77128 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 215 / Wednesday, November 8, 2023 / Notices 

1The Participants include BOX Exchange LLC, 

Cboe BYX Exchange, Inc., Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc., 

Cboe C2 Exchange, Inc., Cboe EDGA Exchange, Inc., 

Cboe EDGX Exchange, Inc., Cboe Exchange, Inc., 

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc., 

Investors’ Exchange LLC, Long-Term Stock 

Exchange, Inc., MEMX LLC, Miami International 

Securities Exchange LLC, MIAX Emerald, LLC, 

MIAX PEARL, LLC, Nasdaq BX, Inc., Nasdaq 

GEMX, LLC, Nasdaq ISE, LLC, Nasdaq MRX, LLC, 

Nasdaq PHLX LLC, The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, 

New York Stock Exchange LLC, NYSE American 

LLC, NYSE Arca, Inc., NYSE Chicago, Inc., and 

NYSE National, Inc. 

2See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 67457 

(July 18, 2012), 77 FR 45722 (Aug. 1, 2012) (‘‘Rule 

613 Adopting Release’’). 

3Securities Exchange Act Release No. 78318 

(Nov. 15, 2016), 81 FR 84696, (Nov. 23, 2016) 

(‘‘CAT NMS Plan Approval Order’’). The CAT NMS 

Plan is Exhibit A to the CAT NMS Plan Approval 

Order. See CAT NMS Plan Approval Order, at 

84943–85034. The CAT NMS Plan functions as the 

limited liability company agreement of the jointly 

owned limited liability company formed under 

Delaware state law through which the Participants 

conduct the activities of the CAT (the ‘‘Company’’). 

Each Participant is a member of the Company and 

jointly owns the Company on an equal basis. The 

Participants submitted to the Commission a 

proposed amendment to the CAT NMS Plan on 

Aug. 29, 2019, which they designated as effective 

on filing. Under the amendment, the limited 

liability company agreement of a new limited 

liability company named Consolidated Audit Trail, 

LLC serves as the CAT NMS Plan, replacing in its 

entirety the CAT NMS Plan. See Securities 

Exchange Act Release No. 87149 (Sept. 27, 2019), 

84 FR 52905 (Oct. 3, 2019). 

4See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 90689 

(Dec. 16, 2020), 85 FR 83667 (Dec. 22, 2020); see 

also Letter from Michael Simon, CAT NMS Plan 

Operating Committee Chair, to Vanessa 

Countryman, Secretary, Commission, dated Dec. 1, 

2020, available at https://catnmsplan.com/sites/ 

default/files/2020-12/12.01.20-CAT-ExemptionRequest-OTQT.pdf. 

5See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 90688 

(Dec. 16, 2020), 85 FR 83634 (Dec. 22, 2020). 

6See Motion for Partial Stay of Order 34–90689, 

at 2; Motion for Partial Stay of Order 34–90688, at 

2. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. and 

Long-Term Stock Exchange, Inc. did not join these 

motions. 

7See Petition for Review, USCA Case No. 21– 

1065; Petition for Review, USCA Case No. 21–1066. 

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc., 

Investors Exchange LLC, Long-Term Stock 

Exchange, Inc., MEMX LLC, Miami International 

Securities Exchange LLC, MIAX Emerald, LLC, and 

MIAX PEARL, LLC did not join these petitions. 

8See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 95234 

(July 8, 2022), 87 FR 42247 (July 14, 2022). 

or personally or by mail, if a physical 

address is listed for the relevant 

Applicant below. Hearing requests 

should be received by the Commission 

by 5:30 p.m. on November 27, 2023, and 

should be accompanied by proof of 

service on applicants, in the form of an 

affidavit or, for lawyers, a certificate of 

service. Pursuant to rule 0–5 under the 

Act, hearing requests should state the 

nature of the writer’s interest, any facts 

bearing upon the desirability of a 

hearing on the matter, the reason for the 

request, and the issues contested. 

Persons who wish to be notified of a 

hearing may request notification by 

emailing the Commission’s Secretary at 

Secretarys-Office@sec.gov. 

ADDRESSES: The Commission: 

Secretarys-Office@sec.gov. Applicants: 

Joshua B. Deringer, Esq., Faegre Drinker 

Biddle & Reath LLP, at joshua.deringer@

faegredrinker.com; with a copy to 

Robert Stark, Nomura Private Capital 

LLC, Worldwide Plaza, 309 W 49th 

Street, New York, NY 10019. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kieran G. Brown, Senior Counsel, or 

Terri Jordan, Branch Chief, at (202) 551– 

6825 (Division of Investment 

Management, Chief Counsel’s Office). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For 

Applicants’ representations, legal 

analysis, and conditions, please refer to 

Applicants’ second amended and 

restated application, dated September 

28, 2023, which may be obtained via the 

Commission’s website by searching for 

the file number at the top of this 

document, or for an Applicant using the 

Company name search field, on the 

SEC’s EDGAR system. 

The SEC’s EDGAR system may be 

searched at, http://www.sec.gov/edgar/ 

searchedgar/legacy/companysearch.

html. You may also call the SEC’s Public 

Reference Room at (202) 551–8090. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Investment Management, under delegated 

authority. 

Sherry R. Haywood, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2023–24663 Filed 11–7–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–98848] 

Order Granting Conditional Exemptive 

Relief, Pursuant to Section 36(a)(1) of 

the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

(‘‘Exchange Act’’) and Rule 608(e) of 

Regulation NMS Under the Exchange 

Act, From Certain Requirements of the 

National Market System Plan 

Governing the Consolidated Audit Trail 

November 2, 2023. 

I. Introduction 

In July 2012, the Securities and 

Exchange Commission (the 

‘‘Commission’’ or the ‘‘SEC’’) adopted 

Rule 613 of Regulation NMS, which 

required national securities exchanges 

and national securities associations (the 

‘‘Participants’’) 1 to jointly develop and 

submit to the Commission a national 

market system plan to create, 

implement, and maintain a consolidated 

audit trail (the ‘‘CAT’’).2 The goal of 

Rule 613 was to create a modernized 

audit trail system that would provide 

regulators with timely access to a 

comprehensive set of trading data, thus 

enabling regulators to more efficiently 

and effectively analyze and reconstruct 

market events, monitor market behavior, 

conduct market analysis to support 

regulatory decisions, and perform 

surveillance, investigation, and 

enforcement activities. On November 

15, 2016, the Commission approved the 

national market system plan required by 

Rule 613 (the ‘‘CAT NMS Plan’’).3

On December 16, 2020, the 

Commission issued two exemptive 

orders regarding the implementation of 

the CAT NMS Plan (collectively, the 

‘‘2020 Orders’’). The first order, in 

response to a request from the 

Participants, granted temporary 

conditional relief from certain 

performance requirements related to the 

online targeted query tool (‘‘OTQT’’).4

The second order granted temporary 

conditional relief from the following 

requirements: (1) requirements for 

lifecycle linkages timeframes; (2) 

requirements for re-processing of 

corrected data received after T+5; (3) 

linkage requirements for Securities 

Information Processor data (‘‘SIP Data’’); 

(4) reporting requirements for port-level 

settings; (5) requirements for lifecycle 

linkages between customer orders and 

‘‘representative’’ orders; and (6) 

requirements for Participant reporting of 

rejected orders.5

On February 14, 2021, several of the 

Participants filed motions requesting 

that the Commission stay the 2020 

Orders, based on their concern that 

portions of the orders ‘‘interpret and 

apply the Plan in ways that will 

produce unintended adverse 

consequences, present implementation 

challenges, or both.’’ 6 That same day, 

several of those same Participants filed 

corresponding petitions for judicial 

review with the U.S. Court of Appeals 

for the District of Columbia Circuit (the 

‘‘D.C. Circuit’’) seeking review of the 

2020 Orders.7

On July 8, 2022, the Commission 

issued a new order granting temporary 

exemptive relief (the ‘‘2022 Order’’).8

The 2022 Order, which superseded the 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 215 / Wednesday, November 8, 2023 / Notices 77129 

9See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 95235 

(July 8, 2022), 87 FR 42242 (July 14, 2022). 

10See Order of Dismissal, USCA Case No. 21– 

1065 (consolidated with USCA Case No. 21–1066). 

11See Petition for Review, USCA Case No. 22– 

1234. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. 

and Investors’ Exchange LLC did not join this 

petition. 

12See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 97530 

(May 18, 2023), 88 FR 33655 (May 24, 2023). 

13 In May 2020, the Commission adopted 

amendments to the CAT NMS Plan that establish 

four Financial Accountability Milestones and set 

target deadlines by which these milestones must be 

achieved. These amendments also reduce the 

amount of any fees, costs, and expenses that the 

Participants may recover from Industry Members if 

the Participants fail to meet the target deadlines. 

See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 88890 

(May 15, 2020), 85 FR 31322 (May 22, 2020). The 

Commission has stated that, to the extent that the 

Participants are availing themselves of exemptive 

relief from a CAT NMS Plan requirement, such 

requirement shall not be included in the 

requirements for a Financial Accountability 

Milestone, provided that the conditions of the 

exemption are satisfied. See, e.g., Securities 

Exchange Act Release No. 89051 (June 11, 2020), 85 

FR 36631 (June 17, 2020). In connection with 

issuing this Order, the Commission has determined 

that the Participants have sufficiently complied 

with the conditions set forth in the prior Orders and 

with the technical requirements for Quarterly 

Progress Reports set forth in section 6.6(c) of the 

CAT NMS Plan, including for purposes of 

determining compliance with any applicable 

Financial Accountability Milestones. The 

Commission makes no determination as to the 

veracity of the factual assertions made in Quarterly 

Progress Reports submitted pursuant to section 

6.6(c) or as to whether the Participants have 

complied with the applicable Financial 

Accountability Milestones in all other respects. 

Moreover, the Commission makes no 

determinations with respect to the Full 

Implementation of CAT NMS Plan Requirements 

milestone described in section 1.1 of the CAT NMS 

Plan or the potential application of fee reduction 

provisions set forth in section 11.6 of the CAT NMS 

Plan with respect to that milestone. Rather, the 

Commission will consider the Participants’ 

compliance with the CAT NMS Plan requirements, 

and/or compliance with the conditions set forth in 

the prior Orders and the impact of that compliance, 

in the context of fee proposals related to that 

milestone. Moreover, the Commission makes no 

determinations regarding the Participants’ 

compliance or non-compliance with other 

provisions or requirements of the CAT NMS Plan 

that are not discussed in the prior Orders or in this 

Order. 

14 15 U.S.C. 78mm(a)(1). 

15 17 CFR 242.608(e). 

16See 2022 Order, supra note 8. 

17See, e.g., id. at 42248. 

18 Id. 

2020 Orders, modified and/or clarified 

certain aspects of the 2020 Orders and 

gave the Participants until July 31, 2024 

to either implement the functionality 

the Commission required for 

compliance with the relevant provisions 

of the CAT NMS Plan or to obtain 

Commission approval of alternative 

solutions that achieve the relevant 

regulatory objectives of Rule 613 and 

the CAT NMS Plan in a more costeffective manner, including CAT NMS 

Plan amendments or exemptive relief. In 

addition, the Commission issued an 

order denying the Participants’ stay 

motions, concluding that the 

administrative petitions to stay the 2020 

Orders were ‘‘moot’’ because those 

orders were ‘‘no longer in force.’’ 9 On 

August 3, 2022, the Commission and the 

Participants submitted a stipulation of 

voluntary dismissal to the D.C. Circuit, 

and, on August 5, 2022, the D.C. Circuit 

issued an order formally dismissing the 

lawsuits.10

On September 6, 2022, in order to 

reserve their rights, a subset of the 

Participants filed a petition for review 

with the D.C. Circuit seeking review of 

the 2022 Order.11 The Commission 

understood that the Participants’ 

concerns remained generally the same 

as expressed with respect to the 2020 

Orders. The Commission subsequently 

issued an order, on May 18, 2023, 

extending the exemptive relief provided 

by the 2022 Order (the ‘‘2023 Order’’) 

from July 31, 2024 to January 31, 2025, 

subject to the same conditions set forth 

in the 2022 Order.12 Since 2021, the 

Participants and Commission staff 

engaged in discussions with the goal of 

resolving their differences with respect 

to the issues raised by the 2020 Orders, 

the 2022 Order, and the 2023 Order (the 

‘‘prior Orders’’). 

In light of further developments 

throughout this period and in 

connection with the parties’ settlement 

of the pending litigation, the 

Commission has determined to issue a 

new order granting the Participants 

conditional exemptive relief from 

certain requirements of the CAT NMS 

Plan, which are described in more detail 

below.13 If and when it takes effect, the 

relief granted in this Order will 

supersede the relief granted in the 2022 

Order and the 2023 Order. This relief is 

to take effect upon issuance of an order 

by the D.C. Circuit dismissing with 

prejudice the Participants’ petition for 

review of the 2022 Order. Unless and 

until that occurs, the 2022 Order and 

the 2023 Order shall continue to govern. 

Should the Participants file a petition 

for review of this Order, the relief 

granted herein will be rescinded by its 

own terms and the 2022 Order and the 

2023 Order will resume governing. 

II. Discussion and Exemptive Relief 

Section 36(a)(1) of the Exchange Act 

grants the Commission the authority to 

‘‘conditionally or unconditionally 

exempt any person, security, or 

transaction . . . from any provision or 

provisions of [the Exchange Act] or of 

any rule or regulation thereunder, to the 

extent that such exemption is necessary 

or appropriate in the public interest, 

and is consistent with the protection of 

investors.’’ 14 Rule 608(e) of Regulation 

NMS similarly grants the Commission 

the authority to ‘‘exempt from [Rule 

608], either unconditionally or on 

specified terms and conditions, any selfregulatory organization, member 

thereof, or specified security, if the 

Commission determines that such 

exemption is consistent with the public 

interest, the protection of investors, the 

maintenance of fair and orderly markets 

and the removal of impediments to, and 

perfection of the mechanisms of, a 

national market system.’’ 15

The Commission recognizes that the 

Participants have expended, and 

continue to expend, substantial 

resources and effort towards the 

development and implementation of the 

CAT. However, in the 2022 Order, the 

Commission stated that the current 

functionality of the CAT does not yet 

comply with CAT NMS Plan 

requirements for the above-described 

areas.16 The Participants have 

disagreed, and have further stated that, 

in many of these areas, strict 

compliance with the relevant CAT NMS 

Plan provisions would not be practical 

from a cost-benefit perspective.17 In 

light of that disagreement, the 

Commission stressed in the 2022 Order 

its willingness to consider alternative 

solutions that achieve the regulatory 

goals of Rule 613 and the CAT NMS 

Plan in a more cost-effective manner.18

The Commission has determined that 

the exemptive relief granted herein— 

which is the product of multiple years 

of settlement discussions—is 

appropriate in the public interest and 

consistent with the protection of 

investors under section 36(a)(1) of the 

Exchange Act, as well as consistent with 

the public interest, the protection of 

investors, the maintenance of fair and 

orderly markets, and the perfection of 

the mechanisms of a national market 

system under Rule 608(e) of Regulation 

NMS. The Commission approved the 

CAT NMS Plan to help to protect 

investors and maintain fair and orderly 

markets by providing a sophisticated 

audit trail that improves regulators’ 

ability to investigate potential 

misconduct, to reconstruct and to 

analyze market events, and to support 

regulatory decisions with detailed and 

accurate data, among other benefits. The 

conditional exemptive relief in this 

Order allows for the implementation of 

alternative regulatory solutions that 

continue to advance the regulatory goals 

that Rule 613 and the CAT NMS Plan 

were intended to promote, while 

reducing the implementation and 

operational costs, burdens, and/or 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
77130 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 215 / Wednesday, November 8, 2023 / Notices 

19 ‘‘Industry Member’’ is defined in section 1.1 of 

the CAT NMS Plan as ‘‘a member of a national 

securities exchange or a member of a national 

securities association.’’ 

20The OTQT performance requirements set forth 

in appendix D, section 8.1.2 of the CAT NMS Plan 

are described in the 2022 Order. See 2022 Order, 

supra note 8, at 42248–50. The Commission 

understands that the Participants challenge the 

feasibility of strict compliance with these 

requirements. 

21The lifecycle linkage performance requirements 

set forth in appendix D, section 6.1 of the CAT NMS 

Plan are described in the 2022 Order. See 2022 

Order, supra note 8, at 42250–52. The Commission 

understands that the Participants challenge the 

feasibility of strict compliance with these 

requirements. 

22For the purposes of this document, references 

to data received ‘‘after T+5,’’ or to post-T+5 data, 

submissions, or reports, are to data received ‘‘after 

T+4 at 8 a.m. Eastern Time.’’ 

23The T+5 re-processing requirements set forth in 

appendix D, section 3 and section 6.2 of the CAT 

NMS Plan are described in the 2022 Order. See 

2022 Order, supra note 8, at 42252–53. The 

requirements concern how the CAT Order ID and 

other data elements (e.g., sequence numbers, CAT 

Customer ID) are created for post-T+5 data, as well 

as any applicable impacts to those data elements for 

on-time data within the same lifecycle that were 

previously delivered to regulatory users on T+5. 

The Commission understands that the Participants 

challenge the feasibility of strict compliance with 

these requirements. 

difficulties that would otherwise be 

incurred by the Participants and 

Industry Members 19 that must fund the 

CAT. It also resolves the continued 

impasse over implementation of these 

aspects of the CAT, which impeded and 

distracted from these regulatory goals. 

A. OTQT Performance Requirements 

The Commission grants conditional 

exemptive relief from the OTQT 

performance requirements related to 

query response times and parallel 

processing of queries set forth in 

appendix D, section 8.1.2 of the CAT 

NMS Plan.20 Such relief is subject to the 

following conditions: 

• The OTQT must maintain or 

improve current functionality that 

enables requests for ‘‘all related 

lifecycles’’ to be made either prior to or 

after the generation of a parent query. 

