63458 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 205 / Thursday, October 23, 2014 / Notices 

14 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2)(C). 

15 15 U.S.C. 78q–1(b)(3)(F). 

16 15 U.S.C. 78q–1(b)(3)(F). 

17 17 CFR 240.17Ad–22. 

18 17 CFR 240.17Ad–22(b)(1). 

19 17 CFR 240.17Ad–22(b)(2). 

20 15 U.S.C. 78q–1. 

21 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2). 

22 In approving the proposed rule change, the 

Commission considered the proposal’s impact on 

efficiency, competition, and capital formation. 15 

U.S.C. 78c(f). 

23 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

1 12 U.S.C. 5465(e)(1)(A). The Financial Stability 

Oversight Council designated FICC a systemically 

important financial market utility on July 18, 2012. 

See Financial Stability Oversight Council 2012 

Annual Report, Appendix A, http://

www.treasury.gov/initiatives/fsoc/Documents/

2012%20Annual%20Report.pdf. Therefore, FICC is 

required to comply with Title VIII of the Payment, 

Clearing and Settlement Supervision Act. 

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4(n)(1)(i). 

3Securities Exchange Act Release No. 71469 (Feb. 

4, 2014), 79 FR 7722 (Feb. 10, 2014) (SR–FICC– 

2014–801). 

4 12 U.S.C. 5465(e)(1)(D). 

5The Commission received a response to this 

request for additional information August 19, 2014, 

at which time a 60 day review period for the 

Advance Notice began pursuant to Section 

806(e)(1)(G). 12 U.S.C. 5465(e)(1)(G). 

intraday CFR could be unduly reduced. 

The EUIC for Early Unwinds will only 

apply to the reverse repo side (cash 

lender) since it is only the reverse side 

whose lockup is unwound early. The 

securities subject to the Early Unwind 

are not returned to the repo side (cash 

borrower) in connection with Early 

Unwinds. Early Unwinds are performed 

on the reverse repo side to ensure that 

the underlying collateral is available to 

the repo side at its settlement bank. As 

such, the reverse repo side is subject to 

the EUIC notwithstanding its inability to 

control the Early Unwind as their noon 

intraday CFR could be unduly reduced 

as a result of such Early Unwinds. GSD 

has discussed the EUIC with the 

participants that are likely to be 

materially impacted by this proposed 

charge. These participants did not 

express any concerns about the EUIC. 

There is no automatic unwind (return 

of securities) to the repo side. If the repo 

side needs its securities before the 3:30 

p.m. (ET) scheduled unwind, it may 

perform a securities-for-securities 

substitution or a cash-for-securities 

substitution (in which case it may be 

subject to the EUIC). 

III. Discussion 

Section 19(b)(2)(C) of the Act 14

directs the Commission to approve a 

self-regulatory organization’s proposed 

rule change if the Commission finds that 

such proposed rule change is consistent 

with the requirements of the Act and the 

rules and regulations thereunder 

applicable to such organization. Section 

17A(b)(3)(F) of the Act 15 requires, 

among other things, that the rules of a 

clearing agency are designed to assure 

the safeguarding of securities and funds 

which are in the custody or control of 

the clearing agency or for which it is 

responsible. 

The Commission finds that the 

proposed rule change to establish the 

EUIC to protect against the exposure 

that may result from intraday Cash 

Substitutions and Early Unwinds in 

connection with FICC’s proposal to 

include the underlying collateral 

pertaining to the GCF Repo® positions 

in GSD’s noon intraday participant CFR 

calculation and hourly internal 

surveillance cycles is consistent with 

Section 17A(b)(3)(F) of the Act.16

Although the inclusion of GCF Repo®

positions into intraday participant CFR 

calculations and hourly surveillance 

cycles may better reflect the actual risk 

in its members’ portfolios, the inclusion 

of the EUIC may allow FICC to use even 

more accurate and current position 

information in its margin calculations 

and mitigate the effects of Cash 

Substitutions and Early Unwinds that 

occur during the intraday period. This 

more accurate margin calculation may 

allow FICC to better safeguard and 

secure securities and funds which are in 

its custody or control or for which it is 

responsible. 

