Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 18, 2012 / Notices 2573 

1 44 U.S.C. 3501–3520. 

2The rule defines a Financial Intermediary as: (i) 

Any broker, dealer, bank, or other person that holds 

securities issued by the fund in nominee name; (ii) 

a unit investment trust or fund that invests in the 

fund in reliance on section 12(d)(i)(E) of the Act; 

and (iii) in the case of a participant directed 

employee benefit plan that owns the securities 

issued by the fund, a retirement plan’s 

administrator under section 316(A) of the Employee 

Retirement Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 

1002(16)(A) or any person that maintains the plans’ 

participant records. Financial Intermediary does not 

include any person that the fund treats as an 

individual investor with respect to the fund’s 

policies established for the purpose of eliminating 

or reducing any dilution of the value of the 

outstanding securities issued by the fund. Rule 22c– 

2(c)(1). 

3Unless otherwise stated, estimates throughout 

this analysis are derived from a survey of funds and 

conversations with fund representatives. 

4This calculation is based on the following 

estimate: (2 hours of board time + 3 hours of 

internal counsel time + 8 hours of compliance time 

= 13 hours). 

POSTAL SERVICE 

International Product Change—Global 

Plus 1C and 2C Negotiated Service 

Agreements 

AGENCY: Postal ServiceTM. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Postal Service hereby 

gives notice of its filing a request with 

the Postal Regulatory Commission to 

add Global Plus 1C and 2C Negotiated 

Service Agreements to the Competitive 

Products List. 

DATES: January 18, 2012. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Margaret M. Falwell, (202) 268–2576. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

United States Postal Service® hereby 

gives notice that, pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 

3642, on December 30, 2011, and 

January 4, 2012, it filed with the Postal 

Regulatory Commission, Requests of 

United States Postal Service to Add 

Global Plus 1C and 2C Negotiated 

Service Agreements to the Competitive 

Products List, and Notices of Filing Two 

Functionally Equivalent Agreements 

and Applications for Non-Public 

Treatment of Materials Filed Under Seal 

for each filing. Documents are available 

at http://www.prc.gov, Docket Nos. 

MC2012–5, MC2012–6, CP2012–10, 

CP2012–11, CP2012–12 and CP2012–13. 

B. J. Meadows III, 

Attorney, Legal Strategy. 

[FR Doc. 2012–766 Filed 1–17–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7710–12–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

Upon Written Request, Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of Investor 

Education and Advocacy, 

Washington, DC 20549–0213. 

Extension: 

Rule 22c–2; SEC File No. 270–541; OMB 

Control No. 3235–0620. 

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’’) has submitted to the 

Office of Management and Budget a 

request for extension of the previously 

approved collection of information 

discussed below. 

Rule 22c–2 (17 CFR 270.22c–2 

‘‘Mutual Fund Redemption Fees’’) 

under the Investment Company Act of 

1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a) (the ‘‘Investment 

Company Act’’ or ‘‘Act’’) requires the 

board of directors (including a majority 

of independent directors) of most 

registered investment companies 

(‘‘funds’’) to either approve a 

redemption fee of up to two percent or 

determine that imposition of a 

redemption fee is not necessary or 

appropriate for the fund. Rule 22c–2 

also requires a fund to enter into written 

agreements with their financial 

intermediaries (such as broker-dealers 

and retirement plan administrators) 

under which the fund, upon request, 

can obtain certain shareholder identity 

and trading information from the 

intermediaries. The written agreement 

must also allow the fund to direct the 

intermediary to prohibit further 

purchases or exchanges by specific 

shareholders that the fund has 

identified as being engaged in 

transactions that violate the fund’s 

market timing policies. These 

requirements enable funds to obtain the 

information that they need to monitor 

the frequency of short-term trading in 

omnibus accounts and enforce their 

market timing policies. 

The rule includes three ‘‘collections 

of information’’ within the meaning of 

the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(‘‘PRA’’).1 First, the rule requires boards 

to either approve a redemption fee of up 

to two percent or determine that 

imposition of a redemption fee is not 

necessary or appropriate for the fund. 

Second, funds must enter into 

information sharing agreements with all 

of their ‘‘financial intermediaries’’2 and 

maintain a copy of the written 

information sharing agreement with 

each intermediary in an easily 

accessible place for six years. Third, 

pursuant to the information sharing 

agreements, funds must have systems 

that enable them to request frequent 

trading information upon demand from 

their intermediaries, and to enforce any 

restrictions on trading required by funds 

under the rule. 

The collections of information created 

by Rule 22c–2 are necessary for funds to 

effectively assess redemption fees, 

enforce their policies in frequent 

trading, and monitor short-term trading, 

including market timing, in omnibus 

accounts. These collections of 

information are mandatory for funds 

that redeem shares within seven days of 

purchase. The collections of information 

also are necessary to allow Commission 

staff to fulfill its examination and 

oversight responsibilities. 

Rule 22c–2(a)(1) requires the board of 

directors of all registered investment 

companies and series thereof (except for 

money market funds, ETFs, or funds 

that affirmatively permit short-term 

trading of its securities) to approve a 

redemption fee for the fund, or instead 

make a determination that a redemption 

fee is either not necessary or appropriate 

for the fund. Commission staff 

understands that the boards of all funds 

currently in operation have undertaken 

this process for the funds they currently 

oversee, and the rule does not require 

boards to review this determination 

periodically once it has been made. 

Accordingly, we expect that only boards 

of newly registered funds or newly 

created series thereof would undertake 

this determination. Commission staff 

estimates that approximately 117 funds 

or series thereof (excluding money 

market funds and ETFs) are newly 

formed each year and would need to 

make this determination. 

Based on conversations with fund 

representatives,3 Commission staff 

estimates that it takes approximately 2 

hours of the boards’ time, as a whole, to 

approve a redemption fee or make the 

required determination. In addition, 

Commission staff estimates that it takes 

compliance personnel of the fund 

approximately 8 hours to prepare 

trading, compliance, and other 

information regarding the fund’s 

operations to enable the board to make 

its determination, and takes internal 

counsel of the fund approximately 3 

hours to review this information and 

present its recommendations to the 

board. Therefore, for each fund board 

that undertakes this determination 

process, Commission staff estimates it 

expends approximately 13 hours.4 As a 

result, Commission staff estimates that 


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