70690 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 196 / Thursday, October 12, 2023 / Notices 

1 15 U.S.C. 80a. 

2For example, fund directors must approve 

investment advisory and distribution contracts. See 

15 U.S.C. 80a–15(a), (b), and (c). 

3The relevant exemptive rules are: rule 10f–3 (17 

CFR 270.10f–3), rule 12b–1 (17 CFR 270.12b–1), 

rule 15a–4(b)(2) (17 CFR 270.15a–4(b)(2)), rule 17a– 

7 (17 CFR 270.17a–7), rule 17a–8 (17 CFR 270.17a– 

8), rule 17d–1(d)(7) (17 CFR 270.17d–1(d)(7)), rule 

17e–1(c) (17 CFR 270.17e–1(c)), rule 17g–1 (17 CFR 

270.17g–1), rule 18f–3 (17 CFR 270.18f–3), and rule 

23c–3 (17 CFR 270.23c–3). 

4A ‘‘control person’’ is any person—other than a 

fund—directly or indirectly controlling, controlled 

by, or under common control, with any of the 

fund’s management organizations. See 17 CFR 

270.01(a)(6)(iv)(B). 

5Based on statistics compiled by Commission 

staff, we estimate that there are approximately 3,232 

funds that could rely on one or more of the 

exemptive rules. Of those funds, we assume that 

approximately 90 percent (2,909) actually rely on at 

least one exemptive rules annually. 

6We assume that the independent directors of the 

remaining two-thirds of those funds will choose not 

to have counsel, or will rely on counsel who has 

not recently represented the fund’s management 

organizations or control persons. In both 

circumstances, it would not be necessary for the 

fund’s independent directors to make a 

determination about their counsel’s independence. 

posted on the internet, without 

redaction. DOL encourages commenters 

not to include personally identifiable 

information, confidential business data, 

or other sensitive statements/ 

information in any comments. 

DOL is particularly interested in 

comments that: 

• Evaluate whether the proposed 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the Agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; 

• Evaluate the accuracy of the 

Agency’s estimate of the burden of the 

proposed collection of information, 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; 

• Enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and 

• Minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on those who 

are to respond, including through the 

use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology, 

(e.g., permitting electronic submission 

of responses). 

Agency: DOL–ETA. 

Type of Review: Extension without 

Changes. 

Title of Collection: Quarterly 

Narrative Progress Report, Employment 

and Training Supplemental Budget 

Request Activities. 

Form: ETA 9178. 

OMB Control Number: 1205–0517. 

Affected Public: State Workforce 

Agencies. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

57. 

Frequency: Quarterly. 

Total Estimated Annual Responses: 

228. 

Estimated Average Time per 

Response: 5 hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 1,140 hours. 

Total Estimated Annual Other Cost 

Burden: $0. 

Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A). 

Brent Parton, 

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for 

Employment and Training, Labor. 

[FR Doc. 2023–22500 Filed 10–11–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4510–FW–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[SEC File No. 270–472, OMB Control No. 

3235–0531] 

Proposed Collection; Comment 

Request; Extension: Rule 0–1 

Upon Written Request, Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of FOIA Services, 

100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 

20549–2736 

Notice is hereby given that, pursuant 

to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(44 U.S.C. 350l et seq.), the Securities 

and Exchange Commission 

(‘‘Commission’’) plans to submit to the 

Office of Management and Budget a 

request for extension of the previous 

approved collection of information 

discussed below. 

The Investment Company Act of 1940 

(the ‘‘Act’’) 1 establishes a 

comprehensive framework for regulating 

the organization and operation of 

investment companies (‘‘funds’’). A 

principal objective of the Act is to 

protect fund investors by addressing the 

conflicts of interest that exist between 

funds and their investment advisers and 

other affiliated persons. The Act places 

significant responsibility on the fund 

board of directors in overseeing the 

operations of the fund and policing the 

relevant conflicts of interest.2 Rule 0–1 

(17 CFR 270.0–1), as amended, provides 

definitions for the terms used by the 

Commission in the rules and regulations 

it has adopted pursuant to the Act. The 

rule also contains a number of rules of 

construction for terms that are defined 

either in the Act itself or elsewhere in 

the Commission’s rules and regulations. 

