Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 155 / Thursday, August 11, 2011 / Notices 49803 

4This estimate is based on staff discussions with 

a staff representative of an entity that surveys funds 

and calculates fund board statistics based on 

responses to its surveys. 

5No hour burden related to such maintenance of 

the charter was identified by the funds the 

Commission staff surveyed. Commission staff 

understands that many audit committee charters 

have been significantly revised after their adoption 

in response to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (Pub. L. 107– 

204, 116 Stat. 745) and other developments. 

However, the costs associated with these revisions 

are not attributable to the requirements of rule 

32a–4. 

6This estimate is based on the number of Form 

N–8As filed from January 2010 through December 

2010. 

7This estimate is based on the following 

calculation: (3.0 burden hours for establishing 

charter × 117 new funds = 351 burden hours). 

8Costs may vary based on the individual needs 

of each fund. However, based on the staff’s 

conversations with outside counsel that prepare 

these charters, legal fees related to the preparation 

and adoption of an audit committee charter usually 

average $1500 or less. The Commission also 

understands that the ICI has prepared a model audit 

committee charter, which most legal professionals 

use when establishing audit committees, thereby 

reducing the costs associated with drafting a 

charter. 

9This estimate is based on the following 

calculations: ($1500 cost of adopting charter × 117 

newly established funds = $175,500). 

audit committee charter, occurs once, 

when the committee is established. The 

second, related to the fund’s 

maintenance and preservation of a copy 

of the charter in an easily accessible 

place, is an ongoing annual burden. The 

information collection requirement in 

rule 32a–4 enables the Commission to 

monitor the duties and responsibilities 

of an independent audit committee 

formed by a fund relying on the rule. 

Commission staff estimates that, on 

average, the board of directors takes 15 

minutes to adopt the audit committee 

charter. Commission staff has estimated 

that with an average of 8 directors on 

the board,4 total director time to adopt 

the charter is 2 hours. Combined with 

an estimated 1 hour of paralegal time to 

prepare the charter for board review, the 

staff estimates a total one-time 

collection of information burden of 3 

hours for each fund. Once a board 

adopts an audit committee charter, a 

fund generally maintains it in a file 

cabinet or as a computer file. 

Commission staff has estimated that 

there is no annual hourly burden 

associated with maintaining the charter 

in this form.5

Because virtually all funds extant 

have now adopted audit committee 

charters, the annual one-time collection 

of information burden associated with 

adopting audit committee charters is 

limited to the burden incurred by newly 

established funds. Commission staff 

estimates that fund sponsors establish 

approximately 117 new funds each 

year,6 and that all of these funds will 

adopt an audit committee charter in 

order to rely on rule 32a–4. Thus, 

Commission staff estimates that the 

annual one-time hour burden associated 

with adopting an audit committee 

charter under rule 32a–4 going forward 

will be approximately 351 hours.7

As noted above, all funds that rely on 

rule 32a–4 are subject to the ongoing 

collection of information requirement to 

preserve a copy of the charter in an 

easily accessible place. This ongoing 

requirement, which Commission staff 

has estimated has no hourly burden, 

applies to all funds that have adopted 

an audit committee charter and 

continue to maintain it. 

When funds adopt an audit committee 

charter in order to rely on rule 32a–4, 

they also may incur one-time costs 

related to hiring outside counsel to 

prepare the charter. Commission staff 

estimates that those costs average 

approximately $1500 per fund.8

Commission staff understands that 

virtually all funds now rely on rule 32a– 

4 and have adopted audit committee 

charters, and thus estimates that the 

annual cost burden related to hiring 

outside legal counsel is limited to newly 

established funds. 

As noted above, Commission staff 

estimates that approximately 117 new 

funds each year will adopt an audit 

committee charter in order to rely on 

rule 32a–4. Thus, Commission staff 

estimates that the ongoing annual cost 

burden associated with rule 32a–4 in 

the future will be approximately 

$175,500.9

The estimates of average burden hours 

and costs are made solely for the 

purposes of the Paperwork Reduction 

Act, and are not derived from a 

comprehensive or even a representative 

survey or study of the costs of 

Commission rules and forms. 

The collections of information 

required by rule 32a–4 are necessary to 

obtain the benefits of the rule. The 

Commission is seeking OMB approval, 

because 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. 

The public may view the background 

documentation for this information 

collection at the following Web site, 

http://www.reginfo.gov . Comments 

should be directed to: (i) Desk Officer 

for the Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs, Office of 

Management and Budget, Room 10102, 

New Executive Office Building, 

Washington, D.C. 20503, or by sending 

an e-mail to: 

Shagufta_Ahmed@omb.eop.gov; and (ii) 

Thomas Bayer, Director/Chief 

Information Officer, Securities and 

Exchange Commission, c/o Remi PavlikSimon, 6432 General Green Way, 

Alexandria, VA 22312 or send an e-mail 

to: PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov . Comments 

must be submitted to OMB within 30 

days of this notice. 

Dated: August 8, 2011. 

Elizabeth M. Murphy, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2011–20419 Filed 8–10–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

Upon Written Request, Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of Investor 

Education and Advocacy, 

Washington, DC 20549–2833. 

Extension: 

Rule 30b1–5; SEC File No. 270–520; OMB 

Control No. 3235–0577. 

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’’) has submitted to the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(‘‘OMB’’) a request for extension of the 

previously approved collection of 

information discussed below. 

Rule 30b1–5 (17 CFR 270.30b1–5) 

under the Investment Company Act of 

1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a–1 et seq.) (the 

‘‘Investment Company Act’’) requires 

registered management investment 

companies, other than small business 

investment companies registered on 

Form N–5 (17 CFR 239.24 and 274.5) 

(‘‘funds’’), to file a quarterly report via 

the Commission’s EDGAR system on 

Form N–Q (17 CFR 249.332 and 

274.130), not more than sixty calendar 

days after the close of each first and 

third fiscal quarter, containing their 

complete portfolio holdings. The 

purpose of the collection of information 

required by rule 30b1–5 is to meet the 

disclosure requirements of the 

Investment Company Act and to provide 

investors with information necessary to 

evaluate an interest in the fund by 

improving the transparency of 

information about the fund’s portfolio 

holdings. 

The Commission estimates that there 

are 2,580 management investment 

companies, with a total of 

approximately 9,160 portfolios, that are 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
49804 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 155 / Thursday, August 11, 2011 / Notices 

governed by the rule. For purposes of 

this analysis, the burden associated with 

the requirements of rule 30b1–5 has 

been included in the collection of 

information requirements of Form N–Q, 

rather than the rule. 

The collection of information under 

rule 30b1–5 is mandatory. The 

information provided under rule 30b1– 

5 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 OMB control 

number. 

The public may view the background 

documentation for this information 

collection at the following Web site, 

http://www.reginfo.gov . Comments 

should be directed to: (i) Desk Officer 

for the Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs, Office of 

Management and Budget, Room 10102, 

New Executive Office Building, 

Washington, DC 20503, or by sending an 

e-mail to: 

Shagufta_Ahmed@omb.eop.gov; and (ii) 

Thomas A. Bayer, Director/Chief 

Information Officer, Securities and 

Exchange Commission, c/o Remi PavlikSimon, 6432 General Green Way, 

Alexandria, VA 22312; or send an email to: PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov. 

Comments must be submitted to OMB 

within 30 days of this notice. 

Dated: August 8, 2011. 

Elizabeth M. Murphy, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2011–20417 Filed 8–10–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

Upon Written Request, Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of Investor 

Education and Advocacy, 

Washington, DC 20549–0213. 

Extension: 

Rule 236; OMB Control No. 3235–0095; 

SEC File No. 270–118. 

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 

(‘‘Commission’’) has submitted to the 

Office of Management and Budget this 

request for extension of the previously 

approved collection of information 

discussed below. 

Rule 236 (17 CFR 230.236) under the 

Securities Act of 1933 (‘‘Securities Act’’) 

(15 U.S.C. 77a et seq.) requires issuers 

relying on an exemption from the 

Securities Act registration requirements 

for the public offering of fractional 

shares, scrip certificates or order forms, 

in connection with a stock dividend, 

stock split, reverse stock split, 

conversion, merger or similar 

transaction, to furnish to the 

Commission specified information at 

least 10 days prior to the offering. The 

information is needed to provide public 

notice that an issuer is relying on the 

exemption. Public companies are the 

likely respondents. The information is 

needed to establish qualification for 

reliance on the exemption. The 

information provided by Rule 236 is 

required to obtain or retain benefits. All 

information provided to the 

Commission is available to the public 

for review upon request. Approximately 

10 respondents file the information 

required by Rule 236 at an estimated 1.5 

hours per response for a total of 15 

annual burden hours (1.5 hours per 

response × 10 responses). 

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. 

The public may view the background 

documentation for this information 

collection at the following Web site, 

http://www.reginfo.gov. Comments 

should be directed to: (i) Desk Officer 

for the Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs, Office of 

Management and Budget, Room 10102, 

New Executive Office Building, 

Washington, DC 20503, or by sending an 

e-mail to: Shagufta_Ahmed@ 

omb.eop.gov; and (ii) Thomas Bayer, 

Director/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. Comments must be submitted to 

OMB within 30 days of this notice. 

Dated: August 8, 2011. 

Elizabeth M. Murphy, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2011–20416 Filed 8–10–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

Upon Written Request, Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of Investor 

Education and Advocacy, 

Washington, DC 20549–0213. 

Extension: 

Rule 22d–1; SEC File No. 270–275; OMB 

Control No. 3235–0310. 

Notice is hereby given that, pursuant 

to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(44 U.S.C. 3501–3520), the Securities 

and Exchange Commission (the 

‘‘Commission’’) has submitted to the 

Office of Management and Budget 

requests for extension of the previously 

approved collection of information 

discussed below. 

Rule 22d–1 (17 CFR 270.22d–1) under 

the Investment Company Act of 1940 

(the ‘‘Act’’) (15 U.S.C. 80a et seq.) 

provides registered investment 

companies that issue redeemable 

securities (‘‘funds’’) an exemption from 

section 22(d) of the Investment 

Company Act (15 U.S.C. 80a–22(d)) to 

the extent necessary to permit 

scheduled variations in or elimination 

of the sales load on fund securities for 

particular classes of investors or 

transactions, provided certain 

conditions are met. The rule imposes an 

annual burden per series of a fund of 

approximately 15 minutes, so that the 

total annual burden for the 

approximately 4,862 series of funds that 

might rely on the rule is estimated to be 

1215.5 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. 

Responses will not be 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. 

The public may view the background 

documentation for this information 

collection at the following Web site, 

http://www.reginfo.gov. Comments 

should be directed to: (i) Desk Officer 

for the Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs, Office of 

Management and Budget, Room 10102, 

New Executive Office Building, 

Washington, D.C. 20503, or by sending 

an e-mail to: 

Shagufta_Ahmed@omb.eop.gov; and (ii) 

Thomas Bayer, Director/Chief 

Information Officer, Securities and 

Exchange Commission, c/o Remi PavlikSimon, 6432 General Green Way, 

Alexandria, VA 22312 or send an email 

to: PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov. Comments 

must be submitted to OMB within 30 

days of this notice. 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES