Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 1 / Monday, January 3, 2022 / Notices 127 

1The burdens imposed by the CFTC are included 

in this collection of information. 

search function. Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be sent 

within 30 days of publication of this 

notice to (i) www.reginfo.gov/public/do/ 

PRAMain and (ii) David Bottom, 

Director/Chief Information Officer, 

Securities and Exchange Commission, 

c/o John R. Pezzullo, 100 F Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20549, or by sending an 

email to: PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov. 

Dated: December 28, 2021. 

J. Matthew DeLesDernier, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–28430 Filed 12–30–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[SEC File No. 270–71, OMB Control No. 

3235–0058] 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request; Extension: Form 

12b–25 

Upon Written Request Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of FOIA Services, 

100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 

20549–2736 

Notice is hereby given that, pursuant 

to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

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

and Exchange Commission 

(‘‘Commission’’) has submitted to the 

Office of Management and Budget this 

request for extension of the previously 

approved collection of information 

discussed below. 

The purpose of Form 12b–25 (17 CFR 

240.12b–25) is to provide notice to the 

Commission and the marketplace that a 

registrant will be unable to timely file a 

required periodic or transition report 

pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act 

of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.) or the 

Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 

U.S.C. 80a et seq.). If all the filing 

conditions of the form are satisfied, the 

registrant is granted an automatic filing 

extension. The information required is 

filed on occasion and is mandatory. All 

information is available to the public for 

review. Approximately 3,432 registrants 

file Form 12b–25 and it takes 

approximately 2.5 hours per response 

for a total of 8,580 burden hours (2.5 

hours per response × 3,432 responses). 

An agency may not conduct or 

sponsor, and a person is not required to 

respond to, a collection of information 

unless it displays a currently valid 

control number. 

The public may view background 

documentation for this information 

collection at the following website: 

www.reginfo.gov. Find this particular 

information collection by selecting 

‘‘Currently under 30-day Review—Open 

for Public Comments’’ or by using the 

search function. Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be sent 

within 30 days of publication of this 

notice to (i) www.reginfo.gov/public/do/ 

PRAMain and (ii) David Bottom, 

Director/Chief Information Officer, 

Securities and Exchange Commission, 

c/o John Pezzullo, 100 F Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20549, or by sending an 

email to: PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov. 

Dated: December 28, 2021. 

J. Matthew DeLesDernier, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–28437 Filed 12–30–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[SEC File No. 270–641, OMB Control No. 

3235–0685] 

Proposed Collection; Comment 

Request; Extension: Rules 3a68–2 and 

3a68–4(c) 

Upon Written Request, Copies Available 

From: U.S. Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of FOIA Services, 

100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 

20549–2736 

Notice is hereby given that pursuant 

to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

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

and Exchange Commission (‘‘SEC’’) is 

soliciting comments on the existing 

collection of information provided for 

Rules 3a68–2 and 3a68–4(c). The SEC 

plans to submit this existing collection 

of information to the Office of 

Management and Budget (‘‘OMB’’) for 

extension and approval. 

Rule 3a68–2 creates a process for 

interested persons to request a joint 

interpretation by the SEC and the 

Commodity Futures Trading 

Commission (‘‘CFTC’’) (together with 

the SEC, the ‘‘Commissions’’) regarding 

whether a particular instrument (or 

class of instruments) is a swap, a 

security-based swap, or both (i.e., a 

mixed swap). Under Rule 3a68–2, a 

person provides to the Commissions a 

copy of all material information 

regarding the terms of, and a statement 

of the economic characteristics and 

purpose of, each relevant agreement, 

contract, or transaction (or class 

thereof), along with that person’s 

determination as to whether each such 

agreement, contract, or transaction (or 

class thereof) should be characterized as 

a swap, security-based swap, or both 

(i.e., a mixed swap). The Commissions 

also may request the submitting person 

to provide additional information. 

The SEC expects 25 requests pursuant 

to Rule 3a68–2 per year. The SEC 

estimates the total paperwork burden 

associated with preparing and 

submitting each request would be 20 

hours to retrieve, review, and submit the 

information associated with the 

submission. This 20 hour burden is 

divided between the SEC and the CFTC, 

with 10 hours per response regarding 

reporting to the SEC and 10 hours of 

response regarding third party 

disclosure to the CFTC.1 The SEC 

estimates this would result in an 

aggregate annual burden of 500 hours 

(25 requests × 20 hours/request). 

The SEC estimates that the total costs 

resulting from a submission under Rule 

3a68–2 would be approximately $12,000 

for outside attorneys to retrieve, review, 

and submit the information associated 

with the submission. The SEC estimates 

this would result in aggregate costs each 

year of $300,000 (25 requests × 30 

hours/request × $400). 

Rule 3a68–4(c) establishes a process 

for persons to request that the 

Commissions issue a joint order 

permitting such persons (and any other 

person or persons that subsequently 

lists, trades, or clears that class of mixed 

swap) to comply, as to parallel 

provisions only, with specified parallel 

provisions of either the Commodity 

Exchange Act (‘‘CEA’’) or the Securities 

Exchange Act of 1934 (‘‘Exchange Act’’), 

and related rules and regulations 

(collectively ‘‘specified parallel 

provisions’’), instead of being required 

to comply with parallel provisions of 

both the CEA and the Exchange Act. 

The SEC expects ten requests 

pursuant to Rule 3a68–4(c) per year. 

The SEC estimates that nine of these 

requests will have also been made in a 

request for a joint interpretation 

pursuant to Rule 3a68–2, and one will 

not have been. The SEC estimates the 

total burden for the one request for 

which the joint interpretation pursuant 

to 3a68–2 was not requested would be 

30 hours, and the total burden 

associated with the other nine requests 

would be 20 hours per request because 

some of the information required to be 

submitted pursuant to Rule 3a68–4(c) 

would have already been submitted 

pursuant to Rule 3a68–2. The burden in 

both cases is evenly divided between 

the SEC and the CFTC. 

The SEC estimates that the total costs 

resulting from a submission under Rule 

3a68–4(c) would be approximately 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
128 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 1 / Monday, January 3, 2022 / Notices 

1The rule requires a contract with the FCM to 

contain two provisions requiring the FCM to 

comply with existing requirements under the CEA 

and rules adopted thereunder. Thus, to the extent 

these provisions could be considered collections of 

information, the hours required for compliance 

would be included in the collection of information 

burden hours submitted by the CFTC for its rules. 

2This estimate is based on the number of funds 

that reported on Form N–CEN from July 31, 2020– 

July 31, 2021, in response to sub-items C.12.6. and 

D.14.6. Money market funds are excluded from this 

estimate because they are not eligible securities. 

$20,000 for the services of outside 

attorneys to retrieve, review, and submit 

the information associated with the 

submission of the one request for which 

a request for a joint interpretation 

pursuant to Rule 3a68–2 was not 

previously made (1 request × 50 hours/ 

request × $400). For the nine requests 

for which a request for a joint 

interpretation pursuant to Rule 3a68–2 

was previously made, the SEC estimates 

the total costs associated with preparing 

and submitting a party’s request 

pursuant to Rule 3a68–4(c) would be 

$6,000 less per request because, as 

discussed above, some of the 

information required to be submitted 

pursuant to Rule 3a68–4(c) already 

would have been submitted pursuant to 

Rule 3a68–2. The SEC estimates this 

would result in an aggregate cost each 

year of $126,000 for the services of 

outside attorneys (9 requests × 35 hours/ 

request × $400). 

Written comments are invited on: (a) 

Whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the SEC, 

including whether the information shall 

have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of 

the SEC’s estimates of the burden of the 

proposed collection of information; (c) 

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (d) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on respondents, including through the 

use of automated collection techniques 

or other forms of information 

technology. Consideration will be given 

to comments and suggestions submitted 

in writing within 60 days of this 

publication. 

An agency may not conduct or 

sponsor, and a person is not required to 

respond to, a collection of information 

under the PRA unless it displays a 

currently valid OMB control number. 

Please direct your written comments 

to: David Bottom, Director/Chief 

Information Officer, Securities and 

Exchange Commission, c/o John 

Pezzullo, 100 F Street NE, Washington, 

DC 20549, or send an email to: PRA_

Mailbox@sec.gov. 

Dated: December 28, 2021. 

J. Matthew DeLesDernier, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–28427 Filed 12–30–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[OMB Control No. 3235–0447, SEC File No. 

270–392] 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request; Extension: Rule 

17f–6 

Upon Written Request, Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of FOIA Services, 

100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 

20549–2736 

Notice is hereby given that, under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 

U.S.C. 3501–3520), 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 17f–6 (17 CFR 270.17f–6) under 

the Investment Company Act of 1940 

(15 U.S.C. 80a) permits registered 

investment companies (‘‘funds’’) to 

maintain assets (i.e., margin) with 

futures commission merchants 

(‘‘FCMs’’) in connection with 

commodity transactions effected on 

both domestic and foreign exchanges. 

Before the rule was adopted, funds 

generally were required to maintain 

such assets in special accounts with a 

custodian bank. 

The rule requires a written contract 

that contains certain provisions 

designed to ensure important safeguards 

and other benefits relating to the 

custody of fund assets by FCMs. To 

protect fund assets, the contract must 

require that FCMs comply with the 

segregation or secured amount 

requirements of the Commodity 

Exchange Act (‘‘CEA’’) and the rules 

under that statute. The contract also 

must contain a requirement that FCMs 

obtain an acknowledgment from any 

clearing organization that the fund’s 

assets are held on behalf of the FCM’s 

customers according to CEA provisions. 

Because rule 17f–6 does not impose 

any ongoing obligations on funds or 

FCMs, Commission staff estimates there 

are no costs related to existing contracts 

between funds and FCMs. This estimate 

does not include the time required by an 

FCM to comply with the rule’s contract 

requirements because, to the extent that 

complying with the contract provisions 

could be considered ‘‘collections of 

information,’’ the burden hours for 

compliance are already included in 

other PRA submissions.1 Commission 

staff estimates that approximately 1,302 

series of 155 funds which report that 

futures commission merchants and 

commodity clearing organizations 

provide custodial services to the fund.2

Commission staff, however, estimates 

that any burden of the rule would be 

borne by funds and FCMs entering into 

new contracts pursuant to the rule as set 

forth in Table 1 below: 

TABLE 1—BURDEN OF INFORMATION COLLECTION FOR COMPLYING WITH RULE 17f–6 

Estimated responses Estimated hours burden Estimated cost burdens 

New contracts with 

FCMs Annually.

130 series ................... 130 series × 0.1 hours = 13 hours ................. 13 hours × $425 (attorney) 4 = $5,525. 

15 funds 1 ................... 15 funds × 1 hour = 15 hours ......................... 15 hours × $425 (attorney) 4 = $6,375. 

13 hours + 15 hours = 28 hours 3 ................... $5,525 + $6,375 = $11,900. 

Totals .................... 130 series and 15 

funds annually 2.

28 hours annually ........................................... $11,900 annually. 

1These estimates are based on the assumption that 10% of series and funds that currently effect commodities transactions enter into new 

FCM contracts each year. This assumption encompasses series and fund that enter into FCM contracts for the first time, as well as fund complexes and fund that change the FCM with whom they maintain margin accounts for commodities transactions. 2 Commission staff estimates that approximately 155 funds, representing 1,302 separate fund series, currently effect commodities transactions 

and could deposit margin with FCMs in connection with those transactions pursuant to rule 17f–6. Staff further estimates that of this number, 15 

funds and 130 series enter into new contracts with FCMs each year. 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES