Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 234 / Friday, December 4, 2020 / Notices 78395 

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

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

3See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 89679 

(August 26, 2020), 85 FR 54461 (the ‘‘Notice’’). 

4See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 90129, 

85 FR 65113 (October 14, 2020). 

5See Letters from William J. Leahey, Head of 

Regulatory Compliance, Refinitiv, to Vanessa 

Countryman, Secretary, Commission, dated 

September 22, 2020 (‘‘Refinitiv Letter’’); Howard 

Meyerson, Managing Director, Financial 

Information Forum, to Vanessa Countryman, 

Secretary, Commission, dated September 22, 2020 

(‘‘FIF Letter’’); Ellen Greene, Managing Director, 

Equity & Options Market Structure, to Vanessa 

Countryman, Secretary, Commission, dated 

September 24, 2020. 

6See Letter from Lisa C. Horrigan, Associate 

General Counsel, FINRA, to Vanessa Countryman, 

Secretary, Commission, dated October 29, 2020 

(‘‘Response Letter’’). In Amendment No. 1, FINRA 

proposes to modify the proposal to provide that it 

will calculate the match rate in the aggregate across 

all equity exchanges instead of calculating the 

equity exchange match rate on a per exchange basis. 

7 15 U.S.C. 78k–1. 

8 17 CFR 242.608. 

9See Letter from Participants to Brent J. Fields, 

Secretary, Commission, dated February 8, 2016. 

Prior versions of the CAT NMS Plan were submitted 

to the Commission on September 30, 2014; 

February 27, 2015; and December 23, 2015. 

10 17 CFR 242.613. 

11Securities Exchange Act Release No. 77724 

(April 27, 2016), 81 FR 30614 (May 17, 2016). 

12Securities Exchange Act Release No. 79318 

(November 15, 2016), 81 FR 84696 (November 23, 

2016) (‘‘CAT Approval Order’’). 

13Securities Exchange Act Release Nos. 80255 

(March 15, 2017), 82 FR 14563 (March 21, 2017); 

80256 (March 15, 2017), 82 FR 14526 (March 21, 

2017). 

14See Securities Exchange Act 80783 (May 26, 

2017), 82 FR 25423 (June 1, 2017)(SR–FINRA– 

2017–13). 

15See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 82524 

(January 17, 2018), 83 FR 3230 (January 23, 2018). 

16See id. 

17See FINRA Rule 7400. 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–90535; File No. SR–FINRA– 

2020–024] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; 

Financial Industry Regulatory 

Authority, Inc.; Notice of Filing of 

Amendment No. 1 and Order Granting 

Accelerated Approval of a Proposed 

Rule Change, as Modified by 

Amendment No. 1 To Delete the FINRA 

Order Audit Trail System (OATS) 

November 30, 2020. 

I. Introduction 

On August 14, 2020, Financial 

Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. 

(‘‘FINRA’’) filed with the Securities and 

Exchange Commission (‘‘Commission’’), 

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

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

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

proposed rule changes to delete the 

Order Audit Trail System (‘‘OATS’’) 

rules in the FINRA Rule 7400 Series and 

FINRA Rule 4554 (the ‘‘OATS Rules’’) 

once members are effectively reporting 

to the Consolidated Audit Trail 

(‘‘CAT’’). On September 1, 2020, the 

proposed rule change was published for 

comment in the Federal Register.3 On 

October 8, 2020, the Commission 

extended the time period for 

Commission action on the proposed rule 

change to November 30, 2020.4 The 

Commission received three comment 

letters on the Notice.5 On October 29, 

2020, FINRA responded to the comment 

letters,6 and filed Amendment No. 1 to 

the proposed rule change (‘‘Amendment 

No. 1’’). The Commission is publishing 

this notice to solicit comments on 

Amendment No. 1 to the proposed rule 

change from interested parties and is 

approving the proposed rule change, as 

modified by Amendment No. 1, on an 

accelerated basis. 

II. Background 

Pursuant to Section 11A of the 

Exchange Act 7 and Rule 608 of 

Regulation NMS thereunder,8 FINRA 

and other self-regulatory organizations 

filed with the Commission a National 

Market System Plan Governing the 

Consolidated Audit Trail (the ‘‘CAT 

NMS Plan’’ or ‘‘Plan’’) 9 to comply with 

Rule 613 of Regulation NMS under the 

Exchange Act.10 The Plan was 

published for comment in the Federal 

Register on May 17, 2016,11 and 

approved by the Commission, as 

modified, on November 15, 2016.12 On 

March 15, 2017, the Commission 

approved rule change proposals 

submitted by the by all the national 

securities exchanges and association 

that are party to the CAT NMS Plan 

(‘‘Participants’’) that implement 

provisions of the CAT NMS Plan 

applicable to their members (the ‘‘CAT 

Compliance Rules’’).13

The CAT NMS Plan is designed to 

create, implement, and maintain a 

consolidated audit trail that will capture 

in a single consolidated data source 

customer and order event information 

for orders in NMS Securities and OTC 

Equity Securities (together, ‘‘CATEligible Securities’’), across all markets, 

from the time of order inception through 

routing, cancellation, modification, or 

execution. Section C.9 of Appendix C to 

the Plan requires each Participant to 

‘‘file with the SEC the relevant rule 

change filing to eliminate or modify its 

duplicative rules within six (6) months 

of the SEC’s approval of the CAT NMS 

Plan’’ and states that ‘‘the elimination of 

such rules and the retirement of such 

systems [will] be effective at such time 

as CAT Data meets minimum standards 

of accuracy and reliability.’’ FINRA 

submitted a proposed rule change that 

was substantively similar to the instant 

filing on May 15, 2017.14 FINRA 

subsequently withdrew the filing on 

January 12, 2018.15

Section C.9 of Appendix C to the Plan 

also requires these rule filings to discuss 

the following: 

(i) Specific accuracy and reliability 

standards that will determine when 

duplicative systems will be retired, 

including, but not limited to, whether 

the attainment of a certain Error Rate 

should determine when a system 

duplicative of the CAT can be retired; 

(ii) whether the availability of certain 

data from Small Industry Members 

would facilitate a more expeditious 

retirement of duplicative systems; and 

(iii) whether individual Industry 

Members can be exempted from 

reporting to duplicative systems once 

their CAT reporting meets specified 

accuracy and reliability standards, 

including, but not limited to, ways in 

which establishing cross-system 

regulatory functionality or integrating 

data from existing systems and the CAT 

would facilitate such Individual 

Industry Member exemptions.16

In response to these requirements, 

FINRA submitted the instant filing (the 

‘‘Proposal’’), which is described below. 