The proposed change is also 

consistent with Rule 17Ad–22 17 of the 

Clearing Agency Standards which 

establishes the minimum requirements 

regarding how registered clearing 

agencies must maintain effective risk 

management procedures and controls. 

Specifically, Rule 17Ad–22(b)(1) 

requires a clearing agency that performs 

CCP services to establish, implement, 

maintain, and enforce written policies 

reasonably designed to measure its 

credit exposures at least daily and to 

limit exposures to potential losses from 

defaults by participants under normal 

market conditions so that the operations 

of the clearing agency should not be 

disrupt and non-defaulting participants 

would not be exposed to losses that they 

cannot anticipate or control.18 Rule 

17Ad–22(b)(2) requires FICC to 

establish, implement, maintain, and 

enforce written policies and procedures 

reasonably designed to use margin 

requirements to limit its credit 

exposures to participants under normal 

market conditions and use risk-based 

models and parameters to set margin 

requirements.19 To these ends, the 

change may provide FICC with a more 

accurate measurement of daily credit 

exposure using a risk-based model and 

is designed to address exposures that 

may occur from intraday activity. In 

sum, FICC’s more accurate and timely 

calculations around and monitoring of 

GCF Repo® activity should better enable 

FICC to respond in the event that a 

member defaults. 

IV. Conclusion 

On the basis of the foregoing, the 

Commission concludes that the 

proposal is consistent with the 

requirements of the Act, particularly the 

requirements of Section 17A of the 

Act,20 and the rules and regulations 

thereunder. 

It is therefore ordered, pursuant to 

Section 19(b)(2) of the Act,21 that the 

proposed rule change (File No. SR– 

FICC–2014–01) be and hereby is 

approved.22

For the Commission by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.23

Kevin M. O’Neill, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2014–25207 Filed 10–22–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–73388; File No. SR–FICC– 

2014–801] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; The 

Fixed Income Clearing Corporation; 

Notice of No Objection to Advance 

Notice Filing, as Amended by 

Amendment No. 1, Concerning the 

Government Security Division’s 

Inclusion of GCF Repo® Positions in 

Its Intraday Participant Clearing Fund 

Requirement Calculation, and Its 

Hourly Internal Surveillance Cycles 

October 17, 2014. 

On January 10, 2014, The Fixed 

Income Clearing Corporation (‘‘FICC’’) 

filed with the Securities and Exchange 

Commission (‘‘Commission’’) advance 

notice SR–FICC–2014–801 (‘‘Advance 

Notice’’) pursuant to Section 

806(e)(1)(A) of the Payment, Clearing, 

and Settlement Supervision Act of 2010 

(‘‘Payment, Clearing and Settlement 

Supervision Act’’ or ‘‘Title VIII’’) 1 and 

Rule 19b–4(n)(1)(i) of the Securities 

Exchange Act of 1934 (‘‘Act’’).2 The 

Advance Notice was published for 

comment in the Federal Register on 

February 10, 2014.3 On March 10, 2014, 

the Commission staff sent FICC a letter, 

pursuant to Section 806(e)(1)(D) 4 and 

Commission authorization, requesting 

additional information regarding this 

advance notice.5 FICC filed an 

amendment to the Advance Notice on 

August 11, 2014, which was published 

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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 205 / Thursday, October 23, 2014 / Notices 63459 

6Securities Exchange Act Release No. 73187 

(September 23), 79 FR 58007 (September 26, 2014) 

(SR–FICC–2014–801). 

7The GCF Repo® service enables dealers to trade 

general collateral repos, based on rate, term, and 

underlying product, throughout the day without 

requiring intra-day, trade-for-trade settlement on a 

Deliver-versus-Payment (‘‘DVP’’) basis. The service 

fosters a highly liquid market for securities 

financing. 

8The Task Force was formed in September 2009 

under the auspices of the Payments Risk 

Committee, a private-sector body sponsored by the 

Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Task 

Force’s goal is to enhance the repo market’s ability 

to navigate stressed market conditions by 

implementing changes that help better safeguard 

the market. FICC has worked in close collaboration 

with the Task Force on its reform initiatives. 

9As used herein ‘‘prior EOD’’ refers to the end of 

day cycle immediately preceding the current noon 

intraday cycle and ‘‘same EOD’’ refers to the cycle 

immediately subsequent to the current noon 

intraday cycle. 

10For example, in the extreme case where a 

participant’s portfolio was comprised entirely of 

GCF Repo® positions, at each EOD margining cycle 

FICC could calculate a substantial margin 

requirement which had to be met by 9:30 a.m. (ET) 

the next morning. But at each intraday margining 

cycle, FICC would calculate a negligible margin 

requirement (because GCF Repo® positions were 

not included at intraday). This would allow the 

participant to withdraw substantially all its margin 

collateral before the same EOD. In this case, if the 

participant defaulted overnight, FICC would hold 

almost no margin collateral from the participant 

while having the exposure of liquidating losses on 

a substantial GCF Repo® portfolio. To prevent this 

potential under-margin condition, FICC imposed 

the ‘‘higher of’’ standard. 

11A key aspect of the GCF Repo® service is to 

give the repo side (cash borrower) the ability to 

retrieve its securities during the business day and 

deliver those securities to meet a delivery 

obligation. As a result, GCF Repo® was unwound 

in the morning. With the Tri-Party Reform’s change 

in the unwind from 7:30 a.m. (ET) to 3:30 p.m. (ET), 

participants now have access to their securities 

during the day via collateral substitutions. 

12 In the ordinary course of business, the ‘‘higher 

of’’ standard will not apply. However, this standard 

will remain available in the event that one or both 

clearing banks do not provide intraday underlying 

collateral pertaining to the GCF Repo® position data 

because such clearing bank, as applicable, is unable 

to provide the data. 

13See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 73187 

(September 23), 79 FR 58007 (September 26, 2014) 

(SR–FICC–2014–801). 

14 If a member is assessed an EUIC that is deemed 

unnecessary, FICC management will have the 

discretion to waive such charge. 

15The EUIC will be included in the noon intraday 

participant CFR, but not the same EOD CFR. This 

is because the risk associated with cash lockups 

exists at intraday, that is, at any time before at EOD. 

At EOD in the normal course of business, GCF 

Repo® positions consist of 100% eligible non-cash 

securities. GCF Repo® is used for overnight 

financing of securities inventory. Absent 

extraordinary circumstances, participants do not 

use cash to collateralized overnight cash loans. 

Cash Substitutions occur at intraday as participants 

substitute in cash to withdraw securities they need 

for intraday deliveries. 

for comment in the Federal Register on 

September, 26, 2014.6 The Commission 

received no comments on the Advance 

Notice. This publication serves as a 

notice of no objection to the changes 

proposed in the Advance Notice. 

I. Description of the Advance Notice 

The Advance Notice concerns a 

proposal by FICC’s Government 

Securities Division (‘‘GSD’’) to include 

GCF Repo® 7 positions in its intraday 

(i.e., noon) participant Clearing Fund 

requirement calculation (‘‘CFR’’), and its 

hourly internal surveillance cycles. 

FICC intends for this enhancement to 

align GSD’s risk management 

calculations and monitoring with the 

changes that have been implemented to 

the tri-party infrastructure by the TriParty Repo Infrastructure Reform Task 

Force (‘‘Task Force’’) 8 specifically, with 

respect to locking up of GCF Repo®

collateral until 3:30 p.m. (ET) rather 

than 7:30 a.m. (ET). The Advance Notice 

also provides FICC the ability to account 

for an altered intraday risk profile of 

members as a result of a member’s 

substitution of cash for securities that 

were used as collateral for a GCF Repo®

position the prior day (‘‘Cash 

Substitution’’) or a clearing bank 

unwind of the cash lending side of the 

transaction for an inter-bank GCF Repo®

transaction at 7:30 a.m. (ET) (‘‘Early 

Unwind’’) by implementing an Early 

Unwind Intraday Charge (‘‘EUIC’’) 

where appropriate. 

(i) Historical Background 

Prior to the changes implemented by 

the Task Force, the underlying collateral 

pertaining to the GCF Repo® positions 

was locked up each afternoon 

(approximately 4:30 p.m. (ET)) and 

unwound at the beginning of the next 

business day (approximately 7:30 a.m. 

(ET)). Thus, the GCF Repo® positions 

were included in the end of day 

(‘‘EOD’’) CFR calculations but not 

included in FICC’s noon intraday CFR 

calculations. Because the GCF Repo®

positions were not included in FICC’s 

noon intraday CFR calculation, the noon 

calculation could result in an undermargined condition relative to the same 

EOD 9 CFR. Thus, FICC imposed a 

‘‘higher-of’’ standard on GCF Repo®

participants, whereby their noon 

intraday CFR was the higher of the 

actual noon intraday CFR calculation or 

its prior EOD CFR calculation.10

With the advent of the Task Force’s 

reform, which resulted in moving the 

unwind from 7:30 a.m. (ET) to 3:30 p.m. 

(ET), details on the underlying collateral 

pertaining to GCF Repo® positions are 

now received from the clearing banks on 

an hourly basis and can be incorporated 

into the noon intraday CFR calculation. 

Substitutions of underlying collateral 

are now permitted between 8:30 a.m. 

(ET) and 3:30 p.m. (ET).11

(ii) Proposed Change 

Because GCF Repo® collateral 

remains locked-up until 3:30 p.m. (ET), 

FICC proposed incorporating the 

underlying collateral pertaining to GCF 

Repo® positions in its noon intraday 

participant CFR calculation, and its 

hourly internal surveillance cycles.12

This enhancement is intended to align 

FICC’s risk management calculations 

and monitoring with the changes that 

have been implemented to the tri-party 

infrastructure by the Task Force. 

In certain instances, Cash 

Substitutions, for repo and reverse repo 

positions and the Early Unwind of 

interbank allocations for reverse repo 

positions, could result in higher cash 

balances in the underlying collateral 

pertaining to GCF Repo® positions at 

noon intraday than the same EOD, and 

could present a potential under-margin 

condition because cash collateral is not 

margined but the cash likely will be 

replaced by securities in the next GCF 

Repo® allocation of collateral. The 

under-margin condition will exist 

overnight because the VaR on the GCF 

Repo® collateral in the same EOD cycle 

will not be calculated until after 

Fedwire is closed, thus precluding 

members from satisfying margin deficits 

until the morning of the next business 

day. 

As a result, FICC amended its 

proposal 13 to include the EUIC to 

account for the altered intraday risk 

profile created by Cash Substitutions 

and Early Unwinds.14 In order to 

determine whether an EUIC should be 

applied, FICC will take the following 

steps: 

1. At noon, FICC will compare the 

prior EOD VaR component of the CFR 

calculation with the current day’s noon 

intraday VaR component of the CFR 

calculation. 

2. If the current day’s noon intraday 

VaR calculation is equal to or higher 

than the prior EOD’s VaR calculation 

then GSD will not apply an EUIC. If 

however, the current day’s noon 

calculation is lower, then FICC will 

proceed to the step 3 below. 

3. FICC will review the GCF Repo®

participant’s DVP and GCF Repo®

portfolio to determine whether the 

reduction in the noon calculation may 

be attributable to the GCF Repo®

participant’s intraday cash substitutions 

or early unwind of interbank 

allocations. If so, then FICC will apply 

the EUIC. 

4. At the participant level, the EUIC 15

will be the lesser of (i) the net VaR 

decrease that may be deemed to be 

attributable to either Cash Substitutions 

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63460 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 205 / Thursday, October 23, 2014 / Notices 

16 In the event that cash substitutions or early 

unwind of interbank allocations impacts the CFR, 

the prior end of day CFR is used as a proxy for the 

same end of day CFR for the portion of the portfolio 

that is impacted by such cash substitutions or early 

unwind of interbank allocations. The EUIC is 

designed to prevent the impact of cash substitutions 

and early unwind of interbank allocations from 

unduly reducing noon intraday CFR relative to the 

prior EOD CFR calculation, thus the EUIC will not 

increase the noon intraday CFR above the prior 

EOD CFR calculation. (But the noon intraday CFR 

calculation exclusive of EUIC could be higher than 

the prior EOD CFR calculation.) 

17See 12 U.S.C. 5461(b). 

