Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 65 / Monday, April 6, 2015 / Notices 18447 

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

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

3506(c)(2). That request elicited no 

comments. 

Information Collection Request (ICR) 

Title: Appeal Under the Railroad 

Retirement and Railroad Unemployment 

Insurance Act. 

OMB Control Number: 3220–0007. 

Form(s) submitted: HA–1. 

Type of request: Extension without 

change of a currently approved 

collection. 

Affected public: Individuals or 

Households. 

Abstract: Under section 7(b)(3) of the 

Railroad Retirement Act and section 5(c) 

of the Railroad Unemployment 

Insurance Act, a person aggrieved by a 

decision on his or her application for an 

annuity or other benefit has the right to 

appeal to the RRB. The collection 

provides the means for the appeal 

action. 

Changes proposed: The RRB proposes 

no changes to Form HA–1. 

The burden estimate for the ICR is as 

follows: 

Form No. Annual 

responses 

Time 

(minutes) 

Burden 

(hours) 

HA–1 ............................................................................................................................................ 550 20 185 

2. Title and purpose of information 

collection: Annual Earnings 

Questionnaire; OMB 3220–0179. 

Under section 2(e)(3) of the Railroad 

Retirement Act (RRA), an annuity is not 

payable for any month in which a 

beneficiary works for a railroad. In 

addition, an annuity is reduced for any 

month in which the beneficiary works 

for an employer other than a railroad 

employer and earns more than a 

prescribed amount. Under the 1988 

amendments to the RRA, the Tier II 

portion of the regular annuity and any 

supplemental annuity must be reduced 

by one dollar for each two dollars of 

Last Pre-Retirement Non-Railroad 

Employment (LPE) earnings for each 

month of such service. However, the 

reduction cannot exceed fifty percent of 

the Tier II and supplemental annuity 

amount for the month to which such 

deductions apply. The LPE generally 

refers to an annuitant’s last employment 

with a non-railroad person, company, or 

institution prior to retirement, which 

was performed at the same time as 

railroad employment or after the 

annuitant stopped railroad employment. 

The collection obtains earnings 

information needed by the RRB to 

determine if possible reductions in 

annuities are in order due to LPE. 

The RRB utilizes Form G–19L, 

Annual Earnings Questionnaire, to 

obtain LPE earnings information from 

annuitants. One response is requested of 

each respondent. Completion is 

required to retain a benefit. 

Previous Requests for Comments: The 

RRB has already published the initial 

60-day notice (80 FR 3266, on January 

22, 2015) required by 44 U.S.C. 

3506(c)(2). That request elicited no 

comments. 

Information Collection Request (ICR) 

Title: Annual Earnings Questionnaire 

for Annuitants in Last Pre-Retirement 

Non-Railroad Employment. 

OMB Control Number: 3220–0179. 

Form submitted: G–19L. 

Type of request: Extension without 

change of a currently approved 

collection. 

Affected public: Individuals or 

Households. 

Abstract: Under section 2(e)(3) of the 

Railroad Retirement Act, an annuity is 

not payable or is reduced for any month 

in which the beneficiary works for a 

railroad or earns more than the 

prescribed amounts. The collection 

obtains earnings information needed by 

the Railroad Retirement Board to 

determine possible reductions in 

annuities because of earnings. 

Changes proposed: The RRB proposes 

no changes to Form GL–19L. 

The burden estimate for the ICR is as 

follows: 

Form No. Annual 

Responses 

Time 

(minutes) 

Burden 

(hours) 

G–19L .......................................................................................................................................... 300 15 75 

Total ...................................................................................................................................... 300 ........................ 75 

Additional Information or Comments: 

Copies of the forms and supporting 

documents can be obtained from Dana 

Hickman at (312) 751–4981 or 

Dana.Hickman@RRB.GOV. 

Comments regarding the information 

collection should be addressed to 

Charles Mierzwa, Railroad Retirement 

Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, 

Illinois 60611–2092 or 

Charles.Mierzwa@RRB.GOV and to the 

OMB Desk Officer for the RRB, Fax: 

202–395–6974, Email address: OIRA_

Submission@omb.eop.gov. 