• The OTQT must further satisfy the 

performance parameters set forth in 

Exhibit A. 

• The Plan Processor must continue 

to test the OTQT’s performance with 

benchmark queries and evaluate the 

response times for actual queries on a 

monthly basis. Such tests and 

evaluations should contain at least the 

same content that is currently provided 

to Commission staff and should be 

provided to Commission staff and the 

Operating Committee within 30 days 

from the end of each month. 

• The Plan Processor must conduct 

an annual concurrency test by 

launching 300 simultaneous query 

requests across the different query 

categories and measuring the response 

times against the applicable 

performance standards. The 

concurrency test shall be based on 

historical actual queries, and the mix of 

queries shall be based on the percentage 

of actual queries by category. The 

concurrency test attributes shall be 

provided in writing and reviewed in 

advance with Commission staff and the 

Operating Committee. The Participants 

must also provide the results of the 

annual concurrency testing performed 

by the Plan Processor on the OTQT to 

Commission staff within 30 days from 

the date of such testing. If the 

concurrency test response times do not 

satisfy the performance standards set 

forth in Exhibit A (i.e., measured against 

a 90% compliance rate for each 

category, based on historical actual 

queries, with the mix of queries based 

on the percentage of actual queries by 

category), the Plan Processor shall 

promptly investigate and make 

recommendations to the Operating 

Committee for how to ensure adequate 

concurrency performance. 

• The Plan Processor must establish 

policies and/or procedures requiring 

review of the OTQT’s performance on a 

regular and ongoing basis and 

evaluation of opportunities for potential 

improvements to the OTQT’s 

performance. The Participants must 

provide to Commission staff, on an 

annual basis, a written status update 

including information regarding any 

potential and actual implementation by 

the Plan Processor of improvements to 

the OTQT performance. The written 

status update shall also include an 

evaluation of (1) volume trends and 

projections; (2) usage patterns and types 

of queries performed; (3) response time 

statistics and trends; (4) outlier queries; 

(5) costs and benefits; and (6) regulatory 

need. 

The Commission believes that this 

conditional exemptive relief reflects a 

reasonable compromise approach. The 

standards set forth in Exhibit A 

preserve, as a baseline, the OTQT 

functionality that is already in place, 

which should provide a measure of 

certainty for regulatory users regarding 

this query tool’s expected performance. 

The other conditions set forth above 

enable better oversight of the OTQT’s 

performance by the Participants and the 

Commission, which the Commission 

believes is in the public interest. 

B. Requirements for Lifecycle Linkages 

Timeframes 

The Commission grants conditional 

exemptive relief from the requirement 

set forth in appendix D, section 6.1 of 

the CAT NMS Plan that lifecycle 

linkages be created by T+1 at noon 

Eastern Time.21 Such relief is subject to 

the following conditions: 

• The Plan Processor must maintain 

or improve the existing performance of 

functionality currently providing 

lifecycle linkages for all order events by 

T+1 at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, except an 

interim CAT Order ID will not be 

required for Options Quotes once the 

functionality described below is 

implemented. 

• The Plan Processor must develop 

and implement the functionality to 

provide a final CAT Order ID and 

lifecycle linkage for Options Quotes by 

T+2 at 8 a.m. Eastern Time, including 

all enrichments currently provided for 

such order events at T+5 at 8 a.m. 

Eastern Time. The Plan Processor will 

no longer be required to provide an 

interim CAT Order ID for Options 

Quotes once this functionality has been 

implemented. When late or corrected 

data is received for Options Quotes 

between T+1 at 8 a.m. Eastern Time and 

T+4 at 8 a.m. Eastern Time, the Plan 

Processor must run, on an ad hoc basis, 

a second processing cycle such that 

lifecycle linkage and all enrichments 

currently provided for such order events 

are performed by T+5 at 8 a.m. Eastern 

Time. 

The Commission believes that this 

conditional exemptive relief facilitates 

settlement of the issues raised in the 

Participants’ challenge to the 2022 order 

while preserving existing functionality 

for most types of order events. 

C. Requirements for Re-Processing of 

Corrected Data Received After T+5 22

The Commission grants conditional 

exemptive relief from the re-processing 

requirements for corrected data received 

after T+5 that are set forth in appendix 

D, section 3 and section 6.2 of the CAT 

NMS Plan.23 Such relief is subject to the 

following conditions: 

• The Plan Processor must maintain 

its implementation of functionality 

related to late data lifecycle association 

that was approved by the Operating 

Committee on January 14, 2022 (the 

‘‘Late to the Lifecycle process’’) and on 

September 20, 2022 (the ‘‘Targeted 

Replay process’’) (collectively, the 

‘‘Enhanced Late to the Lifecycle 

process’’). Prior to the implementation 

of this functionality, in the limited 

circumstances in which there was a 

missing link between two disjoined 

segments of an order lifecycle, new or 

corrected data would join only one of 

the pre-existing segments and would be 

assigned to only one of the relevant 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 215 / Wednesday, November 8, 2023 / Notices 77131 

24The SIP Data linkage requirements set forth in 

section 6.5(b)(i) and appendix D, section 3 of the 

CAT NMS Plan is described in the 2022 Order. See 

2022 Order, supra note 8, at 42253–54. The 

Commission understands that the Participants 

challenge the feasibility of strict compliance with 

these requirements. 

25This ‘‘side-by-side’’ functionality refers to the 

ability for users of the OTQT to include SIP Data 

in multi-object searches that include transactional 

data from Industry Member and Plan Participant 

CAT Reporters. For example, a regulatory user may 

elect to query Exchange Equity Events and SIP 

Trades simultaneously for trades in a given 

security; the results will be returned interweaved 

within a single result set, in a logical sequence. 

26The requirements as applied to port-level 

settings set forth in in Rule 613(c)(7) and sections 

6.3(d)(i)(F), 6.3(d)(ii)(G), 6.3(d)(iii)(F), 6.3(d)(iv)(E), 

and 6.4(d)(i) of the CAT NMS Plan are described 

in the 2022 Order. See 2022 Order, supra note 8, 

at 42254–55. The Commission understands that, 

notwithstanding this Order, the Participants 

continue to disagree with its interpretation of these 

requirements and challenge the feasibility of strict 

compliance with these requirements, other than 

with respect to the Exempted Port-Level Settings. 

This Order does not resolve (or have any bearing 

on) the parties’ remaining interpretive disagreement 

on this issue, but instead provides exemptive relief 

that renders resolution of the issue unnecessary as 

to all port-level settings other than the Exempted 

Port-Level Settings. 

27As explained in the 2022 Order, the CAT NMS 

Plan does not require all port-level settings to be 

reported to the CAT. Rule 613 and the CAT NMS 

Plan only require Participants and Industry 

Members to report port-level settings that are used 

by a sender or a receiver of an order to 

communicate the Material Terms of the Order, 

including ‘‘any special handling instructions.’’ 

Furthermore, Rule 613 and the CAT NMS Plan only 

obligate the sender of an order to report the Material 

Terms of the Order that it communicated to and/ 

or agreed upon with the receiver of the order, 

including default or implicit special handling 

instructions communicated through a port-level 

setting. If the receiver of an order subsequently 

attaches ‘‘any special handling instructions’’ to an 

order without informing the sender, including 

special handling instructions communicated 

through a port-level setting, only the receiver would 

be obligated to report those Material Terms of the 

Order. 

lifecycle CAT Order IDs for the 

disjoined segment and evaluated for 

further re-processing. Under the 

Enhanced Late to the Lifecycle process, 

all late records (i.e., records received 

after T+5) include the date of the 

correction and, if applicable, the record 

identifier of the record being corrected 

as part of normal re-processing. In 

addition, the late record is now 

associated with all relevant lifecycles as 

part of normal re-processing, such that 

order event lifecycles may now be 

associated with more than one CAT 

Order ID. 

• The Participants must approve a 

change order to adopt the belowdescribed functionality no later than 30 

days following the effective date of this 

Order: 

Æ Functionality that creates a 

lifecycle mapping which indicates all 

lifecycle associations made during the 

Enhanced Late to the Lifecycle process; 

Æ Functionality that presents to 

regulatory users post-T+5 data in a 

manner substantially similar to how 

such data would have been represented 

if it had been reported prior to T+5, 

including by replicating and replaying 

records with enrichments impacted by 

post-T+5 submissions, creating updated 

enrichments, and persisting the 

replicated records within the underlying 

data (the ‘‘Full Replay process’’); and 

Æ Functionality that enhances the 

OTQT, including the ability to include 

or exclude any records that were created 

or replaced as a result of the Full Replay 

process. 

Such functionality must be fully 

implemented and made available to 

regulatory users within twelve months 

of the change order’s approval by the 

Participants. 

• The Plan Processor must schedule 

the Enhanced Late to the Lifecycle 

process and the Full Replay process to 

run weekly, such that late reported data 

received through Friday of the prior 

week are available for regulatory users 

on the following business day at 8 a.m. 

Eastern Time, absent extraordinary 

circumstances, for data within the prior 

18 months. For data outside of this 18- 

month window, the Participants must 

schedule the Enhanced Late to the 

Lifecycle process and the Full Replay 

process to run no less frequently than 

quarterly. 

The Commission understands that 

this alternative technological solution, 

when fully implemented, will 

meaningfully advance the regulatory 

goals of Rule 613 and the CAT NMS 

Plan by enabling regulatory users to 

view corrected data that is submitted 

after T+5 as part of an order event 

lifecycle (which may be represented by 

more than one CAT Order ID) and in a 

manner that does not require such 

regulatory users to know whether late 

records were submitted and/or to 

perform additional query steps to obtain 

the most up-to-date records. The 

Commission believes this alternative 

technological solution will help 

regulatory users to better understand the 

impact of post-T+5 reports. 

D. Requirements for SIP Data Linkage 

The Commission grants conditional 

exemptive relief from the SIP Data 

linkage requirements that are set forth in 

section 6.5(b)(i) and appendix D, section 

3 of the CAT NMS Plan.24 Such relief 

is subject to the following conditions: 

• The Plan Processor must continue 

to provide regulatory users with the 

side-by-side view of SIP Data and other 

transactional data in the same format 

and manner that is currently available 

in the OTQT.25

This functionality requires regulatory 

users to manually match SIP Data with 

other transactional data reported to the 

CAT. However, the Commission 

believes this is an acceptable alternative 

solution that will continue to make 

available SIP Data to regulatory users 

while facilitating settlement of the 

issues raised in the Participants’ 

challenge to the 2022 Order. 

E. Reporting Requirements for Port-Level 

Settings 

The Commission grants conditional 

exemptive relief from the requirements 

as applied to port-level settings that are 

set forth in Rule 613(c)(7) and sections 

6.3(d)(i)(F), 6.3(d)(ii)(G), 6.3(d)(iii)(F), 

6.3(d)(iv)(E), and 6.4(d)(i) of the CAT 

NMS Plan for the following special 

handling instructions described in the 

current CAT Industry Member 

Technical Specifications that may be set 

by Industry Members at the various 

Participant exchanges via exchange 

ports (the ‘‘Exempted Port-Level 

Settings’’): 26

ATT Attributable. Order is routed to an exchange or ATS with instructions that the 

order is attributable. 

DNI Do Not Increase. 

DNR Do Not Reduce. 

DNRT Do Not Route. 

RLO Retail Liquidity Order. 

STP Self Trade Prevention. 

