

other nonrecurring fees, and a legend 

warning that past performance does not 

guarantee future results. Such funds 

including performance information in 

rule 482 advertisements are also 

required to make available to investors 

month-end performance figures via 

website disclosure or by a toll-free 

telephone number, and to disclose the 

availability of the month-end 

performance data in the advertisement. 

The rule also sets forth requirements 

regarding the prominence of certain 

disclosures, requirements regarding 

advertisements that make tax 

representations, requirements regarding 

advertisements used prior to the 

effectiveness of the fund’s registration 

statement, requirements regarding the 

timeliness of performance data, and 

certain required disclosures by money 

market funds. 

Rule 482 advertisements must be filed 

with the Commission or, in the 

alternative, Financial Industry 

Regulatory Authority (‘‘FINRA’’).3 This 

information collection differs from 

many other federal information 

collections that are primarily for the use 

and benefit of the collecting agency. 

As discussed above, rule 482 contains 

requirements that are intended to 

encourage the provision to investors of 

information that is balanced and 

informative, particularly in the area of 

investment performance. The 

Commission is concerned that in the 

absence of such provisions fund 

investors may be misled by deceptive 

rule 482 performance advertisements 

and may rely on less-than-adequate 

information when determining in which 

funds they should invest their money. 

As a result, the Commission believes it 

is beneficial for funds to provide 

investors with balanced information in 

fund advertisements in order to allow 

investors to make better-informed 

decisions. 

The Commission estimates that 

58,368 responses are filed annually 

pursuant to rule 482 by 3,540 

investment companies offering 

approximately 16,225 portfolios, or 

approximately 3.6 responses per 

portfolio annually. Respondents consist 

of all the investment companies that 

take advantage of the safe harbor offered 

by the rule for their advertisements. The 

burden associated with rule 482 is 

presently estimated to be 5.16 hours per 

response. The hourly burden is 

therefore approximately 301,179 hours 

(58,368 responses × 5.16 hours per 

response). 

The estimate of average burden hours 

is made solely for the purposes of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act, and is not 

derived from a comprehensive or even 

a representative survey or study of the 

costs of Commission rules and forms. 

Cost burden is the cost of services 

purchased to comply with rule 482, 

such as for the services of computer 

programmers, outside counsel, financial 

printers, and advertising agencies. The 

Commission attributes no cost burden to 

rule 482. 

The provision of information under 

rule 482 is necessary to obtain the 

benefits of the safe harbor offered by the 

rule. The information provided is not 

kept confidential. 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 control number. 

Written comments are invited on: (a) 

Whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

agency, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate 

of the burden of the collection of 

information; (c) ways to enhance the 

quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information collected; and (d) ways to 

minimize the burden of the collection of 

information on respondents, including 

through the use of automated collection 

techniques or other forms of information 

technology. Consideration will be given 

to comments and suggestions submitted 

in writing within 60 days of this 

publication. 

Please direct your written comments 

to Thomas Bayer, Chief Information 

Officer, Securities and Exchange 

Commission, C/O Remi Pavlik-Simon, 

6432 General Green Way, Alexandria, 

VA 22312; or send an e-mail to: 

PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov. 

Dated: January 5, 2011. 

Elizabeth M. Murphy, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2011–449 Filed 1–11–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

Proposed Collection; Comment 

Request 

Upon Written Request, Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of Investor 

Education and Advocacy, 

Washington, DC 20549–0213. 

Extension: 

Rule 206(4)–6; SEC File No. 270–513; OMB 

Control No. 3235–0571. 

Notice is hereby given that pursuant 

to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) the Securities 

and Exchange Commission (the 

‘‘Commission’’) is soliciting comments 

on the collections of information 

summarized below. The Commission 

plans to submit these existing 

collections of information to the Office 

of Management and Budget (‘‘OMB’’) for 

extension and approval. 

The title for the collection of 

information is ‘‘Rule 206(4)–6’’ under 

the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (15 

U.S.C. 80b–1 et seq.) (‘‘Advisers Act’’) 

and the collection has been approved 

under OMB Control No. 3235–0571. The 

Commission adopted rule 206(4)–6 (17 

CFR 275.206(4)–6), the proxy voting 

rule, to address an investment adviser’s 

fiduciary obligation to clients who have 

given the adviser authority to vote their 

securities. Under the rule, an 

investment adviser that exercises voting 

authority over client securities is 

required to: (i) Adopt and implement 

policies and procedures that are 

reasonably designed to ensure that the 

adviser votes securities in the best 

interest of clients, including procedures 

to address any material conflict that 

may arise between the interest of the 

adviser and the client; (ii) disclose to 

clients how they may obtain 

information on how the adviser has 

voted with respect to their securities; 

and (iii) describe to clients the adviser’s 

proxy voting policies and procedures 

and, on request, furnish a copy of the 

policies and procedures to the 

requesting client. The rule is designed 

to assure that advisers that vote proxies 

for their clients vote those proxies in 

their clients’ best interest and provide 

mstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with NOTICES

2156 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 8 / Wednesday, January 12, 2011 / Notices 

1 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1). 

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

clients with information about how 

their proxies were voted. 