Charles Mierzwa, 

Chief of Information Resources Management. 

[FR Doc. 2015–07813 Filed 4–3–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7905–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–74623; File No. SR–ISE– 

2015–12] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; 

International Securities Exchange, 

LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate 

Effectiveness of Proposed Rule 

Change To Share Member-Designated 

Risk Settings in the Trading System 

With Clearing Members 

April 1, 2015. 

Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the 

‘‘Act’’),1 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2

notice is hereby given that on March 19, 

2015 the International Securities 

Exchange, LLC (the ‘‘Exchange’’ or the 

‘‘ISE’’) filed with the Securities and 

Exchange Commission the proposed 

rule change, as described in Items I, II, 

and III below, which items have been 

prepared by the self-regulatory 

organization. The Commission is 

publishing this notice to solicit 

comments on the proposed rule change 

from interested persons. 


tkelley on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
18448 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 65 / Monday, April 6, 2015 / Notices 

3 See Rule 706(a). 

4 15 U.S.C. 78f(b). 

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

I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Terms of the Substance 

of the Proposed Rule Change 

The ISE proposes to amend Rule 706 

to authorize the Exchange to share any 

Member-designated risk settings in the 

trading system with the Clearing 

Member that clears transactions on 

behalf of the Member. The text of the 

proposed rule change is available on the 

Exchange’s Web site (http://

www.ise.com), at the principal office of 

the Exchange, and at the Commission’s 

Public Reference Room. 

II. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Purpose of, and 

Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule 

Change 

In its filing with the Commission, the 

self-regulatory organization included 

statements concerning the purpose of, 

and basis for, the proposed rule change 

and discussed any comments it received 

on the proposed rule change. The text 

of these statements may be examined at 

the places specified in Item IV below. 

The self-regulatory organization has 

prepared summaries, set forth in 

sections A, B and C below, of the most 

significant aspects of such statements. 

A. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Purpose of, and 

Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule 

Change 

1. Purpose 

The Exchange proposes to amend 

Rule 706 to authorize the Exchange to 

share any Member-designated risk 

settings in the trading system with the 

Clearing Member that clears 

transactions on behalf of the Member. 

Rule 706 states that ‘‘[u]nless otherwise 

provided in the Rules, no one but a 

Member or a person associated with a 

Member shall effect any Exchange 

Transactions.’’ 3 The Exchange proposes 

to amend the current rule by adding the 

following sentence: ‘‘The Exchange may 

share any Member-designated risk 

settings in the trading system with the 

Clearing Member that clears 

transactions on behalf of the Member.’’ 

Each Member that transacts through a 

Clearing Member on the Exchange 

executes a Letter of Clearing 

Authorization, in the case of Electronic 

Access Members, or a Market Maker 

Letter of Guarantee, in the case of 

Primary Market Makers and Competitive 

Market Makers, wherein the Clearing 

Member ‘‘accepts financial 

responsibility for all Exchange 

Transactions made by the’’ Member on 

whose behalf the Clearing Member 

submits the letter of guarantee. The 

Exchange believes that because Clearing 

Members guarantee all transactions on 

behalf of a Member, and therefore, bear 

the risk associated with those 

transactions, it is appropriate for 

Clearing Members to have knowledge of 

what risk settings a Member may utilize 

within the trading system. 

The Exchange notes that while not all 

Members are Clearing Members, all 

Members require a Clearing Member’s 

consent to clear transactions on their 

behalf in order to conduct business on 

the Exchange. As the Clearing Member 

ultimately bears all the risk for a trade 

they clear on any Member’s behalf, the 

Exchange believes it is reasonable to 

provide Clearing Members with 

information relating to the risk settings 

used by each Member whose 

transactions they are clearing. To the 

extent that a Clearing Member might 

reasonably require a Member to provide 

access to its risk settings as a 

prerequisite to continue to clear trades 

on the Member’s behalf, the Exchange’s 

proposal to share those risk settings 

directly reduces the administrative 

burden on Members and ensures that 

Clearing Members are receiving 

information that is up-to-date and 

conforms to the settings active in the 

trading system. 

