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 Commodity Futures Trading Commission
 AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
 ACTION: Notice of 2017 schedule of fees.
 SUMMARY: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or “Commission”) charges fees to designated contract markets and registered futures associations to recover the costs incurred by the Commission in the operation of its program of oversight of self-regulatory organization rule enforcement programs, specifically National Futures Association (“NFA”), a registered futures association, and the designated contract markets. Fees collected from each self-regulatory organization are deposited in the Treasury of the United States as miscellaneous receipts. The calculation of the fee amounts charged for 2017 by this notice is based upon an average of actual program costs incurred during fiscal year (“FY”) 2014, FY 2015, and FY 2016.
 DATES: Each self-regulatory organization is required to remit electronically the applicable fee on or before August 24, 2018.
 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Jean Buhler, Chief Financial Officer, Commodity Futures Trading Commission; (202) 418-5089; Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20581. For information on electronic payment, contact Jennifer Fleming; (202) 418-5034; Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20581.


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Background Information A. General This notice relates to fees for the Commission's review of the rule enforcement programs at the registered futures associations [1]
                    
                     and designated contract markets (“DCM”), each of which is a self-regulatory organization (“SRO”) regulated by the Commission. The Commission recalculates the fees charged each year to cover the costs of operating this Commission program.[2]
                    
                     The fees are set each year based on direct program costs, plus an overhead factor. The Commission calculates actual costs, then calculates an alternate fee taking volume into account, and then charges the lower of the two.[3] B. Overhead Rate The fees charged by the Commission to the SROs are designed to recover program costs, including direct labor costs and overhead. The overhead rate is calculated by dividing total Commission-wide overhead direct program labor costs into the total amount of the Commission-wide overhead pool. For this purpose, direct program labor costs are the salary costs of personnel working in all Commission programs. Overhead costs generally consist of the following Commission-wide costs: Indirect personnel costs (leave and benefits), rent, communications, contract services, utilities, equipment, and supplies. This formula has resulted in the following overhead rates for the most recent three years (rounded to the nearest whole percent): 180 percent for FY 2014, 211 percent for FY 2015, and 190 percent for FY 2016. C. Conduct of SRO Rule Enforcement Reviews Under the formula adopted by the Commission in 1993, the Commission calculates the fee to recover the costs of its rule enforcement reviews and examinations, based on the three-year average of the actual cost of performing such reviews and examinations at each SRO. The cost of operation of the Commission's SRO oversight program varies from SRO to SRO, according to the size and complexity of each SRO's program. The three-year averaging computation method is intended to smooth out year-to-year variations in cost. Timing of the Commission's reviews and examinations may affect costs—a review or examination may span two fiscal years and reviews and examinations are not conducted at each SRO each year. As noted above, adjustments to actual costs may be made to relieve the burden on an SRO with a disproportionately large share of program costs. The Commission's formula provides for a reduction in the assessed fee if an SRO has a smaller percentage of United States industry contract volume than its percentage of overall Commission oversight program costs. This adjustment reduces the costs so that, as a percentage of total Commission SRO oversight program costs, they are in line with the pro rata percentage for that SRO of United States industry-wide contract volume. The calculation is made as follows: The fee required to be paid to the Commission by each DCM is equal to the lesser of actual costs based on the three-year historical average of costs for that DCM or one-half of average costs incurred by the Commission for each DCM for the most recent three years, plus a pro rata share (based on average trading volume for the most recent three years) of the aggregate of average annual costs of all DCMs for the most recent three years. The formula for calculating the second factor is: 0.5a + 0.5 vt = current fee. In this formula, “a” equals the average annual costs, “v” equals the percentage of total volume across DCMs over the last three years, and “t” equals the average annual costs for all DCMs. NFA has no contracts traded; hence, its fee is based simply on costs for the most recent three fiscal years. The following table summarizes the data used in the calculations of the resulting fee for each entity: Table 1—Summary of Data Used in Fee Calculations
Actual total costs
3-Year 
                             average  
                             actual costs
3-Year 
                             average  
                             volume  
                             (%)
Adjusted 
                             volume  
                             costs
2016 
                             Actual  
                             fee
2017 
                             Assessed  
                             feeFY 2014
FY 2015
FY 2016CBOE Futures

