Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 191 / Tuesday, October 3, 2006 / Notices 58455 

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

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

3Amex recently created these new classes of 

market participants. See Securities Exchange Act 

Release Nos. 53635 (April 12, 2006), 71 FR 20144 

(April 19, 2006) (creating the SROT class) and 

53652 (April 13, 2006), 71 FR 20422 (April 20, 

2006) (creating the RROT class). 

4See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 54317 

(August 15, 2006), 71 FR 48566. 

5 In approving this proposed rule change, the 

Commission notes that it has considered the 

proposed rule’s impact on efficiency, competition, 

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

6 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5). 

7 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(1) and 78f(b)(6). 

8 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(7) and 78f(d)(1). 

9 17 CFR 240.19d–1(c)(2). 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

Sunshine Act Meeting 

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to 

the provisions of the Government in the 

Sunshine Act, Public Law 94–409, that 

the Securities and Exchange 

Commission will hold the following 

meeting during the week of October 2, 

2006: 

A Closed Meeting will be held on 

Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 2:30 p.m. 

Commissioners, Counsels to the 

Commissioners, the Secretary to the 

Commission, and recording secretaries 

will attend the Closed Meeting. Certain 

staff members who have an interest in 

the matters may also be present. 

The General Counsel of the 

Commission, or his designee, has 

certified that, in his opinion, one or 

more of the exemptions set forth in 5 

U.S.C. 552b(c)(4), (5), (7), (8), (9)(B) and 

(10) and 17 CFR 200.402(a) (4), (5), (7), 

(8), (9)(ii), and (10) permit consideration 

of the scheduled matters at the Closed 

Meeting. 

Commissioner Casey, as duty officer, 

voted to consider the items listed for the 

closed meeting in closed session, and 

determined that no earlier notice thereof 

was possible. 

The subject matters of the Closed 

Meeting scheduled for Thursday, 

October 5, 2006 will be: 

Formal orders of investigation; 

Institution and settlement of 

injunctive actions; 

Institution and settlement of 

administrative proceedings of an 

enforcement nature; 

Adjudicatory matters; 

Regulatory matters regarding financial 

institutions; and 

Resolution of litigation matters. 

At times, changes in Commission 

priorities require alterations in the 

scheduling of meeting items. 

For further information and to 

ascertain what, if any, matters have been 

added, deleted or postponed, please 

contact: The Office of the Secretary at 

(202) 551–5400. 

Dated: September 29, 2006. 

Nancy M. Morris, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 06–8473 Filed 9–29–06; 11:16 am] 

BILLING CODE 8010–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–54509; File No. SR–Amex–

2006–70] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; 

American Stock Exchange LLC; Order 

Approving Proposed Rule Change and 

Amendment No. 1 Thereto To Apply 

Certain Provisions of Its Minor Rule 

Violation Plan to Registered Options 

Traders, Supplemental Registered 

Options Traders, and Remote 

Registered Options Traders 

September 26, 2006. 

On July 31, 2006, the American Stock 

Exchange LLC (‘‘Amex’’ or ‘‘Exchange’’) 

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 a proposed rule 

change to amend Amex Rule 590, which 

applies certain provisions the 

Exchange’s Minor Rule Violation Plan to 

Registered Options Traders (‘‘ROTs’’), 

Supplemental Registered Options 

Traders (‘‘SROTs’’), and Remote 

Registered Options Traders (‘‘RROTs’’).3

These provisions relate to quoting 

obligations and restrictions on quoting 

outside of assigned classes. On August 

14, 2006, the Exchange filed 

Amendment No. 1 to the proposed rule 

change. The proposed rule change, as 

amended, was published for comment 

in the Federal Register on August 21, 

2006.4 The Commission received no 

comments regarding the proposal. 

The Commission finds that the 

proposed rule change, as amended, is 

consistent with the requirements of the 

Act and the rules and regulations 

thereunder applicable to a national 

securities exchange.5 In particular, the 

Commission believes that the proposal 

is consistent with section 6(b)(5) of the 

Act 6 because a proposed rule change 

that is reasonably designed to promote 

compliance by ROTs, SROTs, and 

RROTs with applicable quoting 

obligations and restrictions should help 

protect investors and the public interest. 

The Commission further believes that 

handling violations of these quoting 

rules pursuant to Amex’s Minor Rule 

Violation Plan is consistent with 

sections 6(b)(1) and 6(b)(6) of the Act,7

which require that the rules of an 

exchange enforce compliance with, and 

provide appropriate discipline for, 

violations of Commission and Exchange 

rules. In addition, because existing 

Amex Rule 590 provides procedural 

rights to a person fined for any violation 

of an Exchange rule that is determined 

to be minor in nature to contest the fine 

and permits disciplinary proceedings on 

the matter, the Commission believes 

Amex Rule 590, as amended by this 

proposal, provides a fair procedure for 

the disciplining of members and 

persons associated with members, 

consistent with sections 6(b)(7) and 

6(d)(1) of the Act.8

Finally, the Commission finds that the 

proposal is consistent with the public 

interest, the protection of investors, or 

otherwise in furtherance of the purposes 

of the Act, as required by Rule 19d–

1(c)(2) under the Act 9 which governs 

minor rule violation plans. The 

Commission believes that the proposed 

change to Amex Rule 590 will 

strengthen the Exchange’s ability to 

carry out its oversight and enforcement 

responsibilities as a self-regulatory 

organization in cases where full 

disciplinary proceedings are unsuitable 

in view of the minor nature of the 

particular violation. 

In approving this proposed rule 

change, the Commission in no way 

minimizes the importance of 

compliance with Amex rules and all 

other rules subject to the imposition of 

fines under the minor rule violation 

plan of the Exchange. The Commission 

believes that the violation of any selfregulatory organization’s rules, as well 

as Commission rules, is a serious matter. 

However, the Exchange’s minor rule 

violation plan under Amex Rule 590 

provides a reasonable means of 

addressing rule violations that do not 

rise to the level of requiring formal 

disciplinary proceedings, while 

providing greater flexibility in handling 

certain violations. The Commission 

expects that Amex will continue to 

conduct surveillance with due diligence 

and make a determination based on its 

findings, on a case-by-case basis, 

whether a fine of more or less than the 

recommended amount is appropriate for 

a violation under the minor rule 

violation plan or whether a violation 

requires formal disciplinary action 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with NOTICES