Rule 206(4)–6 contains ‘‘collection of 

information’’ requirements within the 

meaning of the Paperwork Reduction 

Act. The respondents are investment 

advisers registered with the Commission 

that vote proxies with respect to clients’ 

securities. Advisory clients of these 

investment advisers use the information 

required by the rule to assess 

investment advisers’ proxy voting 

policies and procedures and to monitor 

the advisers’ performance of their proxy 

voting activities. The information also is 

used by the Commission staff in its 

examination and oversight program. 

Without the information collected under 

the rules, advisory clients would not 

have information they need to assess the 

adviser’s services and monitor the 

adviser’s handling of their accounts, and 

the Commission would be less efficient 

and effective in its programs. 

The estimated number of investment 

advisers subject to the collection of 

information requirements under the rule 

is 10,207. It is estimated that each of 

these advisers is required to spend on 

average 10 hours annually documenting 

its proxy voting procedures under the 

requirements of the rule, for a total 

burden of 102,070 hours. We further 

estimate that on average, approximately 

121 clients of each adviser would 

request copies of the underlying policies 

and procedures. We estimate that it 

would take these advisers 0.1 hours per 

client to deliver copies of the policies 

and procedures, for a total burden of 

123,505 hours. Accordingly, we 

estimate that rule 206(4)–6 results in an 

annual aggregate burden of collection 

for SEC-registered investment advisers 

of a total of 225,575 hours. 

Written comments are invited on: 

(a) Whether the collections of 

information are necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

Commission, including whether the 

information has practical utility; (b) the 

accuracy of the Commission’s estimate 

of the burdens of the collections of 

information; (c) ways to enhance the 

quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information collected; and (d) ways to 

minimize the burdens of the collections 

of information on respondents, 

including through the use of automated 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology. Consideration 

will be given to comments and 

suggestions submitted in writing within 

60 days of this publication. 

Please direct your written comments 

to Thomas Bayer, Chief Information 

Officer, Securities and Exchange 

Commission, c/o Remi Pavlik-Simon, 

6432 General Green Way, Alexandria, 

VA 22312; or send an e-mail to: 

PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov. 

Dated: January 5, 2011. 

Elizabeth M. Murphy, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2011–448 Filed 1–11–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

Proposed Collection; Comment 

Request 

Upon Written Request, Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of Investor 

Education and Advocacy, 

Washington, DC 20549–0213. 

Extension: 

Rule 18f–1 and Form N–18f–1; SEC 

File No. 270–187; OMB Control No. 

3235–0211. 

Notice is hereby given that, pursuant 

to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(44 U.S.C. 350l–3520), the Securities 

and Exchange Commission 

(‘‘Commission’’) is soliciting comments 

on the collection of information 

summarized below. The Commission 

plans to submit this existing collection 

of information to the Office of 

Management and Budget for extension 

and approval. 

Rule 18f–1 (17 CFR 270.18f–1) 

enables a registered open-end 

management investment company 

(‘‘fund’’) that may redeem its securities 

in-kind, by making a one-time election, 

to commit to make cash redemptions 

pursuant to certain requirements 

without violating section 18(f) of the 

Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 

U.S.C. 80a–18(f)). A fund relying on the 

rule must file Form N–18F–1 (17 CFR 

274.51) to notify the Commission of this 

election. The Commission staff 

estimates that approximately 52 funds 

file Form N–18F–1 annually, and that 

each response takes approximately one 

hour. Based on these estimates, the total 

annual burden hours associated with 

the rule is estimated to be 52 hours. 

The estimate of average burden hours 

is made solely for the purposes of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act, and is not 

derived from a comprehensive or even 

a representative survey or study of the 

costs of Commission rules. 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. 

Written comments are invited on: (a) 

Whether the collection of information is 

necessary for the proper performance of 

the functions of the Commission, 

including whether the information has 

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 

Commission’s estimate of the burden of 

the collection of information; (c) ways to 

enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 

of the information collected; and (d) 

ways to minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on 

respondents, including through the use 

of automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

Consideration will be given to 

comments and suggestions submitted in 

writing within 60 days of this 

publication. 

Please direct your written comments 

to Thomas Bayer, Chief Information 

Officer, Securities and Exchange 

Commission, C/O Remi Pavlik-Simon, 

6432 General Green Way, Alexandria, 

VA 22312; or send an e-mail to: 

PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov. 

Dated: January 5, 2011. 

Elizabeth M. Murphy, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2011–447 Filed 1–11–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–63650; File No. SR– 

NASDAQ–2011–001] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; Notice 

of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness 

of Proposed Rule Change by The 

NASDAQ Stock Market, LLC to 

Establish a $5 Strike Price Program 

January 6, 2011. 

Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

(‘‘Act’’) 1 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2

notice is hereby given that, on January 

3, 2011, The NASDAQ Stock Market 

LLC (‘‘NASDAQ’’ or ‘‘Exchange’’) filed 

with the Securities and Exchange 

Commission (‘‘SEC’’ or ‘‘Commission’’) 

the proposed rule change as described 

in Items I and II below, which Items 

have been prepared by the Exchange. 

The Commission is publishing this 

notice to solicit comments on the 

proposed rule change from interested 

persons. 

I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Terms of Substance of 

the Proposed Rule Change 

The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC 

proposes to amend Chapter IV, 

Securities Traded on NOM, Section 6, 

Series of Open Contracts Open for 

Trading, to allow the Exchange to list 

mstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with NOTICES