$158,209
$227,059
$128,423
1.31
$71,004
$73,074
*$71,004*Chicago Board of Trade
$55,515
17,938
28,720
34,058
29.61
170,554
79,476
*34,058*Chicago Mercantile Exchange
225,701
540,151
372,278
379,377
44.66
421,246
385,923
*379,377*ICE Futures U.S
81,176
105,864
386,719
191,253
9.22
143,431
153,429
*143,431*Minneapolis Grain Exchange
47,648
147,983
14,314
69,981
0.05
35,250
69,741
*35,250*NADEX North American
980

81,758
27,579
0.14
14,516
17,505
*14,516*( print page 29547)New York Mercantile Exchange
225,672
118,701
242,792
195,722
14.49
172,990
159,897
*172,990*One Chicago
31,196
289
282
10,589
0.29
6,798
28,384
*6,798*NASDAQ




0.21
1,089ERIS Exchange




0.01
68NY LIFFE






4,909ELX Futures






22,378KCBT






186Subtotal
667,888
1,089,134
1,353,921
$1,036,981
100
1,036,945
994,901
*857,423*National Futures Association
292,102
401,337
282,405
325,281


293,312
*325,281*Total
959,990
1,490,471
1,636,326
1,362,262


$1,288,214
*1,182,704***Note to Table 1:**
                         The 2017 Fee is the lesser of the 3-Year Average Actual Cost or the Adjusted Volume Cost. NY LIFFE, ELX, and KCBT are either Vacated or Dormant, but had direct labor costs in 2013 that produced a fee in 2016, based on the 3-Year Average.
 An example of how the fee is calculated for one exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade, is set forth here: a. Actual three-year average costs = $34,058. b. The alternative computation is: (.5) ($34,058) + (.5) (.2961) ($1,036,981) = $170,554. c. The fee is the lesser of a or b; in this case $34,058. As noted above, the alternative calculation based on contracts traded is not applicable to NFA because it is not a DCM and has no contracts traded. The Commission's average annual cost for conducting oversight review of the NFA rule enforcement program during fiscal years 2014 through 2016 was $325,281. The fee to be paid by the NFA for the current fiscal year is $325,281. II. Schedule of Fees Fees for the Commission's review of the rule enforcement programs at the registered futures associations and DCMs regulated by the Commission are as shown in the following table: Table 2—Schedule of Fees
3-Year 
                             average  
                             actual costs
3-Year 
                             average  
                             volume 
                             (%)
Adjusted 
                             volume  
                             costs
2017 Fee: 
                             lesser of  
                             actual or  
                             calculated feeCBOE Futures
$128,423
1.31
$71,004
*$71,004*Chicago Board of Trade
34,058
29.61
170,554
*34,058*Chicago Mercantile Exchange
379,377
44.66
421,246
*379,377*ICE Futures U.S
191,253
9.22
143,431
*143,431*Minneapolis Grain Exchange
69,981
0.05
35,250
*35,250*NADEX North American
27,579
0.14
14,516
*14,516*New York Mercantile Exchange
195,722
14.49
172,990
*172,990*One Chicago
10,589
0.29
6,798
*6,798*NASDAQ

0.21
1,089ERIS Exchange

0.01
68NY LIFFEELX FuturesKCBTSubtotal
1,036,981
100
1,036,945
*857,423*National Futures Association
*325,281*


*325,281*Total
1,362,262


*1,182,704*
 III. Payment Method The Debt Collection Improvement Act (“DCIA”) requires deposits of fees owed to the government by electronic transfer of funds. 
                    *See*31 U.S.C. 3720. For information about electronic payments, please contact Jennifer Fleming at (202) 418-5034 or 
                    *jfleming@cftc.gov,*
                     or see the CFTC website at 
                    *www.cftc.gov,*
                     specifically, 
                    *www.cftc.gov/​cftc/​cftcelectronicpayments.htm.* Fees collected from each self-regulatory organization shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States as miscellaneous receipts. 
                    *See*7 U.S.C. 16a. Issued in Washington, DC, on June 19, 2018, by the Commission. Christopher Kirkpatrick, Secretary of the Commission.


# Footnotes

1.
    
                         National Futures Association is the only registered futures association. Back to Citation
 2.
    
                         
                        *See*
                         Section 237 of the Futures Trading Act of 1982, 7 U.S.C. 16a, and 31 U.S.C. 9701. For a broader discussion of the history of Commission fees, 
                        *see*52 FR 46070, Dec. 4, 1987. Back to Citation
 3.
    
                         58 FR 42643, Aug. 11, 1993, and 17 CFR part 1, appendix B. Back to Citation


[FR Doc. 2018-13511 Filed 6-22-18; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6351-01-P