The Exchange further notes that any 

broker-dealer is free to become a 

Clearing Member of the Options 

Clearing Corporation (the ‘‘OCC’’), 

which would enable that Member to 

avoid sharing risk settings with any 

third party, if they so choose. For these 

reasons, the Exchange believes that the 

proposal is consistent with the Act as it 

provides Clearing Members with 

additional risk-related information that 

may aid them in complying with the 

Act, notably Rule 15c3–5 and, as noted, 

Members that do not wish to share such 

settings with a Clearing Member can do 

so by become clearing members of the 

OCC. 

The risk settings that would be shared 

pursuant to the proposed rule are 

currently codified in Rule 804 (for 

regulars orders) and Rule 722 (for 

complex orders). The risk settings are 

designed to mitigate the potential risks 

of multiple executions against a 

Member’s trading interest that, in 

today’s highly automated and electronic 

trading environment, can occur 

simultaneously across multiple series 

and multiple option classes. The 

proposed rule will allow the Exchange 

to share a Member’s risk settings with 

the Clearing Member that guarantees the 

Member’s transactions, and therefore 

has a financial interesting [sic] in 

understanding the risk tolerance of a 

Member. 

Because the Letter of Clearing 

Authorization and the Market Maker 

Letter of Guarantee codifies 

relationships between a Member and the 

Clearing Member, the Exchange is on 

notice of which Clearing Members have 

relationships with which Members. The 

proposed rule change would simply 

provide the Exchange with authority to 

directly provide Clearing Members with 

information that may otherwise be 

available to such Clearing Members by 

virtue of their relationship with the 

respective Member. 

2. Statutory Basis 

The Exchange believes that the 

proposed rule change is consistent with 

the requirements of the Act and the 

rules and regulations thereunder that 

are applicable to a national securities 

exchange, and, in particular, with the 

requirements of Section 6(b) of the Act.4

In particular, the proposal is consistent 

with Section 6(b)(5) of the Act,5 because 

it is designed to promote just and 

equitable principles of trade, to remove 

impediments to and perfect the 

mechanisms of a free and open market 

and a national market system and, in 

general, to protect investors and the 

public interest. 

The Exchange believes that the 

proposed rule change removes 

impediments to and perfects the 

mechanism of a free and open market by 

codifying that the Exchange can directly 

provide to Clearing Members that 

guarantee that Member’s transactions on 

the Exchange the Member-designated 

risk settings in the trading system, 

which are designed to mitigate the 

potential risk of multiple executions 

against a Member’s trading interest that, 

in today’s highly automated and 

electronic trading environment, can 

occur simultaneously across multiple 

series and multiple option classes. The 

Exchange believes that the proposed 

rule change is consistent with the 

protection of investors and the public 

interests because it will permit Clearing 

Members with a financial interest in a 

Member’s risk settings to better monitor 

and manage the potential risks assumed 

by Members with whom the Clearing 

Member has entered into a letter of 

guarantee, thereby providing Clearing 

Members with greater control and 

flexibility over setting their own risk 

tolerance and exposure. 


tkelley on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 65 / Monday, April 6, 2015 / Notices 18449 

6 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(8). 

7 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A). 

8 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6). 

9 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

1The number of closed-end funds that undertake 

repurchases annually under Rule 23c–1 is based on 

information provided in response to Item 9 of Form 

N–CSR from December 30, 2013 through December 

30, 2014. Although 112 closed-end funds made 

disclosures regarding ‘‘publicly announced’’ 

repurchase plans in response to Item 9, not all 

repurchases are made pursuant to Rule 23c–1. We 

estimate that approximately 30% of such closedend funds have not made repurchases pursuant to 

Rule 23c–1. Therefore, our estimate does not 

include all 112 funds that made disclosures of 

publicly announced repurchases under Item 9, but 

only a subset thereof. 

B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Burden on Competition 

The Exchange believes the proposal is 

consistent with Section 6(b)(8) of the 

Act 6 in that it does not impose any 

burden on competition that is not 

necessary or appropriate in furtherance 

of the purposes of the Act. The 

proposed rule change is not designed to 

address any aspect of competition, but 

would provide authority for the 

Exchange to directly share risk settings 

with Clearing Members regarding the 

Members with whom the Clearing 

Member has executed a letter of 

guarantee so the Clearing Member can 

better monitor and manage the potential 

risks assumed by the Members, thereby 

providing them with greater control and 

flexibility over setting their own risk 

tolerance and exposure. The proposed 

rule change does not pose an undue 

burden on non-Clearing Members 

because, unlike Clearing Members, nonClearing Members do not guarantee the 

execution of the Member transactions 

on the Exchange. The proposed rule 

change is structured to offer the same 

enhancement to all Clearing Members, 

regardless of size, and would not 

impose a competitive burden on any 

participant. 

C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Comments on the 

Proposed Rule Change Received From 

Members, Participants, or Others 

The Exchange has not solicited, and 

does not intend to solicit, comments on 

this proposed rule change. The 

Exchange has not received any 

unsolicited written comments from 

members or other interested parties. 

III. Date of Effectiveness of the 

Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 

Commission Action 

The Exchange believes that the 

foregoing proposed rule change may 

take effect upon filing with the 

Commission pursuant to 

Section19(b)(3)(A) 7 of the Act and Rule 

19b–4(f)(6) thereunder 8 because the 

foregoing proposed rule change does not 

(i) significantly affect the protection of 

investors or the public interest, (ii) 

impose any significant burden on 

competition, and (iii) become operative 

for 30 days after its filing date, or such 

shorter time as the Commission may 

designate. 

At any time within 60 days of the 

filing of the proposed rule change, the 

Commission summarily may 

temporarily suspend such rule change if 

it appears to the Commission that such 

action is: (i) Necessary or appropriate in 

the public interest; (ii) for the protection 

of investors; or (iii) otherwise in 

furtherance of the purposes of the Act. 

If the Commission takes such action, the 

Commission shall institute proceedings 

to determine whether the proposed rule 

should be approved or disapproved. 

IV. Solicitation of Comments 

Interested persons are invited to 

submit written data, views, and 

arguments concerning the foregoing, 

including whether the proposed rule 

change is consistent with the Act. 

Comments may be submitted by any of 

the following methods: 

Electronic Comments 

• Use the Commission’s Internet 

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

rules/sro.shtml); or 

• Send an email to rule-comments@

sec.gov. Please include File Number SR– 

ISE–2015–12 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–ISE–2015–12. 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 Web site (http://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 Web site 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 

10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of such 

filing also will be available for 

inspection and copying at the principal 

offices of the Exchange. All comments 

received will be posted without change; 

the Commission does not edit personal 

identifying information from 

submissions. You should submit only 

information that you wish to make 

available publicly. All submissions 

should refer to File Number SR–ISE– 

2015–12, and should be submitted on or 

before April 27, 2015. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.9

Brent J. Fields, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2015–07850 Filed 4–3–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

Upon Written Request, Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of FOIA Services, 

100 F Street NE., Washington, DC 

20549–2736. 

Extension: 

Rule 23c–1. (SEC File No. 270–253, OMB 

Control No. 3235–0260). 

Notice is hereby given that, pursuant 

to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(44 U.S.C. 350l–3520), 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 23c–1(a) under the Investment 

Company Act (17 CFR 270.23c–1(a)) 

permits a closed-end fund to repurchase 

its securities for cash if, in addition to 

the other requirements set forth in the 

rule, the following conditions are met: 

(i) Payment of the purchase price is 

accompanied or preceded by a written 

confirmation of the purchase (‘‘written 

confirmation’’); (ii) the asset coverage 

per unit of the security to be purchased 

is disclosed to the seller or his agent 

(‘‘asset coverage disclosure’’); and (iii) if 

the security is a stock, the fund has, 

within the preceding six months, 

informed stockholders of its intention to 

purchase stock (‘‘six month notice’’). 

Commission staff estimates that 78 

closed-end funds undertake a total of 

702 repurchases annually under Rule 

23c–1.1 Staff estimates further that, with 


tkelley on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES