52540 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 180 / Tuesday, September 21, 2021 / Notices 

7 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(31). 

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

2 15 U.S.C. 78a. 

3 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

4For purposes of this filing, Market Makers 

include BX Options Market Makers and Options 

Market Makers. See Options 1, Section 1(a)(10). 

5Today, Market Makers can log into an interface 

to send a message to the Exchange to initiate the 

Kill Switch. 

6For purposes of this filing, the term ‘‘System’’ 

means the automated system for order execution 

and trade reporting owned and operated by BX as 

the BX Options market. See Options 1, Section 

1(a)(59). 

7 Identifiers include Exchange accounts, ports, 

and/or badges or mnemonics. Thus, a Market Maker 

using Kill Switch may elect to remove quotes for 

an individual Identifier (e.g., badge) or any group 

of Identifiers (e.g., all badges within one Market 

Maker firm). Permissible groups must reside within 

a single member firm. 

8See Options 3, Section 17. The Kill Switch tool 

also currently allows BX Participants to cancel open 

orders and prevent new order submission. The 

Exchange is not proposing to decommission the 

order cancellation portion of the Kill Switch tool at 

this time. 

9No Market Makers have used the Kill Switch for 

quote removal in 2021. 

10See Options Trader Alert #2021–49. 

institute proceedings to determine 

whether to disapprove, the proposed 

rule change (File No. SR–NYSEArca– 

2021–53). 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.7

J. Matthew DeLesDernier, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–20330 Filed 9–20–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

Sunshine Act Meetings 

TIME AND DATE: Notice is hereby given, 

pursuant to the provisions of the 

Government in the Sunshine Act, Public 

Law 94–409, that the Securities and 

Exchange Commission Small Business 

Capital Formation Advisory Committee 

will hold a public meeting on Monday, 

September 27, 2021, via 

videoconference. 

PLACE: The meeting will begin at 10:00 

a.m. (ET) and will be open to the public. 

The meeting will be conducted by 

remote means (videoconference) and/or 

at the Commission’s headquarters, 100 F 

Street NE, Washington, DC 20549. 

Members of the public may watch the 

webcast of the meeting on the 

Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. 

STATUS: On September 2, 2021, the 

Commission published notice of the 

Committee meeting (Release No. 33– 

10976), indicating that the meeting is 

open to the public and inviting the 

public to submit written comments to 

the Committee. This Sunshine Act 

notice is being issued because a majority 

of the Commission may attend the 

meeting. 

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: The agenda 

for the meeting includes matters relating 

to rules and regulations affecting small 

and emerging businesses and their 

investors under the federal securities 

laws. 

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: 

For further information and to ascertain 

what, if any, matters have been added, 

deleted or postponed; please contact 

Vanessa A. Countryman from the Office 

of the Secretary at (202) 551–5400. 

Dated: September 17, 2021. 

Vanessa A. Countryman, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–20533 Filed 9–17–21; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–93011; File No. SR–BX– 

2021–037] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; Nasdaq 

BX, Inc.; Notice of Filing and 

Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed 

Rule Change To Amend Options 3, 

Section 17, To Decommission the 

Exchange’s Quote Removal Kill Switch 

Functionality 

September 15, 2021. 

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

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

(‘‘Act’’) 2 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,3

notice is hereby given that, on 

September 2, 2021, Nasdaq BX, Inc. 

(‘‘BX’’ or ‘‘Exchange’’) filed with the 

Securities and Exchange Commission 

(‘‘Commission’’) the proposed rule 

change as described in Items I and II 

below, which Items have been prepared 

by the Exchange. The Commission is 

publishing this notice to solicit 

comments on the proposed rule change 

from interested persons. 

I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Terms of Substance of 

the Proposed Rule Change 

The Exchange proposes to 

decommission the Exchange’s quote 

removal Kill Switch functionality at 

Options 3, Section 17. 

The text of the proposed rule change 

is available on the Exchange’s website at 

https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/ 

rulebook/bx/rules, 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 

Exchange 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 

Exchange 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 

Options 3, Section 17 to decommission 

the Exchange’s quote removal Kill 

Switch functionality, which is an 

optional tool that allows Market 

Makers 4 to initiate a message (or 

messages) 5 to the System 6 to promptly 

remove their quotes from the market. 

Market Makers may submit a request to 

the System to remove quotes based on 

certain identifier(s) on either a user or 

group level (‘‘Identifier’’).7 If quotes are 

cancelled by the Market Maker using 

Kill Switch, it will result in the removal 

of all quotes requested for the 

Identifier(s). The Market Maker will be 

unable to enter any additional quotes for 

the affected Identifier(s) until the 

Market Maker sends a re-entry request 

to the Exchange.8

Due to the lack of demand for the 

quote removal Kill Switch by Market 

Makers, the Exchange proposes to 

decommission this optional tool by the 

end of Q4 2021.9 Through consultation 

with individual Market Maker firms 

prior to filing this rule change, the 

Exchange did not receive any negative 

feedback for its proposal to 

decommission the quote removal Kill 

Switch functionality. The Exchange has 

also provided all market participants 

with advance notice that it will 

decommission this functionality in Q4 

2021.10 With the proposed changes, the 

Exchange seeks to streamline its product 

offerings and to reallocate Exchange 

resources to other business and risk 

management initiatives. While the 


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 180 / Tuesday, September 21, 2021 / Notices 52541 

11 ‘‘SQF’’ is an interface that allows Market 

Makers to connect, send, and receive messages 

related to quotes, Immediate-or-Cancel Orders, and 

auction responses into and from the Exchange. 

Features include the following: (1) Options symbol 

directory messages (e.g., underlying instruments); 

(2) system event messages (e.g., start of trading 

hours messages and start of opening); (3) trading 

action messages (e.g., halts and resumes); (4) 

execution messages; (5) quote messages; (6) 

Immediate-or-Cancel Order messages; (7) risk 

protection triggers and purge notifications; (8) 

opening imbalance messages; (9) auction 

notifications; and (10) auction responses. The SQF 

Purge Interface only receives and notifies of purge 

requests from the Market Maker. Market Makers 

may only enter interest into SQF in their assigned 

options series. See Options 3, Section 7(e)(1)(B). 

12See Options 3, Section 19. 

13The rapid fire risk controls automatically 

remove Market Maker quotes submitted over SQF 

when certain firm-set thresholds are met. Once the 

thresholds are triggered, the Market Maker must 

send a re-entry indicator to re-enter the System. See 

Options 3, Section 15(c)(2). 

14When the SQF Port detects the loss of 

communication with a Participant’s Client 

Application because the Exchange’s server does not 

receive a Heartbeat message for a certain time 

period (‘‘nn’’ seconds), the Exchange will 

automatically logoff the Participant’s affected Client 

Application and automatically cancel all of the 

Participant’s open quotes. Quotes will be cancelled 

across all Client Applications that are associated 

with the same BX Options Market Maker ID and 

underlying issues. See Options 3, Section 18(a). 

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

16 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5). 

Exchange will no longer offer this 

optional functionality to Market Makers, 

it will continue to offer similar quote 

management tools that would assist 

Market Makers with their efforts to 

manage their risk with respect to quotes 

on the Exchange. For example, Market 

Makers are currently able to send a mass 

purge request through Specialized 

Quote Feed (‘‘SQF’’) to pull their 

existing quotes from the market and 

inhibit the entry of new quotes until the 

Market Maker sends a message to the 

Exchange to re-enter the System.11

Indeed, the Exchange has found that 

Market Makers utilize this SQF purge 

functionality instead of the Kill Switch 

quote removal tool when they want to 

remove their quotes from the market. 

In addition, all Participants, including 

Market Makers, may contact the 

Exchange’s market operations staff to 

request that the Exchange cancel any of 

their existing bids, offers, or orders in 

any series of options.12 Furthermore, the 

Exchange will continue to have 

mandatory System-enforced risk 

mechanisms that automatically remove 

quotes for the Market Maker once 

certain pre-set thresholds or conditions 

are met. This includes risk protections 

such as rapid fire risk controls 13 and 

cancel on disconnect.14

To effect the decommissioning of the 

quote removal Kill Switch, the 

Exchange proposes to amend Options 3, 

Section 17 by eliminating all references 

to quote removal within this Rule. In 

connection with this change, the 

Exchange will also renumber current 

Options 3, Section 17(a)(ii) and (a)(iii) 

as Options 3, Section 17(a)(i) and (a)(ii), 

respectively. 

2. Statutory Basis 

The Exchange believes that its 

proposal is consistent with Section 6(b) 

of the Act,15 in general, and furthers the 

objectives of Section 6(b)(5) of the Act,16

in particular, in that it is designed to 

promote just and equitable principles of 

trade, to remove impediments to and 

perfect the mechanism of a free and 

open market and a national market 

system, and, in general to protect 

investors and the public interest. 

Additionally, the Exchange believes that 

the proposed rule change is consistent 

with the Section 6(b)(5) requirement 

that the rules of an exchange not be 

designed to permit unfair 

discrimination between customers, 

issuers, brokers, or dealers. 

Specifically, the Exchange does not 

believe that the proposed rule change 

will affect the protection of investors or 

the public interest or the maintenance of 

a fair and orderly market because no 

Market Makers have used the quote 

removal Kill Switch risk control in 

2021. In addition, the Exchange notes 

that the use of this tool is completely 

optional, and the Exchange will 

continue to offer Market Makers similar 

risk management tools such as the SQF 

mass quote purge functionality. As 

discussed above, the Exchange has 

found that Market Makers use the SQF 

purge functionality much more 

frequently than the quote removal Kill 

Switch to pull their quotes from the 

market. Furthermore, Market Makers 

will retain the ability to contact market 

operations staff to manually purge their 

quotes from the market. In addition, the 

Exchange will continue to implement 

mandatory System-enforced risk 

mechanisms that automatically remove 

quotes for the Market Maker once 

certain pre-set thresholds or conditions 

are met (i.e., rapid fire and cancel on 

disconnect). 

Also, the Exchange believes that the 

low usage rate for the quote removal Kill 

Switch does not warrant the continuous 

resources necessary for System support 

of such tools. As a result, the Exchange 

also believes that the proposal will 

remove impediments to and perfect the 

mechanism of a free and open market 

and a national market system by 

allowing the Exchange to reallocate 

System capacity and resources currently 

used to maintain this functionality to 

the development and maintenance of 

other business initiatives and risk 

management products. 

As noted above, the Exchange will 

retain the ability for Participants to 

utilize Kill Switch to cancel orders and 

prevent new order submission. The 

Exchange does not believe that 

decommissioning the quote removal 

portion of the Kill Switch tool for 

Market Makers is unfairly 

discriminatory because Market Makers 

are professional traders with their own 

risk settings, and have more 

sophisticated infrastructures than most 

other market participants. Furthermore, 

as discussed above, the Exchange has 

determined that Market Makers 

currently use the mass purge 

functionality on SQF to pull their 

quotes from the market instead of using 

the quote removal Kill Switch tool to 

achieve the same result. 

B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Burden on Competition 

The Exchange does not believe that 

the proposed rule change will impose 

any burden on competition not 

necessary or appropriate in furtherance 

of the purposes of the Act. The 

proposed rule change will allow the 

Exchange to decommission a risk 

management tool that is rarely, if ever, 

used on the Exchange. As discussed 

above, Market Makers currently have a 

variety of similar tools like the quote 

removal Kill Switch that allow them to 

pull their quotes from the market and 

inhibit the entry of new quotes, 

including the mass quote purge 

functionality on SQF that the Exchange 

has found Market Makers use much 

more frequently than the quote removal 

Kill Switch to achieve the same result. 

As noted above, the Exchange will 

retain the ability for Participants to 

utilize Kill Switch to cancel orders and 

prevent new order submission. The 

Exchange does not believe that 

decommissioning the quote removal 

portion of the Kill Switch tool for 

Market Makers will impose an undue 

burden on competition because Market 

Makers are professional traders with 

their own risk settings, and have more 

sophisticated infrastructures than most 

other market participants. 

C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Comments on the 

Proposed Rule Change Received From 

Members, Participants, or Others 

No written comments were either 

solicited or received. 


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52542 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 180 / Tuesday, September 21, 2021 / Notices 

17 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A). 

18 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6). In addition, Rule 19b– 

4(f)(6) requires a self-regulatory organization to give 

the Commission written notice of its intent to file 

the proposed rule change at least five business days 

prior to the date of filing of the proposed rule 

change, or such shorter time as designated by the 

Commission. The Exchange has satisfied this 

requirement. 19 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

III. Date of Effectiveness of the 

Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 

Commission Action 

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 from the date on 

which it was filed, or such shorter time 

as the Commission may designate, it has 

become effective pursuant to Section 

19(b)(3)(A) of the Act 17 and Rule 19b– 

4(f)(6) thereunder.18

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 necessary or appropriate in the 

public interest, for the protection of 

investors, or otherwise in furtherance of 

the purposes of the Act. 

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– 

BX–2021–037 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–BX–2021–037. 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 website (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 website 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 the 

filing also will be available for 

inspection and copying at the principal 

office of the Exchange. All comments 

received will be posted without change. 

Persons submitting comments are 

cautioned that we do not redact or edit 

personal identifying information from 

comment submissions. You should 

submit only information that you wish 

to make available publicly. All 

submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–BX–2021–037 and should 

be submitted on or before October 12, 

2021. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.19

J. Matthew DeLesDernier, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–20337 Filed 9–20–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

[Public notice 11545] 

Notice of Receipt of Request From the 

Former Government of the Islamic 

Republic of Afghanistan Under Article 

9 of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on 

the Means of Prohibiting and 

Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and 

Transfer of Ownership of Cultural 

Property 

AGENCY: Department of State. 

ACTION: Public notice. 

SUMMARY: Notice of receipt of request 

from Afghanistan for cultural property 

protection. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Anne Compton, Cultural Heritage 

Center, Bureau of Educational and 

Cultural Affairs: 202–632–6571; 

culprop@state.gov; include 

‘‘Afghanistan’’ in the subject line. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

former Government of the Islamic 

Republic of Afghanistan made a request 

to the Government of the United States 

under Article 9 of the 1970 UNESCO 

Convention on the Means of Prohibiting 

and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export 

and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural 

Property. The United States Department 

of State received this request on April, 

28, 2021. The former Government of 

Afghanistan’s request seeks U.S. import 

restrictions on archaeological and 

ethnological material representing 

Afghanistan’s cultural patrimony. 

Pursuant to the authority vested in the 

Assistant Secretary of State for 

Educational and Cultural Affairs, and 

pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 2602(f)(1), 

notification of the request is hereby 

published. A public summary of the 

former Government of Afghanistan’s 

request and information about U.S. 

implementation of the 1970 UNESCO 

Convention will be available at the 

Cultural Heritage Center website: http:// 

culturalheritage.state.gov. 

Allison Davis, 

Executive Director CPAC, Bureau of 

Educational and Cultural Affairs, Department 

of State. 

[FR Doc. 2021–20341 Filed 9–20–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4710–05–P 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

[Public Notice 11541] 

Notice of Determinations; Culturally 

Significant Objects Being Imported for 

Exhibition—Determinations: ‘‘AfroAtlantic Histories’’ Exhibition 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the 

following determinations: I hereby 

determine that certain objects being 

imported from abroad pursuant to 

agreements with their foreign owners or 

custodians for temporary display in the 

exhibition ‘‘Afro-Atlantic Histories’’ at 

the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in 

Houston, Texas; the National Gallery of 

Art, Washington, District of Columbia; 

the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 

Los Angeles, California; and at possible 

additional exhibitions or venues yet to 

be determined, are of cultural 

significance, and, further, that their 

temporary exhibition or display within 

the United States as aforementioned is 

in the national interest. I have ordered 

that Public Notice of these 

determinations be published in the 

Federal Register. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chi 

D. Tran, Program Administrator, Office 

of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of 

State (telephone: 202–632–6471; email: 

section2459@state.gov). The mailing 

address is U.S. Department of State, 

L/PD, 2200 C Street NW (SA–5), Suite 

5H03, Washington, DC 20522–0505. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

foregoing determinations were made 


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