Under the conditional exemptive 

relief granted herein, the Participants 

will not be required to obligate Industry 

Members to report these six special 

handling instructions when an Industry 

Member routes an order to a national 

securities exchange over an exchange 

port that is configured for one of these 

special handling instructions.27

This conditional exemptive relief 

applies only when the Exempted PortLevel Settings are set at the port-level at 

a national securities exchange. Aside 

from the Exempted Port-Level Settings, 

this Order does not provide exemptive 

relief from the reporting requirements 

set forth in the CAT NMS Plan for any 

existing and/or new special handling 

instructions that may be set at the portlevel at a national securities exchange 

and that may constitute Material Terms 

of the Order; likewise, this Order does 

not provide exemptive relief for any 

Material Terms of the Order that are set 

at the port-level on Industry Member 

alternative trading systems or brokerdealer port-level settings. To the extent 

that the Participants and/or Industry 

Members wish to receive similar 

exemptive relief related to other 

Material Terms of the Order set at the 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
77132 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 215 / Wednesday, November 8, 2023 / Notices 

28The Commission understands that the 

Participants disagree with its interpretation that 

special handling instructions that are never 

‘‘triggered’’ or ‘‘applied’’ to an order qualify as 

Material Terms of the Order with respect to any 

other existing and/or new special handling 

instructions that may be set at the port-level at a 

national securities exchange. 

29There are differences between the technical 

specifications utilized by Industry Members and 

Participants, as well as differences in reporting 

among the Participants. While the Participants may 

update this mapping for the Exempted Port-Level 

Settings as needed, new Material Terms of the 

Order that are set at the port-level and that are not 

specifically addressed this Order may not be added 

to this mapping without additional exemptive relief 

from the Commission. 

30The Commission notes that its analysis is 

specific to the Exempted Port-Level Settings and 

reserves judgment as to whether the abovedescribed alternative technological solution would 

be appropriate for any other Material Terms of the 

Order that are communicated via a port-level 

setting. 

31The requirements related to lifecycle linkages 

between customer orders and representative orders 

set forth in appendix D, section 3 of the CAT NMS 

Plan are described in the 2022 Order. See 2022 

Order, supra note 8, at 42255–56. 

32See, e.g., Securities Exchange Act Release No. 

88702 (Apr. 20, 2020), 85 FR 23075 (Apr. 24, 2020); 

2022 Order, supra note 8, at 42255–56. See also 

FAQ F5–F7, available at https://catnmsplan.com/ 

faq. 

33The requirements related to Participant 

reporting of rejected orders set forth in Rule 

613(c)(7) and section 6.3(d)(i) and appendix D, 

section 3 of the CAT NMS Plan are described in the 

2022 Order. See 2022 Order, supra note 8, at 

42256–57. The Commission understands that, 

notwithstanding this Order, the Participants 

continue to disagree with its interpretation of these 

requirements and challenge the feasibility of strict 

compliance with that interpretation. This Order 

does not resolve the parties’ interpretive 

disagreement on this issue, but instead provides 

exemptive relief that renders resolution of the issue 

unnecessary. 

34The ‘‘forward lifecycle linkage’’ processing 

referred to above is intended to capture 

functionality that the Participants believe may be 

feasible in light of a study of recent data. Based on 

that study and based on current trading volume 

market share among the various Participant 

exchanges, the Plan Processor currently estimates 

that approximately 90% of Industry Member 

MEOR, MOOR, and MEMR Order Route events 

containing a routeRejectedFlag populated as ‘‘true’’ 

may be programmatically linked with their 

corresponding Participant Reject Message events. 

For the avoidance of doubt, for purposes of 

satisfying the conditions of this Order, the 

Participants will not be required to modify their 

existing architectures or reporting and will not be 

required to provide ‘‘reverse linkage’’ of Participant 

Reject Message events to Industry Member Order 

Route events. Moreover, this Order does not impose 

any required minimum linkage rate as a condition 

to exemptive relief. Linkage errors relating to 

rejected orders will not be required to be included 

in compliance error rates. 

35 15 U.S.C. 78mm(a)(1). 

36 17 CFR 242.608(e). 

port-level, they must submit an 

exemptive relief request to the 

Commission for its consideration. 

Such relief is subject to the following 

conditions: 

• The Participants must report the 

Exempted Port-Level Settings in the 

order receipt record, regardless of 

whether such Exempted Port-Level 

Settings are ‘‘triggered’’ or ‘‘applied.’’ 28

• The Participants must maintain and 

communicate to Industry Members via a 

CAT Alert a mapping of each exchangespecific port-level setting related to the 

Exempted Port-Level Settings, 

substantially in the form of the draft 

mapping the Participants have provided 

to the Commission.29

The Commission believes that this 

alternative technological solution, when 

fully implemented, reflects a reasonable 

compromise approach with respect to a 

limited set of data.30

F. Requirements for Lifecycle Linkages 

Between Customer Orders and 

‘‘Representative’’ Orders 

The Commission grants temporary 

conditional exemptive relief from the 

requirements set forth in appendix D, 

section 3 of the CAT NMS Plan related 

to lifecycle linkages between customer 

orders and representative orders until 

January 31, 2025.31 Such relief is 

intended to mirror the exemptive relief 

provided by the 2023 Order and is 

subject to the following condition: 

• The Participants must require 

Industry Members to report 

‘‘representative’’ orders as currently 

described in FAQs F5–F7 and as 

described in other exemptive relief 

issued by the Commission by January 

31, 2025.32

The Commission believes that the 

relief provided in the 2023 Order gives 

Industry Members sufficient time to 

make any necessary systems changes to 

implement the required functionality, 

especially because the technical 

specifications and/or scenarios 

documents relating to the reporting and 

linkage of all ‘‘representative’’ orders 

have already been promulgated by the 

Participants. Therefore, the Commission 

does not believe it is necessary to issue 

any additional extension of exemptive 

relief in connection with these 

requirements. 

G. Requirements for Participant 

Reporting of Rejected Orders 

The Commission grants conditional 

exemptive relief from the requirements 

set forth in Rule 613(c)(7) and section 

6.3(d)(i) and appendix D, section 3 of 

the CAT NMS Plan relating to 

Participant reporting of rejected orders 

and subsequent linkage of such orders.33

Such relief is subject to the following 

conditions: 

• The Participants must maintain or 

improve their existing reporting of 

orders that are received and 

subsequently rejected, including 

maintenance by Participants of any 

existing reporting or linkage of the keys 

necessary for the linkage processing 

specified below. The Plan Processor 

must maintain its existing validations of 

such orders. 

• The Participants must approve a 

change order to adopt the belowdescribed functionality no later than 60 

days following the effective date of this 

Order: 

Æ Functionality that will attempt 

‘‘forward lifecycle linkage’’ processing, 

including all enrichments currently 

provided for other order events, of 

Industry Member MEOR, MOOR, and 

MEMR Order Route events containing a 

routeRejectedFlag populated as ‘‘true’’ 

with their corresponding Participant 

Reject Message events described in the 

Participant Technical Specifications in 

instances where the keys necessary for 

such linkage are available (i.e., Symbol 

(or Option ID), RoutingParty, 

RoutedOrderID, Session).34

Such functionality must be fully 

implemented and made available to 

regulatory users within twelve months 

of the change order’s approval by the 

Participants. 

The Commission understands that 

this alternative technological solution, 

when fully implemented, will 

meaningfully advance the regulatory 

goals of Rule 613 and the CAT NMS 

Plan by providing regulatory users with 

additional information about rejected 

orders. 

III. Conclusion 

Accordingly, it is hereby ordered, 

pursuant to section 36(a)(1) of the 

Exchange Act 35 and Rule 608(e) under 

the Exchange Act,36 that the abovedescribed conditional exemptive relief 

be granted, effective immediately upon 

the date of issuance of an order by the 

D.C. Circuit dismissing the Participants’ 

petition for review of the 2022 Order. 

By the Commission. 

Sherry R. Haywood, 

Assistant Secretary. 

Exhibit A 

Online Targeted Query Tool Performance 

Parameters 

1. General: Subject to the specific 

conditions described in this Exhibit A, OTQT 

performance must satisfy both (i) an 

operational completion rate (measuring the 

successful completion of all attempted 

queries), and (ii) a query compliance rate 

(measuring the response time performance of 

all successfully completed queries). 

2. Operational Completion Rate: Queries 

will be subject to a 95% operational 

completion rate measured quarterly against 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 215 / Wednesday, November 8, 2023 / Notices 77133 

37For an all related lifecycles request made prior 

to the generation of a parent query, the time of 

query submission will not commence until 

completion of the parent query. 

38 If a new data object is created in the future, the 

Plan Processor will undertake a six-month 

assessment period (commencing once the data 

object is populated with actual data) to understand 

volumes and regulatory usage and, based on these 

observations, will slot the new data object into one 

of these existing categories. 

all attempted queries in the aggregate. The 

operational completion rate will measure the 

successful completion of all attempted 

queries, excluding failed queries resulting 

from a service interruption experienced by 

the Plan Processor’s cloud service provider. 

3. Query Compliance Rate. Queries will be 

subject to a 90% query compliance rate 

measured monthly against all actual query 

results based on the categories and response 

times set forth below. The query compliance 

rate will measure the response time 

performance of all successfully completed 

queries for each category. Response times 

shall be measured from the time of query 

submission by the regulatory user to the time 

that the results are available to the regulatory 

user (i.e., including the time required to 

formulate a data mart). 

Category Response time 

(minutes) Description 

OLA Viewer ................................................................................ 2 

Standard Queries 

Small ............................................................................ 10 See data objects below. 

Medium ......................................................................... 30 See data objects below. 

Large ............................................................................ 60 See data objects below. 

Complex ....................................................................... 240 • More than one trade date or object, or 

• Returns more than 1M rows. 

All Related Lifecycles 37

Simple .......................................................................... 20 • Fewer than 10,000 lifecycles, and 

• Single-day lifecycle count. 

Complex ....................................................................... 720 • Fewer than 50,000 lifecycles, and 

• Fewer than 60 lifecycle dates. 

STANDARD QUERY DATA OBJECTS 38

Small 

(10 minutes) 

Medium 

(30 minutes) 

Large 

(60 minutes) 

Corporate Actions ............................................................................... Equity Exchange Events .................. IM Equity Events. 

Equity Member Dictionary .................................................................. Exchange Orders ............................. Options Exchange Events. 

Equity Off Exchange Events ............................................................... IM Options Events ........................... Options NBBO. 

Equity Symbol Master ......................................................................... Market Participant Quotes ............... Options Orders/Trades. 

Equity Trade Events ........................................................................... Options Quotes ................................ OPRA RAW. 

FDID CCID Map ................................................................................. SIP Quotes. 

IDQS BBO 

Market Maker Dictionary 

OCC Options Product 

OCC Options Series 

Off Exchange Trade Events 

Off Exchange Trades 

Options Dictionary 

Options Member Dictionary 

Options Trade Events 

OTC Halt Events 

Self Help Declaration Events 

SIP Admin 

SIP CTA Admin Messages 

SIP CTS Trade Summary 

SIP CTS Trades 

SIP Issue Status 

SIP MWCB Status 

SIP OTC Halts 

SIP Quote Events 

SIP Summary 

SIP Trades 

SIP UTP Admin Messages 

SIP UTP LULD Price Band 

SIP UTP Trade Prior Day As-Of 

SIP UTP Trade Summary 

SIP UTP Trades 

4. Reporting Requirements. The Plan 

Processor shall provide a monthly report 

noting (i) the operational completion rate for 

all attempted queries in the aggregate, and (ii) 

the query compliance rate for each category 

described above, to Commission staff within 

30 days from the end of each month. 

5. Reasonable Adjustment Period. In order 

to permit the Plan Processor to promptly 

scale up the OTQT to ensure adequate system 

capacity in the event of significant, 

unanticipated, or rapid changes in data 

volumes and/or user behavior that require 

application coding changes and/or changes to 

how historical data is stored, response times 

shall be subject to a reasonable adjustment 

period, (i) not to exceed 60 days for items 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
77134 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 215 / Wednesday, November 8, 2023 / Notices 

39Application coding changes are changes 

requiring a software release and deployment. For 

the avoidance of doubt, adding/removing system 

capacity or the incremental size of capacity changes 

(e.g., autoscaling compute node step size) within 

the limits of the OTQT system are configuration 

changes and are not considered application coding 

changes. 

requiring application coding changes,39 and 

(ii) not to exceed 120 days for items requiring 

changes to how a data object is stored and 

that may include changes impacting 

historical data in the object. These 60-day 

and 120-day periods shall be measured from 

the date on which the monthly compliance 

report is provided to Commission staff. For 

purposes of this condition: 

• A significant, unanticipated, or rapid 

change in data volume shall be deemed to 

have occurred in the event of an average 

daily data volume increase of 30% in the 

applicable data object(s) from the lesser of: (i) 

the peak daily data volume observed in the 

prior month, or (ii) the peak daily data 

volume observed in the same month in the 

prior year. 

• A significant, unanticipated, or rapid 

change in user behavior shall be deemed to 

have occurred in the event of an average 

daily OTQT query count increase of 30% 

from the lesser of: (i) the peak daily OTQT 

query count observed in the prior month, or 

(ii) the peak daily OTQT query count 

observed in the same month in the prior year. 

Written notification of these 

determinations will be provided to and 

reviewed with Commission staff. 

[FR Doc. 2023–24624 Filed 11–7–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

[Disaster Declaration #20018 and #20019; 

ILLINOIS Disaster Number IL–20001] 

Administrative Disaster Declaration of 

a Rural Area for the State of Illinois 

AGENCY: U.S. Small Business 

Administration. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: This is a notice of an 

Administrative disaster declaration of a 

rural area for the State of Illinois dated 

11/02/2023. 

Incident: Severe Storms and Flooding. 

Incident Period: 06/29/2023 through 

07/02/2023. 

DATES: Issued on 11/02/2023. 

Physical Loan Application Deadline 

Date: 01/02/2024. 

Economic Injury (EIDL) Loan 

Application Deadline Date: 08/02/2024. 

ADDRESSES: Visit the MySBA Loan 

Portal at https://lending.sba.gov to 

apply for a disaster assistance loan. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Alan Escobar, Office of Disaster 

Recovery & Resilience, U.S. Small 

Business Administration, 409 3rd Street 

SW, Suite 6050, Washington, DC 20416, 

(202) 205–6734. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is 

hereby given that as a result of the 

Administrator’s disaster declaration of a 

rural area, applications for disaster 

loans may be submitted online using the 

MySBA Loan Portal https://

lending.sba.gov or other locally 

announced locations. Please contact the 

SBA disaster assistance customer 

service center by email at 

disastercustomerservice@sba.gov or by 

phone at 1–800–659–2955 for further 

assistance. 

The following areas have been 

determined to be adversely affected by 

the disaster: 

Primary Counties: Hancock, Sangamon, 

Vermilion, Washington 

The Interest Rates are: 

Percent 

For Physical Damage: 

Homeowners with Credit Available Elsewhere ...................... 5.000 

Homeowners without Credit 

Available Elsewhere .............. 2.500 

Businesses with Credit Available Elsewhere ...................... 8.000 

Businesses without Credit 

Available Elsewhere .............. 4.000 

Non-Profit Organizations with 

Credit Available Elsewhere ... 2.375 

Non-Profit Organizations without Credit Available Elsewhere ..................................... 2.375 

For Economic Injury: 

Business and Small Agricultural 

Cooperatives without Credit 

Available Elsewhere .............. 4.000 

Non-Profit Organizations without Credit Available Elsewhere ..................................... 2.375 

The number assigned to this disaster 

for physical damage is 200186 and for 

economic injury is 200190. 

The State which received an EIDL 

Declaration is Illinois. 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Number 59008) 

Isabella Guzman, 

Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2023–24682 Filed 11–7–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8026–09–P 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

[Disaster Declaration #20060 and #20061; 

TENNESSEE Disaster Number TN–20002] 

Administrative Declaration of a 

Disaster for the State of Tennessee 

AGENCY: U.S. Small Business 

Administration. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: This is a notice of an 

Administrative declaration of a disaster 

for the State of Tennessee dated 11/02/ 

2023. 

Incident: Severe Storms, Straight-line 

Winds and Tornadoes. 

Incident Period: 08/07/2023. 

DATES: Issued on 11/02/2023. 

Physical Loan Application Deadline 

Date: 01/02/2024. 

Economic Injury (EIDL) Loan 

Application Deadline Date: 08/02/2024. 

ADDRESSES: Visit the MySBA Loan 

Portal at https://lending.sba.gov to 

apply for a disaster assistance loan. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Alan Escobar, Office of Disaster 

Recovery & Resilience, U.S. Small 

Business Administration, 409 3rd Street 

SW, Suite 6050, Washington, DC 20416, 

(202) 205–6734. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is 

hereby given that as a result of the 

Administrator’s disaster declaration, 

applications for disaster loans may be 

submitted online using the MySBA 

Loan Portal https://lending.sba.gov or 

other locally announced locations. 

Please contact the SBA disaster 

assistance customer service center by 

email at disastercustomerservice@

sba.gov or by phone at 1–800–659–2955 

for further assistance. 

The following areas have been 

determined to be adversely affected by 

the disaster: 

Primary Counties: Knox. 

Contiguous Counties: 

Tennessee: Anderson, Blount, 

Grainger, Jefferson, Loudon, Roane, 

Sevier, Union 

The Interest Rates are: 

Percent 

For Physical Damage: 

Homeowners with Credit Available Elsewhere ...................... 5.000 

Homeowners without Credit 

Available Elsewhere .............. 2.500 

Businesses with Credit Available Elsewhere ...................... 8.000 

Businesses without Credit 

Available Elsewhere .............. 4.000 

Non-Profit Organizations with 

Credit Available Elsewhere ... 2.375 

Non-Profit Organizations without Credit Available Elsewhere ..................................... 2.375 

For Economic Injury: 

Business and Small Agricultural 

Cooperatives without Credit 

Available Elsewhere .............. 4.000 

Non-Profit Organizations without Credit Available Elsewhere ..................................... 2.375 

The number assigned to this disaster 

for physical damage is 20060C and for 

economic injury is 200610. 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1