Finally, rule 0–1 defines terms that 

serve as conditions to the availability of 

certain of the Commission’s exemptive 

rules. More specifically, the term 

‘‘independent legal counsel,’’ as defined 

in rule 0–1, sets out conditions that 

funds must meet in order to rely on any 

of ten exemptive rules (‘‘exemptive 

rules’’) under the Act.3

If the board’s counsel has represented 

the fund’s investment adviser, principal 

underwriter, administrator (collectively, 

‘‘management organizations’’) or their 

‘‘control persons’’ 4 during the past two 

years, rule 0–1 requires that the board’s 

independent directors make a 

determination about the adequacy of the 

counsel’s independence. A majority of 

the board’s independent directors are 

required to reasonably determine, in the 

exercise of their judgment, that the 

counsel’s prior or current representation 

of the management organizations or 

their control persons was sufficiently 

limited to conclude that it is unlikely to 

adversely affect the counsel’s 

professional judgment and legal 

representation. Rule 0–1 also requires 

that a record for the basis of this 

determination is made in the minutes of 

the directors’ meeting. In addition, the 

independent directors must have 

obtained an undertaking from the 

counsel to provide them with the 

information necessary to make their 

determination and to update promptly 

that information when the person begins 

to represent a management organization 

or control person, or when he or she 

materially increases his or her 

representation. Generally, the 

independent directors must re-evaluate 

their determination no less frequently 

than annually. 

Any fund that relies on one of the 

exemptive rules must comply with the 

requirements in the definition of 

‘‘independent legal counsel’’ under rule 

0–1. We assume that approximately 

2,909 funds rely on at least one of the 

exemptive rules annually.5 We further 

assume that the independent directors 

of approximately one-third (970) of 

those funds would need to make the 

required determination in order for their 

counsel to meet the definition of 

independent legal counsel.6 We 

estimate that each of these 970 funds 

would be required to spend, on average, 

0.75 hours annually to comply with the 

recordkeeping requirement associated 

with this determination, for a total 

annual burden of approximately 727.5 

hours. Based on this estimate, the total 

annual cost for all funds’ compliance 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 196 / Thursday, October 12, 2023 / Notices 70691 

7The estimated hourly wages used in this PRA 

analysis were derived from the Securities Industry 

and Financial Markets Association’s Reports on 

Management and Professional Earnings in the 

Securities Industry (2013) (modified to account for 

an 1,800-hour work year and multiplied by 5.35 to 

account for bonuses, firm size, employee benefits 

and overhead) (adjusted for inflation), and Office 

Salaries in the Securities Industry (2013) (modified 

to account for an 1,800-hour work year and 

multiplied by 2.93 to account for bonuses, firm size, 

employee benefits and overhead) (adjusted for 

inflation). 

8 (485 × $360/hour) + (242.5 × $82/hour) = 

$194,485. 

1This estimate is based on the following 

calculation: (1.5 hours × 3 responses annually = 4.5 

hours). 

2This estimate is based on a review of Form N– 

17f–1 filings made with the Commission over the 

last three years. 

3This estimate is based on the following 

calculations: (4.5 hours × 21 funds = 94.5 total 

hours). 

with this rule is approximately 

$194,485. To calculate this total annual 

cost, the Commission staff assumed that 

approximately two-thirds of the total 

annual hour burden (485 hours) would 

be incurred by a compliance manager 

with an average hourly wage rate of 

$360 per hour,7 and one-third of the 

annual hour burden (242.5 hours) 

would be incurred by compliance clerk 

with an average hourly wage rate of $82 

per hour.8

The estimates of average burden hours 

are made solely for the purposes of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act. These 

estimates are not derived from a 

comprehensive or even a representative 

survey or study of the costs of 

Commission rules. 

Written comments are invited on: (a) 

whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

Commission, including whether the 

information shall have practical utility; 

(b) the accuracy of the Commission’s 

estimate of the burden of the collection 

of information; (c) ways to enhance the 

quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information collected; and (d) ways to 

minimize the burden of the collection of 

information on respondents, including 

through the use of automated collection 

techniques or other forms of information 

technology. Consideration will be given 

to comments and suggestions submitted 

by December 11, 2023. 

An agency may not conduct or 

sponsor, and a person is not required to 

respond to, a collection of information 

under the PRA unless it displays a 

currently valid OMB control number. 

Please direct your written comments 

to: David Bottom, Acting Director/Chief 

Information Officer, Securities and 

Exchange Commission, c/o John 

Pezzullo, 100 F Street NE, Washington, 

DC 20549 or send an email to: PRA_

Mailbox@sec.gov. 

Dated: October 6, 2023. 

J. Lynn Taylor, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2023–22580 Filed 10–11–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[SEC File No. 270–316, OMB Control No. 

3235–0359] 

Proposed Collection; Comment 

Request; Extension: Form N–17f–1 

Upon Written Request, Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of FOIA Services, 

100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 

20549–2736 

Notice is hereby given that pursuant 

to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

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

and Exchange Commission (the 

‘‘Commission’’) is soliciting comments 

on the collections of information 

summarized below. The Commission 

plans to submit this existing collection 

of information to the Office of 

Management and Budget for extension 

and approval. 

Form N–17f–1 (17 CFR 274.219) is 

entitled ‘‘Certificate of Accounting of 

Securities and Similar Investments of a 

Management Investment Company in 

the Custody of Members of National 

Securities Exchanges.’’ The form serves 

as a cover sheet to the accountant’s 

certificate that is required to be filed 

periodically with the Commission 

pursuant to rule 17f–1 (17 CFR 270.17f– 

1) under the Act, entitled ‘‘Custody of 

Securities with Members of National 

Securities Exchanges,’’ which sets forth 

the conditions under which a fund may 

place its assets in the custody of a 

member of a national securities 

exchange. Rule 17f–1 requires, among 

other things, that an independent public 

accountant verify the fund’s assets at the 

end of every annual and semi-annual 

fiscal period, and at least one other time 

during the fiscal year as chosen by the 

independent accountant. Requiring an 

independent accountant to examine the 

fund’s assets in the custody of a member 

of a national securities exchange assists 

Commission staff in its inspection 

program and helps to ensure that the 

fund assets are subject to proper 

auditing procedures. The accountant’s 

certificate stating that it has made an 

examination, and describing the nature 

and the extent of the examination, must 

be attached to Form N–17f–1 and filed 

with the Commission promptly after 

each examination. The form facilitates 

the filing of the accountant’s certificates, 

and increases the accessibility of the 

certificates to both Commission staff 

and interested investors. 

Commission staff estimates that it 

takes: (i) 1 hour of clerical time to 

prepare and file Form N–17f–1; and (ii) 

0.5 hour for the fund’s chief compliance 

officer to review Form N–17f–1 prior to 

filing with the Commission, for a total 

of 1.5 hours. Each fund is required to 

make 3 filings annually, for a total 

annual burden per fund of 

approximately 4.5 hours.1 Commission 

staff estimates that an average of 21 

funds currently file Form N–17f–1 with 

the Commission 3 times each year, for 

a total of 64 responses annually.2 The 

total annual hour burden for Form N– 

17f–1 is therefore estimated to be 

approximately 95 hours.3

The estimate of average burden hours 

is made solely for the purposes of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act, and is not 

derived from a comprehensive or even 

a representative survey or study of the 

costs of Commission rules. Compliance 

with the collections of information 

required by Form N–17f–1 is mandatory 

for funds that place their assets in the 

custody of a national securities 

exchange member. 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. 

Written comments are invited on: (a) 

whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

Commission, including whether the 

information shall have practical utility; 

(b) the accuracy of the Commission’s 

estimate of the burden of the collection 

of information; (c) ways to enhance the 

quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information collected; and (d) ways to 

minimize the burden of the collection of 

information on respondents, including 

through the use of automated collection 

techniques or other forms of information 

technology. Consideration will be given 

to comments and suggestions submitted 

by December 11, 2023. 

An agency may not conduct or 

sponsor, and a person is not required to 

respond to, a collection of information 

under the PRA unless it displays a 

currently valid OMB control number. 

Please direct your written comments 

to: David Bottom, Acting Director/Chief 

Information Officer, Securities and 

Exchange Commission, c/o John 

Pezzullo, 100 F Street NE, Washington, 

DC 20549 or send an email to: PRA_

Mailbox@sec.gov. 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1