18 Id. 

19 12 U.S.C. 5464(a)(2). 

20 12 U.S.C. 5464(b). 

21 12 U.S.C. 5464(a)(2). 

22Rule 17Ad–22, 17 CFR 240.17Ad–22. Exchange 

Act Release No. 68080 (October 22, 2012), 77 FR 

66220 (November 2, 2012) (S7–08–11). 

23The Clearing Agency Standards are 

substantially similar to the risk management 

standards established by the Board of Governors of 

the Federal Reserve System (‘‘Federal Reserve’’) 

governing the operations of designated DFMUs that 

are not clearing entities and financial institutions 

engaged in designated activities for which the 

Commission or the Commodity Futures Trading 

Commission is the Supervisory Agency. See 

Financial Market Utilities, 77 FR 45907 (August 2, 

2012). 

24 12 U.S.C. 5464(b). 

25 12 U.S.C. 5464(b). 

26 17 CFR 240.17Ad–22. 

27 17 CFR 240.17Ad–22(b)(1). 

and/or Early Unwinds of interbank 

allocations or (ii) the prior EOD VaR 

minus the noon intraday VaR.16

The EUIC for Cash Substitutions will 

apply to both the repo side (cash 

borrower) and the reverse repo side 

(cash lender) of the transaction and the 

EUIC for the Early Unwinds of interbank 

allocations will apply to the reverse 

repo side only. The EUIC applies to the 

reverse repo side because although that 

side does not initiate the Cash 

Substitution or the Early Unwind of 

interbank allocations, these events 

change the reverse repo participants’ 

risk profile and as a result, their noon 

intraday CFR could be unduly reduced. 

The EUIC for the Early Unwind of 

interbank allocations will only apply to 

the reverse repo side (cash lender) since 

it is only the reverse side whose lockup 

is unwound early. The securities subject 

to the Early unwind are not returned to 

the repo side (cash borrower) in 

connection with the early unwind of 

interbank allocations. The Early 

Unwind of interbank allocations is 

performed on the reverse repo side to 

ensure that the underlying collateral is 

available to the repo side at its 

settlement bank. Cash is returned to the 

reverse repo side and thus unwound 

early. There is no automatic unwind 

(return of securities) to the repo side. If 

the repo side needs its securities before 

the 3:30 p.m. (ET) scheduled unwind, it 

may perform a securities-for-securities 

substitution or a cash-for-securities 

substitution (in which case it may be 

subject to the EUIC). 

II. Discussion and Commission 

Findings 

Although the Payment, Clearing and 

Settlement Supervision Act does not 

specify a standard of review for an 

advance notice, the Commission 

believes its stated purpose is 

instructive.17 The stated purpose is to 

mitigate systemic risk in the financial 

system and promote financial stability 

by, among other things, promoting 

uniform risk management standards for 

systemically-important financial market 

utilities (‘‘FMU’’) and strengthening the 

liquidity of systemically important 

FMUs.18

Section 805(a)(2) of the Payment, 

Clearing, and Settlement Supervision 

Act 19 authorizes the Commission to 

prescribe risk management standards for 

the payment, clearing, and settlement 

activities of designated clearing entities 

and financial institutions engaged in 

designated activities for which it is the 

supervisory agency or the appropriate 

financial regulator. Section 805(b) of the 

Payment, Clearing, and Settlement 

Supervision Act 20 states that the 

objectives and principles for the risk 

management standards prescribed under 

Section 805(a) shall be to: 

• Promote robust risk management; 

• promote safety and soundness; 

• reduce systemic risks; and 

• support the stability of the broader 

financial system. 

The Commission has adopted risk 

management standards under Section 

805(a)(2) of the Payment, Clearing and 

Settlement Supervision Act 21

(‘‘Clearing Agency Standards’’).22 The 

Clearing Agency Standards became 

effective on January 2, 2013 and require 

registered clearing agencies that perform 

central counterparty (‘‘CCP’’) services to 

establish, implement, maintain, and 

enforce written policies and procedures 

that are reasonably designed to meet 

certain minimum requirements for their 

operations and risk management 

practices on an ongoing basis.23 As 

such, it is appropriate for the 

Commission to review advance notices 

against these Clearing Agency Standards 

and the objectives and principles of 

these risk management standards as 

described in Section 805(b) of the 

Payment, Clearing and Settlement 

Supervision Act.24

Because it was based on the previous 

pre-reform unwinding process described 

above, FICC’s intraday risk calculation 

does not currently capture the GCF 

Repo® positions on an intraday basis. 

The change to incorporate the 

underlying collateral pertaining to the 

GCF Repo® positions in its noon 

intraday participant CFR calculation, 

and its hourly internal surveillance 

cycles, should improve FICC’s risk 

management by providing a more 

accurate and timely view of member 

positions and their corresponding 

exposures and may help ensure that 

FICC collects sufficient clearing fund 

deposits to safeguard itself in the event 

of a member default. Further, 

incorporating GCF Repo® positions into 

intraday participant CFR calculations 

and hourly surveillance cycles may 

better reflect the actual risk in its 

members’ portfolios. Moreover, the 

inclusion of the EUIC may allow FICC 

to use more accurate position 

information in its margin calculations 

and mitigate the effects of Cash 

Substitutions and Early Unwinds that 

occur during the intraday period. 

The Commission believes that 

including GCF Repo® positions in 

FICC’s intraday participant clearing 

fund calculations and hourly internal 

surveillance meets the objectives and 

principles for the risk management 

standards prescribed under Section 

805(a). The inclusion of GCF® Repo 

positions may provide FICC with a more 

accurate view of members’ intraday 

exposures and more accurate risk 

profiles. Additionally, the EUIC allows 

FICC to account for risks posed by 

intraday VaR fluctuations that are 

caused by Cash Substitutions and Early 

Unwinds and may allow FICC to better 

manage intraday risk. Thus, the 

proposal promotes robust risk 

management and safety and soundness 

of FICC’s risk management systems, 

reduces systemic risk, and supports the 

stability of the broader financial 

system.25

The proposed change is also 

consistent with Rule 17Ad–22 26 of the 

Clearing Agency Standards which 

establishes the minimum requirements 

regarding how registered clearing 

agencies must maintain effective risk 

management procedures and controls. 

Specifically, Rule 17Ad–22(b)(1) 

requires a clearing agency that performs 

CCP services to establish, implement, 

maintain and enforce written policies 

reasonably designed to measure its 

credit exposures at least daily and to 

limit exposures to potential losses from 

defaults by participants under normal 

market conditions so that the operations 

of the clearing agency should not be 

disrupt and non-defaulting participants 

would not be exposed to losses that they 

cannot anticipate or control.27 Rule 

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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 205 / Thursday, October 23, 2014 / Notices 63461 

28 17 CFR 240.17Ad–22(b)(2). 

29 12 U.S.C. 5465(e)(1)(I). 

17Ad–22(b)(2) requires FICC to 

establish, implement, maintain and 

enforce written policies and procedures 

reasonably designed to use margin 

requirements to limit its credit 

exposures to participants under normal 

market conditions and use risk-based 

models and parameters to set margin 

requirements.28 To these ends, the 

change may provide FICC with a more 

accurate measurement of daily credit 

exposure using a risk-based model and 

is designed to address exposures that 

may occur from intraday activity. In 

sum, FICC’s more accurate and timely 

calculations around and monitoring of 

GCF Repo® activity may better enable 

FICC to respond in the event that a 

member defaults. 

III. Conclusion 

It is therefore noticed, pursuant to 

Section 806(e)(1)(I) of the Payment, 

Clearing and Settlement Supervision 

Act,29 that the Commission does not 

object to advance notice proposal (SR– 

FICC2014–801) and that FICC is 

authorized to implement the proposal as 

of the date of this notice or the date of 

an order by the Commission approving 

a proposed rule change that reflects rule 

changes that are consistent with this 

advance notice proposal (SR–FICC– 

2014–01), whichever is later. 

By the Commission. 

Kevin O’Neill, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2014–25202 Filed 10–22–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

[Public Notice: 8919] 

30-Day Notice of Proposed Information 

Collection: Individual, Corporate or 

Foundation, and Government Donor 

Letter Applications 

ACTION: Notice of request for public 

comment and submission to OMB of 

proposed collection of information. 

SUMMARY: The Department of State has 

submitted the information collection 

described below to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

approval. In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 we 

are requesting comments on this 

collection from all interested 

individuals and organizations. The 

purpose of this Notice is to allow 30 

days for public comment. 

DATE(S): Submit comments directly to 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) up to November 24, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: Direct comments to the 

Department of State Desk Officer in the 

Office of Information and Regulatory 

Affairs at the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB). You may submit 

comments by the following methods: 

• Email: oira_submission@

omb.eop.gov. You must include the DS 

form number, information collection 

title, and the OMB control number in 

the subject line of your message. 

• Fax: 202–395–5806. Attention: Desk 

Officer for Department of State. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Direct requests for additional 

information regarding the collection 

listed in this notice, including requests 

for copies of the proposed collection 

instrument and supporting documents, 

to Ronda Harvey, who may be reached 

on (202) 647–6009 or at HarveyRJ2@

state.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

• Title of Information Collection: 

Individual, Corporate or Foundation 

and Government Donor Letter 

Application. 

• OMB Control Number: None. 

• Type of Request: Collection in use 

without an OMB control number. 

• Originating Office: Office of 

Emergencies in the Diplomatic and 

Consular Service (EDCS). 

• Form Numbers: Donor Form— 

Individual (DS–4273), Donor Form— 

Corporate or Foundation (DS–4272), 

Donor Form—Government (DS–4271). 

• Respondents: Individuals, 

corporations, or foundations that make 

donations to the Department. 

• Estimated Number of Respondents: 

3665. 

• Estimated Number of Responses: 

3665. 

• Average Time per Response: 5 

minutes per form. 

• Total Estimated Burden Time: 305 

hours. 

• Frequency: On occasion. 

• Obligation to Respond: Mandatory. 

We are soliciting public comments to 

permit the Department to: 

• Evaluate whether the proposed 

information collection is necessary for 

the proper functions of the Department. 

• Evaluate the accuracy of our 

estimate of the time and cost burden for 

this proposed collection, including the 

validity of the methodology and 

assumptions used. 

• Enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected. 

• Minimize the reporting burden on 

those who are to respond, including the 

use of automated collection techniques 

or other forms of information 

technology. 

Please note that comments submitted 

in response to this Notice are public 

record. Before including any detailed 

personal information, you should be 

aware that your comments as submitted, 

including your personal information, 

will be available for public review. 

Abstract of proposed collection: 

The Office of Emergencies in the 

Diplomatic and Consular Service 

(EDCS) manages the solicitation and 

acceptance of gifts to the U.S. 

Department of State. The information 

requested via donor letters is a 

necessary first step to accepting 

donations. The information is sought 

pursuant to 22 U.S.C. 2697, 5 U.S.C. 

7324 and 22 CFR Part 3) and will be 

used by EDCS’s Gift Fund Coordinator 

to demonstrate the donor’s intention to 

donate either an in-kind or monetary 

gift to the Department. This information 

is mandatory and must be completed 

before the gift is received by the 

Department. 

Methodology: 

The information collection forms will 

be available electronically via the State 

Department’s Internet Web site (http://

eforms.state.gov). Donors can also 

complete hard-copies of the form and 

mail them to EDCS if internet access is 

not available. 

Dated: October 14, 2014. 

Frances Gidez, 

Gift Funds Coordinator, M/EDCS, Department 

of State. 

[FR Doc. 2014–25263 Filed 10–22–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4710–10–P 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

[Public Notice 8930] 

Overseas Security Advisory Council 

(Osac) Renewal 

The Department of State has renewed 

the Charter of the Overseas Security 

Advisory Council. This federal advisory 

committee will continue to interact on 

overseas security matters of mutual 

interest between the U.S. Government 

and the American private sector. The 

Council’s initiatives and security 

publications provide a unique 

contribution to protecting American 

private sector interests abroad. The 

Under Secretary for Management 

determined that renewal of the Charter 

is necessary and in the public interest. 

The Council consists of 

representatives from three (3) U.S. 

Government agencies and thirty-one 

(31) American private sector companies 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES