62608 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 175 / Tuesday, September 12, 2023 / Notices 

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

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

3See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 97653 

(June 6, 2023), 88 FR 38110 (‘‘Notice’’). 

4 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2). 

5See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 97972, 

88 FR 49508 (July 31, 2023). The Commission 

designated September 10, 2023, as the date by 

which it should approve, disapprove, or institute 

proceedings to determine whether to disapprove the 

proposed rule change. 

6 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2)(B). 

7See Notice, supra note 3. 

8According to the Exchange, the Trust, which 

was formed as a Delaware statutory trust on January 

12, 2023, will not be registered as an investment 

company under the Investment Company Act of 

1940, as amended, and is not a commodity pool for 

purposes of the Commodity Exchange Act, as 

amended. On May 12, 2023, the Trust filed with the 

Commission a registration statement on Form S–1 

(File No. 333–271910) (‘‘Registration Statement’’) 

under the Securities Act of 1933. The Exchange 

represents that the Registration Statement is not yet 

effective, and the Shares will not trade on the 

Exchange until such time that the Registration 

Statement becomes effective. 

9The Cash Custodian is responsible for holding 

the Trust’s cash as well as receiving and dispensing 

cash on behalf of the Trust in connection with the 

payment of Trust expenses. 

10See Notice, supra note 3, 88 FR at 38110. 

11 Id. 

B. Submitting Comments 

Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be sent 

within 30 days of publication of this 

notice to https://www.reginfo.gov/ 

public/do/PRAMain. Find this 

particular information collection by 

selecting ‘‘Currently under Review— 

Open for Public Comments’’ or by using 

the search function. 

The NRC cautions you not to include 

identifying or contact information in 

comment submissions that you do not 

want to be publicly disclosed in your 

comment submission. All comment 

submissions are posted at https://

www.regulations.gov and entered into 

ADAMS. Comment submissions are not 

routinely edited to remove identifying 

or contact information. 

If you are requesting or aggregating 

comments from other persons for 

submission to the OMB, then you 

should inform those persons not to 

include identifying or contact 

information that they do not want to be 

publicly disclosed in their comment 

submission. Your request should state 

that comment submissions are not 

routinely edited to remove such 

information before making the comment 

submissions available to the public or 

entering the comment into ADAMS. 

II. Background 

Under the provisions of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 

U.S.C. chapter 35), the NRC recently 

submitted a proposed collection of 

information to OMB for review entitled 

‘‘Regulatory Issue Summary 2009–06, 

Revision 1, Importance of Giving the 

NRC Advance Notice of Intent to Pursue 

License Renewal.’’ The NRC hereby 

informs potential respondents that an 

agency may not conduct or sponsor, and 

that a person is not required to respond 

to, a collection of information unless it 

displays a currently valid OMB control 

number. 

The NRC published a Federal 

Register notice with a 60-day comment 

period on this information collection on 

November 23, 2022, 87 FR 71696. 

1. The title of the information 

collection: Regulatory Issue Summary 

2009–06, Revision 1, Importance of 

Giving the NRC Advance Notice of 

Intent to Pursue License Renewal. 

2. OMB approval number: An OMB 

Control Number has not yet been 

assigned to this proposed information 

collection. 

3. Type of submission: New. 

4. The form number, if applicable: 

Not applicable. 

5. How often the collection is required 

or requested: Annually. 

6. Who will be required or asked to 

respond: Commercial nuclear power 

plant licensees who wish to renew their 

operating licenses and holders of 

renewed licenses. 

7. The estimated number of annual 

responses: 4. 

8. The estimated number of annual 

respondents: 4. 

9. The estimated number of hours 

needed annually to comply with the 

information collection requirement or 

request: 32. 

10. Abstract: The NRC is issuing 

Revision 1 of this regulatory issue 

summary (RIS) to emphasize the 

importance of (1) providing the NRC 

with advance notice of licensee plans 

for license renewal and (2) notifying the 

NRC of changes in previously 

announced plans for license renewal. 

Responses to this RIS will allow the 

NRC staff to better plan and budget for 

the reviews of applications submitted in 

accordance with part 54 of title 10 of the 

Code of Federal Regulations, 

‘‘Requirements for Renewal of Operating 

Licenses for Nuclear Power Plants.’’ 

Dated: September 6, 2023. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

David C. Cullison, 

NRC Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief 

Information Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2023–19571 Filed 9–11–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–98302; File No. SR– 

NYSEARCA–2023–37] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE 

Arca, Inc.; Order Instituting 

Proceedings To Determine Whether To 

Approve or Disapprove a Proposed 

Rule Change To List and Trade Shares 

of the COtwo Advisors Physical 

European Carbon Allowance Trust 

Under NYSE Arca Rule 8.201–E 

September 6, 2023. 

On May 23, 2023, NYSE Arca, Inc. 

filed with the Securities and Exchange 

Commission (‘‘Commission’’ or ‘‘NYSE 

Arca’’), 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 list and trade 

shares of the COtwo Advisors Physical 

European Carbon Allowance Trust. The 

proposed rule change was published for 

comment in the Federal Register on 

June 12, 2023.3

On July 25, 2023, pursuant to Section 

19(b)(2) of the Act,4 the Commission 

designated a longer period within which 

to approve the proposed rule change, 

disapprove the proposed rule change, or 

institute proceedings to determine 

whether to disapprove the proposed 

rule change.5 The Commission has 

received no comments on the proposal. 

This order institutes proceedings under 

Section 19(b)(2)(B) of the Act 6 to 

determine whether to approve or 

disapprove the proposed rule change. 

I. Summary of the Exchange’s Proposal 

As described in more detail in the 

Notice,7 the Exchange proposes to list 

and trade shares (‘‘Shares’’) of the 

COtwo Advisors Physical European 

Carbon Allowance Trust (‘‘Trust’’) 8

under NYSE Arca Rule 8.201–E, which 

governs the listing and trading of 

Commodity-Based Trust Shares. The 

sponsor of the Trust is COtwo Advisors 

LLC, a Delaware limited liability 

company (‘‘Sponsor’’). State Street Bank 

and Trust Company serves as the Trust’s 

administrator (‘‘Administrator’’) and as 

the Trust’s transfer agent and as 

custodian of the Trust’s cash, if any 

(‘‘Cash Custodian’’).9

Operation of the Trust 

The investment objective of the Trust 

will be for the Shares to reflect the 

performance of the price of EU Carbon 

Emission Allowances for stationary 

installations (‘‘EUAs’’), less the Trust’s 

expenses.10 The Trust intends to 

achieve its objective by investing all of 

its assets in EUAs on a nondiscretionary basis (i.e., without regard 

to whether the value of EUAs is rising 

or falling over any particular period).11


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 175 / Tuesday, September 12, 2023 / Notices 62609 

12 Id. 

13 Id. 

14 Id. 

15Additional information about EUAs and the 

operation of the EUA markets can be found in the 

Notice and in the Registration Statement. See 

Notice, supra note 3; Registration Statement, supra 

note 8. 

16There are two types of European Union (‘‘EU’’) 

emissions allowances: (i) general allowances for 

stationary installations, or EUAs; and (ii) 

allowances for the aviation sector, or ‘‘EUAAs.’’ The 

Trust will hold EUAs only. See Notice, supra note 

3, 88 FR at 38110. 

17See id. 

18 Id. at 38111. 

19 Id. 

20 Id. 

21 Id. 

22 Id. 

23 Id. 

24 Id. 

25 Id. 

26 Id. 

27 Id. 

28 Id. 

29 Id. 

30 Id. 

31 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2)(B). 

Shares of the Trust will represent units 

of fractional undivided beneficial 

interest in and ownership of the Trust. 

The Trust’s only ordinary recurring 

expense will be the Sponsor’s annual 

fee.12 The Trust will not hold any assets 

other than EUAs or possibly cash. The 

Trust may hold a very limited amount 

of cash to pay Trust expenses. The Trust 

may also cause the Sponsor to receive 

EUAs from the Trust in such a quantity 

as may be necessary to pay the 

Sponsor’s annual fee.13

The Trust will not invest in futures, 

options, or swap contracts on any 

futures exchange or in the over-thecounter market. The Trust will not hold 

or trade in commodity futures contracts, 

‘‘commodity interests,’’ or any other 

instruments regulated by the 

Commodity Exchange Act. As stated 

above, the Trust’s Cash Custodian may 

hold cash proceeds from EUA sales to 

pay Trust expenses. All EUAs will be 

held in the Union Registry (defined 

below). The Exchange states that the 

Trust is not a proxy for investing in 

physical carbon credits. Rather, 

according to the Exchange, the Shares 

are intended to provide a cost-effective 

means of obtaining investment exposure 

to the price of EUAs through the 

securities markets that is similar to an 

investment in futures contracts or other 

derivatives.14

Description of EUAs 15

According to the Exchange, the 

European Union Emissions Trading 

System (‘‘EU ETS’’) is a ‘‘cap and trade’’ 

system that caps the total volume of 

greenhouse gas (‘‘GHG’’) emissions from 

installations and aircraft operators 

responsible for around 40% of EU GHG 

emissions.16 The EU ETS is the largest 

cap and trade system in the world and 

covers more than 11,000 power stations 

and industrial plants in 31 countries, 

and flights between airports of 

participating countries.17 The EU ETS is 

administered by the EU Commission, 

which issues a predefined amount of 

EUAs through auctions or free 

allocation. An EUA represents the right 

to emit one metric ton of carbon dioxide 

equivalent into the atmosphere by 

operators of stationary installations 

(‘‘Covered Entities’’).18 By the end of 

April each year, all Covered Entities are 

required to surrender EUAs equal to the 

total volume of actual emissions from 

their installation for the last calendar 

year. EU ETS operators can buy or sell 

EUAs to achieve EU ETS compliance.19

In 2012, EU ETS operations were 

centralized into a single EU registry 

operated by the EU Commission 

(‘‘Union Registry’’), which covers all 

countries participating in the EU ETS.20

The Union Registry is an online 

database that holds accounts for all 

entities covered by the EU ETS as well 

as for participants (such as the Trust) 

not covered under the EU ETS. An 

account must be opened in the Union 

Registry in order to transact in EUAs, 

and the Union Registry is at all times 

responsible for holding the EUAs. All 

EUAs are held in the Union Registry. 

Trading and Pricing of EUAs 

According to the Exchange, there are 

two primary avenues for trading EUAs: 

a primary market and a secondary 

market. The primary market involves 

participation in a regularly scheduled 

auction.21 The secondary market 

involves transactions between buyers 

and sellers on regulated markets via 

trading in spot, options, and futures 

contracts.22 There are also over-thecounter transactions, but they comprise 

a negligible percentage of transactions.23

The Exchange represents that the EUA 

markets are generally liquid. EUA 

auctions are held on a near-daily basis 

throughout the year, other than between 

mid-December to mid-January, when 

auctions are paused.24 Prices achieved 

in these auctions are published on 

various publicly-accessible websites, 

including the European Commission’s 

primary website. 

The secondary market trading takes 

place predominantly on the European 

Energy Exchange AG (‘‘EEX’’) and ICE 

Endex.25 As of January 2023, the 

secondary market had average daily 

trading volume of Ö2 billion, with the 

majority of the liquidity in the futures 

market.26 Prices for secondary market 

transactions are published on various 

publicly-accessible websites, including 

those of EEX and ICE Endex.27 Both EEX 

and ICE Endex are affiliates of Exchange 

groups that are members of the 

Intermarket Surveillance Group. 

Most liquidity in the secondary 

market is achieved by trading futures 

contracts. These contracts have 

expiration going out as far as 2030. The 

most liquid contract is the single day 

futures contract on EUAs (‘‘Daily EUA 

Future’’), which settles each day at the 

close of trading.28 Generally, Daily EUA 

Futures trade from approximately 2:00 

a.m. Eastern Time (‘‘E.T.’’) to 

approximately 12:00 p.m. E.T. The 

settlement price is fixed each business 

day and is published at approximately 

12:15 E.T. Final cash settlement occurs 

the first business day following the 

expiry day. 

In 2021, the secondary spot market for 

EUAs (including the Daily EUA Future) 

averaged around 2.4 million EUAs 

daily, and the primary auctions 

accounted for almost 2.5 million EUAs 

being auctioned several times per 

week.29 The current value (spot price) 

for an EUA is greatly influenced by a 

number of factors, including regulatory 

changes, world events, and the general 

level of economic activity.30

Net Asset Value (‘‘NAV’’) 

The Trust’s NAV is calculated by 

taking the current market value of its 

total assets, less any liabilities of the 

Trust, and dividing that total by the 

total number of outstanding Shares. The 

Administrator will calculate the NAV of 

the Trust once each Exchange trading 

day. The NAV for a normal trading day 

will be released after the end of the Core 

Trading Session, which is typically 4:00 

p.m. New York time. The NAV for the 

Trust’s Shares will be disseminated 

daily to all market participants at the 

same time. The Administrator will use 

the settlement price for the Daily EUA 

Futures established by ICE Endex to 

calculate the NAV. 

II. Proceedings To Determine Whether 

To Approve or Disapprove SR– 

NYSEARCA–2023–37 and Grounds for 

Disapproval Under Consideration 

The Commission is instituting 

proceedings pursuant to Section 

19(b)(2)(B) of the Act 31 to determine 

whether the proposed rule change 

should be approved or disapproved. 

Institution of proceedings is appropriate 

at this time in view of the legal and 

policy issues raised by the proposed 

rule change, as discussed below. 

Institution of proceedings does not 


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62610 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 175 / Tuesday, September 12, 2023 / Notices 

32 Id. 

33 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5). 

34See Notice, supra note 3. 

35See id. at 38110. 

36See id.; id. at 38112. 

37Section 19(b)(2) of the Act, as amended by the 

Securities Act Amendments of 1975, Public Law 

94–29 (June 4, 1975), grants the Commission 

flexibility to determine what type of proceeding— 

either oral or notice and opportunity for written 

comments—is appropriate for consideration of a 

particular proposal by a self-regulatory 

organization. See Securities Act Amendments of 

1975, Senate Comm. on Banking, Housing & Urban 

Affairs, S. Rep. No. 75, 94th Cong., 1st Sess. 30 

(1975). 38 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(57). 

indicate that the Commission has 

reached any conclusions with respect to 

any of the issues involved. Rather, as 

described below, the Commission seeks 

and encourages interested persons to 

provide comments on the proposed rule 

change. 

Pursuant to Section 19(b)(2)(B) of the 

Act,32 the Commission is providing 

notice of the grounds for disapproval 

under consideration. The Commission is 

instituting proceedings to allow for 

additional analysis of the proposed rule 

change’s consistency with Section 

6(b)(5) of the Act, which requires, 

among other things, that the rules of a 

national securities exchange be 

‘‘designed to prevent fraudulent and 

manipulative acts and practices’’ and 

‘‘to protect investors and the public 

interest.’’ 33

The Commission asks that 

commenters address the sufficiency of 

the Exchange’s statements in support of 

the proposal, which are set forth in the 

Notice,34 in addition to any other 

comments they may wish to submit 

about the proposed rule change. In 

particular, the Commission seeks 

comment on the following questions 

and asks commenters to submit data 

where appropriate to support their 

views: 

• According to the Exchange, the 

investment objective of the Trust will be 

for the Shares to reflect the performance 

of the price of EUAs, and that the Trust 

intends to achieve its objective by 

investing all of its assets in EUAs on a 

non-discretionary basis and will not 

hold or trade in commodity futures 

contracts.35 The Exchange further 

represents, however, that the Trust is 

not a proxy for investing in physical 

carbon credits, and that the 

Administrator will use the settlement 

price for the Daily EUA Futures 

established by ICE Endex to calculate 

the NAV.36 What are commenters’ views 

on the Trust’s holdings in spot EUAs, on 

the one hand, and its method of 

calculating NAV based on the 

settlement price of Daily EUA Futures, 

on the other? What are commenters’ 

views on the correlation in pricing 

between the EUA and Daily EUA 

Futures markets? 

• The Exchange asserts that the 

proposed rule change is designed to 

prevent fraudulent and manipulative 

acts and practices in that the Shares will 

be listed and traded on the Exchange 

pursuant to the initial and continued 

listing criteria in NYSE Arca Rule 

8.201–E. What are commenters’ views 

on whether the proposed Trust and 

Shares would be susceptible to 

manipulation? What are commenters’ 

views generally on whether the 

Exchange’s proposal is designed to 

prevent fraudulent and manipulative 

acts and practices? 

III. Procedure: Request for Written 

Comments 

The Commission requests that 

interested persons provide written 

submissions of their views, data, and 

arguments with respect to the issues 

identified above, as well as any other 

concerns they may have with the 

proposal. In particular, the Commission 

invites the written views of interested 

persons concerning whether the 

proposal is consistent with Section 

6(b)(5) or any other provision of the Act, 

and the rules and regulations 

thereunder. Although there do not 

appear to be any issues relevant to 

approval or disapproval that would be 

facilitated by an oral presentation of 

views, data, and arguments, the 

Commission will consider, pursuant to 

Rule 19b–4, any request for an 

opportunity to make an oral 

presentation.37

Interested persons are invited to 

submit written data, views, and 

arguments regarding whether the 

proposed rule change should be 

approved or disapproved by October 3, 

2023. Any person who wishes to file a 

rebuttal to any other person’s 

submission must file that rebuttal by 

October 17, 2023. 

Comments may be submitted by any 

of the following methods: 

Electronic Comments 

• Use the Commission’s internet 

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

rules/sro.shtml); or 

• Send an email to rule-comments@

sec.gov. Please include file number SR– 

NYSEARCA–2023–37 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–NYSEARCA–2023–37. 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 (https://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 

a.m. and 3 p.m. Copies of the filing also 

will be available for inspection and 

copying at the principal office of the 

Exchange. Do not include personal 

identifiable information in submissions; 

you should submit only information 

that you wish to make available 

publicly. We may redact in part or 

withhold entirely from publication 

submitted material that is obscene or 

subject to copyright protection. All 

submissions should refer to file number 

SR–NYSEARCA–2023–37 and should be 

submitted on or before October 3, 2023. 

Rebuttal comments should be submitted 

by October 17, 2023. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.38

Sherry R. Haywood, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2023–19591 Filed 9–11–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–98303; File No. 4–546] 

Joint Industry Plan; Notice of Filing 

and Immediate Effectiveness of 

Amendment to the Options Order 

Protection and Locked/Crossed Market 

Plan To Add MEMX, LLC, as a 

Participant 

September 6, 2023. 

Pursuant to Section 11A(a)(3) of the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 


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