III. Description of the Proposed Rule 

Changes 

As required by the CAT NMS Plan, 

the Proposal discusses: (1) The specific 

standards that will govern when OATS 

will be eliminated; (2) whether the 

availability of data from Small Industry 

Members would facilitate duplicative 

systems retirement; and (3) the 

feasibility of granting exemptions from 

reporting to duplicative systems to 

individual Industry Members whose 

CAT reporting meets certain accuracy 

and reliability thresholds. 

A. Specific Accuracy and Reliability 

Standards 

1. OATS 

The OATS rules require certain 

FINRA members to report a variety of 

data regarding transactions in OTC 

equity securities and NMS stocks to 

OATS on a daily basis.17 In the 

proposal, FINRA proposes to delete its 

OATS rules from its rulebook once CAT 

Data achieves certain pre- and postcorrection error rates and certain 

qualitative criteria have been met. 

FINRA stated that it believes that 

relevant error rates are the primary, but 

not the sole, metric by which to 

determine the CAT’s accuracy and 

reliability and will serve as the baseline 

78396 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 234 / Friday, December 4, 2020 / Notices 

18See Notice, supra note 3 at 54463. 

19See CAT NMS Plan, Appendix B, Section 

A.3(b). 

20See CAT NMS Plan, Appendix C, Section 

A.3(b). 

21 Id. 

22See Notice, supra note 3 at 54463. 

23See, e.g., Industry Member Technical 

Specifications (2a/2b) version 2.2.1 r6, dated June 

22, 2020, available at www.catnmsplan.com/sites/ 

default/files/2020-06/CAT_Reporting_Technical_

Specifications_for_Industry%20Members_v2.2.1r6_

CLEAN.pdf. 

24See CAT NMS Plan, Appendix D, Section 7.2. 

The Plan requires the Plan Processor to confirm that 

file transmission and receipt are in the correct 

formats, including validation of header and trailers 

on the submitted report, confirmation of a valid 

SRO-Assigned Market Participant Identifier, and 

verification of the number of records in the file. Id. 

25See id. The Plan provides that syntax and 

context checks would include format checks (i.e., 

that data is entered in the specified format); data 

type checks (i.e., that the data type of each attribute 

conforms to the specifications); consistency checks 

(i.e., that all attributes for a record of a specified 

type are consistent); range/logic checks (i.e., that 

each attribute for every record has a value within 

specified limits and the values provided are 

associated with the event type they represent); data 

validity checks (i.e., that each attribute for every 

record has an acceptable value); completeness 

checks (i.e., that each mandatory attribute for every 

record is not null); and timeliness checks (i.e., that 

the records were submitted within the submission 

timelines). Id. 

26See id. 

27See id. 

28CAT NMS Plan, Appendix C, Section A.3(b), at 

n. 102. FINRA stated that while error rates after 

reprocessing of error corrections are ultimately 

expected to be de minimis for the CAT, it does not 

believe that post-correction errors need to be de 

minimis before OATS can be retired and is not 

suggesting, with this proposal, that 2% would meet 

the ultimate objective of de minimis error rates for 

CAT. In other words, the Proposal does not change 

the standard under the CAT NMS Plan that postcorrection errors must be de minimis. See Notice, 

supra note 3 at n. 24. 

29CAT NMS Plan, Appendix D, Section 3. 

30 Id. 

31 Id. 

32This assumes linkage statistics will include 

both unlinked route reports and new orders where 

no related route report could be found. 

33See CAT NMS Plan, Appendix D, Section 3. 

34See id. 

35See CAT Reporting Timelines at 

www.catnmsplan.com/timelines/. See also 

Securities Exchange Act Release No. 88702 (April 

20, 2020), 85 FR 23075 (April 24, 2020) (Order 

Granting Conditional Exemptive Relief from 

Sections 6.4, 6.7(a)(v) and 6.7(a)(vi) of the CAT 

NMS Plan) (‘‘Phased Industry Member Reporting 

Exemptive Order’’) and FINRA Rule 6895. Linkages 

for representative order scenarios involving agency 

average price trades, net trades and aggregated 

orders will not be required until the third phase of 

reporting (or ‘‘Phase 2c’’) is implemented in April 

2021; such linkages are not required in OATS 

today. 

requirement needed for OATS to be 

retired.18 FINRA stated that the 

Participants established an initial Error 

Rate, as defined in the Plan, of 5% on 

initially submitted data (i.e., data as 

submitted by a CAT Reporter before any 

required corrections are performed).19

The Participants based this Error Rate 

on their consideration of ‘‘current and 

historical OATS Error Rates, the 

magnitude of new reporting 

requirements on the CAT Reporters and 

the fact that many CAT Reporters may 

have never been obligated to report data 

to an audit trail.’’ 20

In the Proposal, FINRA expressed 

agreement with the Participants’ 

conclusion that a 5% pre-correction 

threshold ‘‘strikes the balance of 

adapting to a new reporting regime, 

while ensuring that the data provided to 

regulators will be capable of being used 

to conduct surveillance and market 

reconstruction, as well as having a 

sufficient level of accuracy to facilitate 

the retirement of existing regulatory 

reports and systems where possible.’’ 21

However, FINRA believed that, when 

assessing the accuracy and reliability of 

the data for the purposes of retiring 

OATS, the error thresholds should be 

measured in more granular ways and 

should also include minimum error 

rates of post-correction data, which 

represents the data most likely to be 

used by FINRA to conduct surveillance. 

Although FINRA is proposing to 

measure the appropriate error rates in 

the aggregate rather than firm-by-firm, 

FINRA expressed the belief that the 

error rates for equity securities should 

be measured separately from options 

since options orders are not currently 

reported regularly or included in 

OATS.22

FINRA also proposes that, before 

OATS is retired, the CAT would 

generally need to achieve a sustained 

error rate for Industry Member reporting 

in each of the categories below: 

• Rejection Rates and Data 

Validations. FINRA has reviewed the 

data validations for the CAT, which are 

set forth in the Industry Member 

Technical Specifications published by 

the Plan Processor,23 and confirmed that 

they are substantially similar to OATS. 

While not required to be designed the 

same as OATS, data validations must be 

functionally equivalent to OATS in 

accordance with the CAT NMS Plan 

(i.e., the same types of basic data 

validations must be performed by the 

Plan Processor to comply with the CAT 

NMS Plan requirements). Appendix D of 

the Plan, for example, requires that 

certain file validations 24 and syntax and 

context checks be performed on all 

submitted records.25 If a record does not 

pass these basic data validations, it must 

be rejected and returned to the CAT 

Reporter to be corrected and 

resubmitted.26 The Plan also requires 

the Plan Processor to provide daily 

statistics on rejection rates after the data 

has been processed, including the 

number of files rejected and accepted, 

the number of order events accepted 

and rejected, and the number of each 

type of report rejected.27 FINRA is 

proposing that, over the 180-day period, 

aggregate rejection rates (measured 

separately for equities and options) 

must be no more than 5% pre-correction 

or 2% post-correction across all CAT 

Reporters.28

• Intra-Firm Linkages. The Plan 

requires that ‘‘the Plan Processor must 

be able to link all related order events 

from all CAT Reporters involved in the 

lifecycle of an order.’’ 29 At a minimum, 

this requirement includes the creation 

of an order lifecycle between ‘‘[a]ll order 

events handled within an individual 

CAT Reporter, including orders routed 

to internal desks or departments with 

different functions (e.g., an internal 

ATS).’’ 30 FINRA is proposing that 

aggregate intra-firm linkage rates across 

all Industry Member Reporters must be 

at least 95% pre-correction and 98% 

post-correction. 

• Inter-Firm Linkages. The order 

linkage requirements in the Plan also 

require that the Plan Processor be able 

to create the lifecycle between orders 

routed between broker-dealers.31 FINRA 

is proposing that at least a 95% precorrection and 98% post-correction 

aggregate match rate be achieved for 

orders routed between two Industry 

Member Reporters.32

• Order Linkage Rates. In addition to 

creating linkages within and between 

broker-dealers, the Plan also includes 

requirements that the Plan Processor be 

able to create lifecycles to link various 

pieces of related orders.33 For example, 

the Plan requires linkages between 

customer orders and ‘‘representative’’ 

orders created in firm accounts for the 

purpose of facilitating a customer order, 

riskless principal orders, and orders 

worked through average price 

accounts.34 Pursuant to the phased 

approach for Industry Member reporting 

certain of these order linkages will not 

be required in the initial phase of 

reporting (or ‘‘Phase 2a’’), which 

commenced on June 22, 2020.35 FINRA 

is proposing that there be at least a 95% 

pre-correction and 98% post-correction 

linkage rate for orders that are required 

in Phase 2a. 

While such linkages are not required 

in OATS today, FINRA believes that it 

is appropriate to evaluate them for 

purposes of retiring OATS. These 

linkages represent a significant 

enhancement to the data currently 

available in OATS and will enhance the 

quality of the equity audit trail. FINRA 

does not anticipate that the error rates 

for the Phase 2a representative order 

Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 234 / Friday, December 4, 2020 / Notices 78397 

36 Id. 37See Amendment No. 1, supra note 6. 38For example, FINRA will need to transition all 

or substantially all of its automated surveillance 

patterns to CAT Data in order to evaluate the 

accuracy and reliability of the data. 

39See CAT NMS Plan, Appendix C, Section C.9. 

40The 180-day timeframes discussed above with 

respect to usage of the data and calculation of error 

rates will apply to data reported to the CAT by 

Small Industry OATS Reporters. 

41See supra note 36. 

42See CAT NMS Plan, Appendix C, Section C.9. 

43See Notice, supra note 3, at 54465. 

44 In approving these proposed rule changes, the 

Commission has considered the proposed rules’ 

Continued 

linkages in CAT would be significantly 

higher than the order linkages available 

in OATS today. Nonetheless, in 

evaluating whether the standards for 

OATS retirement have been met, FINRA 

has stated that it will take into 

consideration if the error rates for the 

Phase 2a representative order linkages 

have a significant negative impact on 

the overall error rates for order linkages. 

• Exchange and TRF/ORF Match 

Rates. The Plan requires that an order 

lifecycle be created to link ‘‘[o]rders 

routed from broker-dealers to 

exchanges’’ and ‘‘[e]xecuted orders and 

trade reports.’’ 36 FINRA is proposing at 

least a 95% pre-correction and 98% 

post-correction aggregate match rate 

across all equity exchange for orders 

routed from Industry Members to an 

exchange and, for over-the-counter 

executions, the same match rate for 

orders linked to trade reports.37

FINRA has stated that it intends to 

commence its review of CAT data and 

error rates based on Phase 2a data and 

linkages, which would replicate the data 

in OATS today, and will not wait for 

implementation of Phase 2c reporting 

(and the attendant linkages) to do so. 

Large Industry Members and Small 

Industry Members that currently are 

reporting to OATS (‘‘Small Industry 

OATS Reporters’’) are required to 

submit data to the CAT for these same 

events and scenarios during Phase 2a. 

Accordingly, FINRA believes that Phase 

2a Industry Member Data is the most 

relevant for OATS retirement purposes. 

FINRA anticipates that it will retire 

OATS based solely on Phase 2a 

reporting, assuming the threshold preand post-correction error rates are 

achieved and FINRA’s use of the data 

confirms that the data is accurate and 

reliable, as discussed below. 

Once these error rate thresholds are 

met, FINRA has stated that it must also 

evaluate and confirm through 

incorporation of CAT Data into its 

automated surveillance program that the 

data is accurate and reliable.38 Thus, in 

addition to the maximum error rates and 

matching thresholds proposed above, 

FINRA’s proposal requires that use of 

CAT Data must confirm that (i) there are 

no material issues that have not been 

corrected (e.g., delays in the processing 

of data, issues with query functions, 

etc.), (ii) the CAT includes all data 

necessary to allow FINRA to continue to 

meet its surveillance obligations and 

(iii) the Plan Processor is sufficiently 

meeting its obligations under the CAT 

NMS Plan relating to the reporting and 

linkage of Phase 2a Industry Member 

Data. FINRA believes that any errors in 

the CAT Data may manifest themselves 

only after surveillance patterns and 

other queries have been run. Thus, 

FINRA believes that while error rate 

thresholds may be met over a 180-day 

period, additional time may be required 

to reliably establish that usage of the 

CAT has not revealed material issues 

that have not been corrected and allow 

contextual analysis of the data to take 

place to uncover errors in reporting or 

processing that may not be apparent 

from more standardized data processes. 

In order to alert members of the status 

of the OATS Rules, if the Commission 

approves the proposed rule change, 

FINRA is proposing to add introductory 

language to Rule 4554 and the Rule 

7400 Series that will state that the SEC 

has approved a proposed rule change 

(SR–FINRA–2020–024) to remove Rule 

4554 and the Rule 7400 Series from the 

FINRA rulebook; however, by its terms, 

SR–FINRA–2020–024 will not be 

implemented until FINRA has 

determined that the CAT has achieved 

a level of accuracy and reliability 

sufficient to replace OATS. FINRA has 

stated that once it has determined that 

such standards have been met, FINRA 

will file for immediate effectiveness a 

rule filing setting forth the basis for its 

determination and will publish a 

Regulatory Notice announcing the 

implementation date of SR–FINRA– 

2020–024. 

2. Small Industry Member Data 

Availability 

The second issue the Plan requires the 

proposed rule change to address is 

‘‘whether the availability of certain data 

from Small Industry Members two years 

after the Effective Date would facilitate 

a more expeditious retirement of 

duplicative systems.’’ 39 FINRA believes 

that there is no effective way to retire 

OATS until all current OATS reporters 

are reporting to the CAT. Pursuant to 

the phased reporting approach, Small 

Industry OATS Reporters and Large 

Industry Members were required to 

begin reporting to the CAT on the same 

date, June 22, 2020. Thus, at this time, 

all current OATS reporters are required 

to report to the CAT.40 Small Industry 

Members that are not currently required 

to record and report information to 

OATS are required to begin reporting to 

the CAT in December 2021.41

3. Individual Industry Member 

Exemptions 

The final issue the Plan requires the 

proposed rule change to address is 

‘‘whether individual Industry Members 

can be exempted from reporting to 

duplicative systems once their CAT 

reporting meets specified accuracy and 

reliability standards, including, but not 

limited to, ways in which establishing 

cross-system regulatory functionality or 

integrating data from existing systems 

and the CAT would facilitate such 

Individual Industry Member 

exemptions.’’ 42

FINRA has stated that it believes that 

a single cut-over from OATS to CAT is 

highly preferable to a firm-by-firm 

approach and is not proposing to 

exempt members from the OATS 

requirements on a firm-by-firm basis.43

FINRA explained that the primary 

benefit to a firm-by-firm exemptive 

approach would be to reduce the 

amount of time an individual firm is 

required to report to a legacy system 

(e.g., OATS) if it is also accurately and 

reliably reporting to the CAT. FINRA 

believes that the overall accuracy and 

reliability thresholds for the CAT 

described above would need to be met 

under any conditions before firms could 

stop reporting to OATS. In addition, a 

firm-by-firm approach would require 

that OATS and CAT data be combined 

and integrated in order for FINRA to 

conduct surveillance in accordance with 

SEC rules and SRO obligations. 

Moreover, as discussed above, Small 

Industry OATS Reporters are required to 

report to the CAT on the same 

timeframe as all other OATS Reporters 

(i.e., Large Industry Members). Thus, 

FINRA believes there is no need to 

exempt members from OATS 

requirements on a firm-by-firm basis. 

IV. Discussion and Commission 

Findings 

After carefully considering the 

Proposal, the comments submitted, and 

FINRA’s response to the comments, the 

Commission finds that the proposed 

rule change, as modified by Amendment 

No., 1 is consistent with the 

requirements of the Act and the rules 

and regulations thereunder applicable to 

national securities exchanges and 

associations.44 Specifically, the 

78398 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 234 / Friday, December 4, 2020 / Notices 

impact on efficiency, competition, and capital 

formation. See 15 U.S.C. 78c(f). 

45 15 U.S.C. 78o–3(b)(6). 

46 15 U.S.C. 78o–3(b)(9). 

47 15 U.S.C. 78k–1. 

48See CAT NMS Plan, Appendix C, Section C.9. 

See Phased Industry Member Reporting Exemptive 

Order, supra note 34. 

49See Refinitiv Letter, supra note 5. 

50See SIFMA Letter, supra note 5. 

51See FIF Letter, supra note 5. 

52See FIF Letter, Refinitiv Letter, and SIFMA 

Letter, supra note 5. 

53See FIF Letter, Refinitiv Letter, and SIFMA 

Letter, supra note 5. 

54See SIFMA Letter, supra note 5. 

55See Refinitiv Letter, supra note 5. 

56See FIF Letter, supra note 5. 

57See Response Letter, supra note 6, at 4. 

Commission finds that the Proposal is 

consistent with Section 15A(b)(6) of the 

Act,45 which requires, among other 

things, that the rules of an association 

be designed to prevent fraudulent and 

manipulative acts and practices, to 

promote just and equitable principles of 

trade, to remove impediments to and 

perfect the mechanism of a free and 

open market and a national market 

system, and, in general, to protect 

investors and the public interest, and 

are not designed to permit unfair 

discrimination between customers, 

issuers, brokers or dealers. In addition, 

the Commission finds the Proposal is 

consistent with Section 15A(b)(9) of the 

Act,46 which requires that the rules of 

an association not impose any burden 

on competition that is not necessary or 

appropriate in furtherance of the 

purposes of the Act. 

The Commission also finds that the 

proposed rule change is consistent with 

Section 11A of the Act,47 and the CAT 

NMS Plan. Section 11A of the Act 

directs the Commission, with due regard 

for the public interest, the protection of 

investors, and the maintenance of fair 

and orderly markets, to use its authority 

to facilitate the establishment of a 

national market system for securities, 

including by authorizing or requiring 

SROs to act jointly to plan, develop, 

operate, or regulate a national market 

system. As discussed above, the Plan 

requires the proposal to discuss the 

specific accuracy and reliability 

standards that would determine when 

duplicative systems would be retired, 

whether the availability of certain data 

from Small Industry Members would 

facilitate a more expeditious retirement 

of duplicative systems, and whether 

individual Industry Members could be 

exempted from reporting to duplicative 

systems once their CAT reporting meets 

specified accuracy and reliability 

standards.48 Accordingly, FINRA filed 

the Proposal to indicate when the OATS 

Rules would be eliminated once CAT is 

sufficiently accurate and reliable and to 

explain how they intend to assess CAT’s 

accuracy and reliability. As discussed 

below, the Commission believes that the 

Proposal is consistent with the abovenoted provisions of the CAT NMS Plan 

and consistent with the Act because it 

is reasonably designed to assist the 

SROs in meeting their regulatory 

obligations pursuant to Rule 613 and the 

Plan. 

The Commission finds that FINRA’s 

proposal to delete its OATS rules is 

consistent with the Act. While OATS 

has provided an important resource for 

surveillance of the OTC market for 

equity securities, CAT is designed to be 

a more robust tool for market 

surveillance. Unlike OATS, the CAT 

will include order and transaction 

information from the Exchanges and 

will enable regulators to trace the 

complete life cycle of every order, 

regardless of whether it is routed or 

executed OTC or on an exchange. 

FINRA’s proposed approach to the 

timing of retiring OATS is appropriate. 

Three commenters stated the need for 

the ‘‘urgent decommissioning of 

OATS’’,49 and for the retirement of 

OATS in ‘‘an efficient and timely 

manner’’ 50 and on an ‘‘expedited 

basis’’ 51 to address the current 

duplication of firm resources. In its 

Response Letter, FINRA stated that it 

understands the technology costs and 

resources firms have dedicated and 

continue to dedicate to OATS, and that 

FINRA is committed to retiring OATS as 

efficiently and expeditiously as 

possible. The commenters also believed 

that OATS could be retired prior to the 

commencement of Phase 2c reporting on 

April 26, 2021. They expressed concern 

that Phase 2c error rate reporting would 

negatively impact the timing for the 

retirement of OATS.52 However, the 

retirement of OATS is independent of 

Phase 2c reporting. The earliest OATS 

can be retired is April 26, 2021 because 

error rate thresholds must be met over 

a 180-day period. In addition, as 

discussed in greater detail below, Phase 

2c error rates are not part of the OATS 

retirement error rate calculation and 

therefore should not delay the 

retirement of OATS. In finding that the 

proposed timing for retiring OATS, after 

commencement of Phase 2c reporting on 

April 26, 2021, is consistent with the 

Act, the Commission considered 

FINRA’s representation that it will not 

take Phase 2c error rates into account in 

determining whether the proposed 

standards for the retirement of OATS 

have been met. Thus, the Commission 

believes that the commencement of 

Phase 2c reporting does not impact the 

timing of OATS retirement. 

All three commenters commented on 

FINRA’s proposal to evaluate and 

confirm, through incorporation of CAT 

Data into its automated surveillance 

program, that CAT Data is accurate and 

reliable.53 One of these commenters 

argued that the process for incorporating 

CAT Data into FINRA’s surveillance 

program should begin as soon as 

possible and asked FINRA to clarify that 

it will not wait for industry reporting to 

achieve the applicable error rates for 

180 days before beginning to test its 

systems.54 Another commenter stated 

that while it agrees with FINRA’s goal 

of operationalizing CAT Data in its 

automated surveillances with the 

confidence necessary for FINRA to 

eliminate OATS, this is dependent on 

factors outside the control of Industry 

Members.55 In addition, the third stated 

that the ‘‘open-ended nature’’ of the 

non-error-rate conditions should not 

extend the retirement of OATS beyond 

the 180-day period.56 The Commission 

believes that the proposed conditions 

relating to FINRA’s use of the CAT Data 

are consistent with the CAT NMS Plan. 

The CAT NMS Plan provides that 

FINRA must be able to verify that the 

data is of ‘‘sufficient quality for 

surveillance purposes.’’ 

In any event, FINRA stated that it has 

already begun the process of 

transitioning its automated surveillance 

patterns and testing the CAT Data, 

addressing commenters’ concerns that 

FINRA is not waiting for industry 

reporting to achieve the applicable error 

rates for a 180-day period before 

commencing this process. However, as 

FINRA explained, the errors in the CAT 

Data may not be apparent until 

surveillance patterns and other queries 

have been run.57 Error rate thresholds 

may be met over a 180-day period, 

however, additional time may be 

required to reliably allow contextual 

analysis of the data to take place to 

uncover errors in reporting or 

processing that may not be apparent 

from more standardized data validation 

processes. For these reasons, the 

Commission concludes that FINRA’s 

proposal to evaluate and confirm that 

CAT Data is accurate and reliable is 

reasonable. 

The Commission concludes that 

FINRA’s proposed approach to review 

CAT data and error rates to determine 

if the OATS Rules can be deleted based 

on Phase 2a Industry Member data and 

linkages is appropriate as this is the data 

reported in OATS today, and thus is the 

most relevant for determining if OATS 

Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 234 / Friday, December 4, 2020 / Notices 78399 

58All Industry Members that currently are 

reporting to OATS are required to the submit data 

to the CAT during Phase 2a. See Phased Industry 

Member Reporting Exemptive Order, supra note 35. 

59See Refinitiv Letter and SIFMA Letter, supra 

note 5. 

60 In Phase 2a, linkage is required between the 

representative street side order and the order being 

represented when the representative order was 

originated specifically to represent a single order 

(received either from a customer or another brokerdealer) and there is: (1) An existing direct electronic 

link in the firm’s system between the order being 

represented and the representative order, and (2) 

any resulting executions are immediately and 

automatically applied to the represented order in 

the firm’s system. See Response Letter, supra note 

6, at n. 7. 

61See https://catnmsplan.com/sites/default/files/ 

2020-11/11.19.20-Monthly-CAT-ImplementationUpdate.pdf, at p. 5. 

62See Response Letter, supra note 6, at 6. 

63 Id. at 7. 

64 Id. at 5. 

65 Id. at 6–7. 

66See supra note 61. 

67 Id. 

68See Response Letter, supra note 3, at 6–7. 

69CAT NMS Plan, Appendix C, Section C.9. 

70See CAT NMS Plan, Section 1.1. 

71See, e.g., CAT Approval Order, 81 FR at 84814– 

15 (‘‘cross-market examinations require the 

cumbersome and time-consuming task of linking 

many different data sources . . . regulators that are 

determining whether rule violations have occurred 

will combine trading data from sources such as 

public feeds, SRO audit trails, EBS data, and trade 

blotters’’); Securities Exchange Act Release No. 

77724 (April 27, 2016), 81 FR 30614, 30685 (May 

17, 2016) (notice of CAT NMS Plan) (‘‘data is 

currently stored in multiple formats, is difficult to 

merge, and results in errors during the merging 

process’’). 

should be retired.58 Two commenters 

objected to FINRA including error rates 

for Phase 2a representative order 

linkages, arguing that such linkages are 

not required in OATS and therefore 

should be not considered in 

determining whether OATS can be 

retired.59 The representative order 

linkages required in Phase 2a are 

‘‘simple’’ linkages,60 and do not include 

more complex representative order 

scenarios, such as those involving 

agency average price trades, net trades 

and aggregated orders, which will not be 

required until Phase 2c. Statistics 

provided by FINRA CAT show that 

firms are performing these linkages with 

error rates well under those FINRA is 

proposing to require for retirement of 

OATS.61 Based on these statistics, the 

Phase 2a representative order linkages 

should not significantly impact linkage 

error rates for OATS retirement 

purposes.62 In addition, in evaluating 

whether the standards for OATS 

retirement have been met, FINRA will 

evaluate whether the error rate is the 

result of unlinked representative orders 

to create an apples-to-apples 

comparison to OATS.63

FINRA has committed to retiring 

OATS as soon as reasonably 

practicable,64 and has stated that if all 

other proposed criteria have been met, 

it does not anticipate delaying OATS 

retirement based on Phase 2a 

representative order linkage error rates 

alone.65 The Commission believes that 

including error rates for Phase 2a 

representative order linkages is 

reasonable, as they will be included by 

FINRA’s automated surveillance 

program and are not impacting error 

rates to date.66 Actual data provided by 

FINRA CAT is consistent with FINRA’s 

representation in its Response Letter 

that it is unlikely that the error rates for 

the Phase 2a representative order 

linkages in CAT will be significantly 

higher than the order linkages available 

in OATS today,67 and FINRA does not 

anticipate delaying OATS retirement 

based solely on Phase 2a representative 

order linkage error rates.68

The Commission also finds that 

FINRA’s proposed framework for 

assessing the accuracy and reliability of 

CAT Data for purposes of retiring 

OATS—including the ‘‘single cut-over’’ 

approach; and the scope, 

commencement, timeframe, and 

methodology of the assessment—is 

consistent with the Act. The Plan states 

that the elimination or modification of 

the SROs’ duplicative rules and the 

retirement of the related systems will be 

‘‘effective at such time as CAT Data 

meets minimum standards of accuracy 

and reliability.’’ 69 ‘‘CAT Data’’ is 

defined broadly 70 and includes 

customer information and order and 

transaction records pertaining to NMS 

stocks, OTC Equity Securities, and 

listed options submitted by both 

Participants and Industry Members. The 

Commission finds that the assessment 

mechanism proposed by FINRA is 

consistent with both the Act and the 

CAT NMS Plan, because it is reasonably 

designed to ensure that, before OATS is 

retired and OATS reporting 

requirements are eliminated, CAT is 

operating with sufficient accuracy and 

reliability for regulatory purposes, 

including by assessing whether 

compliance with key requirements of 

the CAT NMS Plan has been attained. 

Although FINRA generally intends to 

limit its assessment of error rates to 

Industry Member Data and to focus its 

assessment on fields and securities that 

are currently in OATS, some 

information that is outside the scope of 

OATS could be relevant to the 

consideration of the overall accuracy 

and reliability of the CAT and the 

performance of the Plan Processor. The 

Commission believes that while 

consideration must be given to the 

overall accuracy and reliability of CAT 

Data more broadly, it is appropriate for 

FINRA to focus their assessment of 

whether CAT is performing with a 

sufficient degree of accuracy and 

reliability to permit OATS retirement on 

data related to OATS-eligible securities 

by the same types of entities (i.e., 

broker-dealers) that are required to 

submit OATS reports. An assessment of 

the quality of broker-dealer reporting to 

CAT could be skewed by consideration 

of Participant reporting, particularly 

considering that Participants are 

required to report one year sooner than 

Industry Members and, all things being 

equal, can be expected to attain higher 

level of accuracy before Industry 

Members. Furthermore, focusing on 

Industry Member records will help 

identify any issues specific to this class 

of CAT Reporters and facilitate quicker 

improvements. This in turn could 

provide regulators with better oversight 

capability more quickly and help 

minimize the costs associated with 

duplicative reporting. 

In addition, the Commission believes 

that FINRA’s assessment of the data 

quality of specific categories of errors— 

i.e., rejection rates, intra-firm linkages, 

inter-firm linkages, order linkage rates, 

exchange and TRF/ORF match rates— 

are appropriate. The categories 

identified by FINRA are categories of 

errors calculated by OATS today and 

reflect key aspects of data quality that 

affect the ability of regulators to 

effectively access and use CAT Data to 

perform their regulatory functions. 

Thus, Commission believes it is 

reasonable for FINRA to examine these 

aspects of the data to confirm that they 

are exhibiting accuracy levels consistent 

with the required pre- and postcorrection accuracy levels of CAT Data 

overall. In particular one of the 

significant limitations of existing audit 

trail systems is the deficiency of 

linkages between the various events in 

the order life cycle—and the lack of 

linkage to specific customers—which 

results in regulators attempting to link 

these events together themselves from 

various sources through ad hoc and 

cumbersome processes that can 

introduce errors.71 Therefore, the 

Commission concludes that it is 

appropriate for FINRA’s assessment to 

include various aspects of order and 

transaction linkages. 

Moreover, the Commission concludes 

that it is appropriate for FINRA to allow 

retirement of OATS only when the 5% 

pre-correction and 2% post-correction 

thresholds are met in each category. The 

5% pre-correction threshold is the same 

as the initial maximum pre-correction 

78400 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 234 / Friday, December 4, 2020 / Notices 

72See CAT NMS Plan, Section 6.5(d)(i); 

Appendix C, Section A.3(b); Appendix C, Section 

A.3(b), n. 102. 73See CAT NMS Plan, Section 1.1. See also 17 

CFR 242.613(j)(6). ‘‘The term error rate shall mean 

the percentage of reportable events collected by the 

central repository in which the data reported does 

not fully and accurately reflect the order event that 

occurred in the market.’’ Id. 74See CAT NMS Plan, Appendix C, Section 

A.2(a); Appendix D, Section 6. 

75See FIF Letter, supra note 5. 

76CAT NMS Plan, Appendix C, Section C.9. 

77FINRA hosts a number of industry outreach 

events. For the list of upcoming FINRA events, see 

https://www.finra.org/events-training. Separately, 

FINRA CAT also hosts a number of industry update 

calls and events. For a list of upcoming industry 

outreach events, see https://catnmsplan.com/ 

events. 

78See FIF Letter and Refinitiv Letter, supra note 

5. 

79See Response Letter, supra note 6. 

80See CAT NMS Plan, Section 6.1(o)(v); CAT 

NMS Plan, Appendix C, Section A.3(b); CAT NMS 

Plan, Appendix D, Section 10.4. 

81See Response Letter, supra note 6. 

82 Id. 

error rate set forth in the CAT NMS 

Plan, and the 2% post-correction 

threshold is a reasonable quantification 

of the ‘‘de minimis’’ post-correction 

error rate contemplated by the CAT 

NMS Plan for the purposes of OATS 

retirement.72 Thus, the Commission 

believes it is reasonable to not require 

accuracy rates in CAT to equal or 

surpass the accuracy rates in OATS 

before allowing for OATS retirement. 

The Commission also concludes that 

the calculation methodologies proposed 

by FINRA for these metrics— 

specifically that the inter-firm linkage 

quality metric will be measured in the 

aggregate across all Industry Members 

rather than on a per-firm basis and that 

post-correction error rates will be 

measured as the number of errors in a 

particular category divided by the total 

number of records received in that 

category—are appropriate as this is how 

the CAT NMS Plan defines the 

calculation of these error rates.73

Further, the Commission concludes that 

FINRA’s approach of measuring postcorrection error rates at T+5 is 

appropriate, as this is consistent with 

the requirements of the CAT NMS 

Plan.74 It is appropriate to apply the 

data processing cycles and standards set 

forth in the CAT NMS Plan—such as 

regulatory access to corrected data on 

T+5—rather than standards associated 

with OATS or other existing systems to 

ensure that FINRA CAT’s surveillances 

are adequate based on the data that will 

be reported. An assessment of the 

adequacy of FINRA CAT’s processing 

based on OATS’ or other systems’ 

standards would not provide assurance 

that these systems would be sufficient 

under the applicable CAT NMS Plan 

requirements. 

In addition to these assessment 

criteria and error rates, under FINRA’s 

proposal, it must be able to confirm that 

(1) usage over the assessment period has 

not revealed material issues that have 

not been corrected; (2) the CAT includes 

all data necessary to allow FINRA to 

continue to meet its surveillance 

obligations; and (3) the Plan Processor is 

sufficiently meeting all of its obligations 

under the CAT NMS Plan. One 

commenter argued that these qualitative 

factors, which they referred to as ‘‘nonerror-rate conditions,’’ appear to go 

beyond the conditions set forth in the 

CAT NMS Plan, and they have concerns 

about the open-ended nature of the nonerror-rate conditions.75 The CAT NMS 

Plan requires that a system retirement 

proposal discuss ‘‘specific accuracy and 

reliability standards that will determine 

when duplicative systems will be 

retired, including, but not limited to, 

whether the attainment of a certain 

Error Rate should determine when a 

system duplicative of CAT can be 

retired’’ (emphasis added).76 The 

Commission believes that the qualitative 

factors identified by FINRA in addition 

to quantitative metrics such as error 

rates are consistent with this 

requirement. For example, even if CAT 

Reporters are reporting accurate data to 

the Central Repository, as measured by 

error rates, regulators might not be able 

to use CAT as intended if the Plan 

Processor is not adequately performing 

its functions, such as linking reportable 

events together to create a complete 

order life cycle and providing access 

and querying functionality to regulators. 

The Commission therefore concludes 

that it is appropriate for FINRA to 

consider these qualitative factors. 

The transparency regarding the 

assessment process and communication 

with Industry Members regarding any 

issues identified during that process 

will be beneficial. FINRA has 

committed to provide the industry with 

information and updates directly and 

through FINRA CAT regarding CAT 

implementation issues by holding 

periodic industry outreach events.77

These opportunities for regular and 

ongoing feedback about any issues 

identified will facilitate the correction 

of such issues and reduce the potential 

for delays in systems retirement. 

The Commission finds that FINRA’s 

proposal with respect to the length of 

the assessment are consistent with the 

Act. Before a crucial regulatory tool 

such as OATS can be retired, it is 

prudent to ensure that error rates in the 

replacement audit trail system have 

reached stabile, consistent levels. 

FINRA has represented that, based on 

past experience, 180 days represents the 

minimum time needed to fully test the 

accuracy and reliability of trade and 

order data and system functionality to 

ensure that FINRA is able to carry out 

its surveillances and other regulatory 

functions without a loss of quality. The 

Commission concludes that a 180-day 

period strikes a reasonable balance 

between ensuring that high accuracy 

and reliability levels are sustainable and 

minimizing the duplicative reporting 

period as much as practicable. 

Two commenters requested that 

FINRA provide transparency and 

sufficient notice once the date for the 

retirement of OATS has been set.78 As 

an initial matter, the process for retiring 

OATS is outlined in the Proposal. And, 

the Commission believes that FINRA is 

incented to make the requisite filing as 

far in advance as practicable in order to 

provide firms with sufficient notice and 

opportunity to prepare for the 

retirement of OATS to promote an 

orderly retirement of OATS. In addition, 

FINRA will provide as much 

transparency into the process as 

possible regarding issues relating to 

OATS retirement in its communications 

with firms.79 The Plan Processor is 

required to provide a variety of error 

rate data to CAT Reporters and the 

Operating Committee under the CAT 

NMS Plan including daily statistics on 

rejection rates after the data has been 

processed.80 During the 180-day 

assessment period, the Commission 

believes that it is appropriate for the 

SROs and the Plan Processor to provide 

this error rate data, as it will help 

Industry Members identify any problem 

areas and improve the accuracy of their 

CAT reporting. FINRA CAT currently 

provides regular updates to Industry 

Members regarding CAT 

implementation and compliance during 

FINRA CAT’s Weekly Industry Testing 

Checkpoint and Monthly 

Implementation calls.81 Also, the 

statistics provided by FINRA CAT will 

serve as a good proxy for progress 

toward achieving the requisite error 

rates for the purposes of OATS 

retirement.82 Further, once FINRA has 

determined that such standards have 

been met, it has committed to file a rule 

filing for immediate effectiveness setting 

forth the basis for its determination and 

to publish a Regulatory Notice 

announcing the implementation date of 

SR–FINRA–2020–024. 

V. Solicitation of Comments on 

Amendment No. 1 

Interested persons are invited to 

submit written data, views, and 

Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 234 / Friday, December 4, 2020 / Notices 78401 

83 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2). 84 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

arguments concerning the foregoing, 

including whether Amendment No. 1 is 

consistent with the Act. Comments may 

be submitted by any of the following 

methods: 

Electronic Comments 

• Use the Commission’s internet 

comment form (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml); or 

• Send an email to rule-comments@

sec.gov. Please include File Number SR– 

FINRA–2020–024 on the subject line. 

Paper Comments 

• Send paper comments in triplicate 

to Secretary, Securities and Exchange 

Commission, 100 F Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20549–1090. 

All submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–FINRA–2020–024. This file 

number should be included on the 

subject line if email is used. To help the 

Commission process and review your 

comments more efficiently, please use 

only one method. The Commission will 

post all comments on the Commission’s 

internet website (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the 

submission, all subsequent 

amendments, all written statements 

with respect to the proposed rule 

change that are filed with the 

Commission, and all written 

communications relating to the 

proposed rule change between the 

Commission and any person, other than 

those that may be withheld from the 

public in accordance with the 

provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be 

available for website viewing and 

printing in the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room, 100 F Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20549 on official 

business days between the hours of 

10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of the 

filing also will be available for 

inspection and copying at the principal 

office of the Exchange and on its 

internet website. All comments received 

will be posted without change. Persons 

submitting comments are cautioned that 

we do not redact or edit personal 

identifying information from comment 

submissions. You should submit only 

information that you wish to make 

available publicly. All submissions 

should refer to File Number SR–FINRA– 

2020–024 and should be submitted on 

or before December 28, 2020. 

VI. Accelerated Approval of Proposed 

Rule Change As Modified by 

Amendment No. 1 

The Commission finds good cause to 

approve the proposed rule change, as 

modified by Amendment No. 1, prior to 

the 30th day after the date of 

publication of notice of the filing of 

Amendment No. 1 in the Federal 

Register. As discussed above, the 

proposed rule change, as modified by 

Amendment No. 1, would eliminate the 

OATS Rules as duplicative systems of 

the CAT, after Industry Members and 

able to demonstrate reliable and 

accurate reporting to the CAT with a 

reasonable rate of errors, and after 

FINRA is able to ascertain that (1) usage 

of CAT Data over the assessment period 

has not revealed material issues that 

have not been corrected; (2) the CAT 

includes all data necessary to allow 

FINRA to continue to meet its 

surveillance obligations; and (3) the 

Plan Processor is sufficiently meeting all 

of its obligations under the CAT NMS 

Plan. The Commission believes that the 

proposal is consistent with these 

provisions of the CAT NMS Plan and 

consistent with the Act because they are 

reasonably designed to assist the SROs 

in meeting their regulatory obligations 

pursuant to Rule 613 and the Plan. 

In Amendment No. 1, FINRA 

modified the method by which the 

equity exchange match rate would be 

calculated. Specifically, FINRA 

proposed that instead of calculating the 

equity exchange match rate on a per 

exchange basis, it would calculate the 

match rate in the aggregate across all 

exchanges. The Commission believes 

that such a calculation is consistent 

with the current reporting published by 

FINRA CAT and as such will be easier 

for industry members to understand. 

The Commission believes Amendment 

No. 1 does not materially modify the 

substance of the proposed rule change 

as it was initially filed, but merely 

provides for a more straightforward 

method for calculating the equity 

exchange match rates. 

Accordingly, the Commission finds 

good cause, pursuant to Section 19(b)(2) 

of the Act, to approve the proposed rule 

change, SR–FINRA–2020–024, as 

modified by Amendment No. 1, on an 

accelerated basis.83

VII. Conclusion 

It is therefore ordered, pursuant to 

Section 19(b)(2) of the Act, that the 

proposed rule change (SR–FINRA– 

2020–024), as modified by Amendment 

No. 1, be and hereby is, approved on an 

accelerated basis. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.84

J. Matthew DeLesDernier, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2020–26677 Filed 12–3–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

[Disaster Declaration # 16603 and # 16604; 

California Disaster Number CA–00325] 

Presidential Declaration Amendment of 

a Major Disaster for the State of 

California 

AGENCY: U.S. Small Business 

Administration. 

ACTION: Amendment 9. 

SUMMARY: This is an amendment of the 

Presidential declaration of a major 

disaster for the State of California 

(FEMA—4558—DR), dated 08/22/2020. 

Incident: Wildfires. 

Incident Period: 08/14/2020 through 

09/26/2020. 

DATES: Issued on 11/21/2020. 

Physical Loan Application Deadline 

Date: 12/11/2020. 

Economic Injury (EIDL) Loan 

Application Deadline Date: 05/24/2021. 

ADDRESSES: Submit completed loan 

applications to: U.S. Small Business 

Administration, Processing and 

Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport 

Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

A. Escobar, Office of Disaster 

Assistance, U.S. Small Business 

Administration, 409 3rd Street SW, 

Suite 6050, Washington, DC 20416, 

(202) 205–6734. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The notice 

of the President’s major disaster 

declaration for the State of California, 

dated 08/22/2020, is hereby amended to 

extend the deadline for filing 

applications for physical damages as a 

result of this disaster to 12/11/2020. 

All other information in the original 

declaration remains unchanged. 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Number 59008) 

Cynthia Pitts, 

Acting Associate Administrator for Disaster 

Assistance. 

[FR Doc. 2020–26663 Filed 12–3–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8026–03–P