Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 39 / Tuesday, February 27, 2001 / Notices 12571

1The three series of debentures are listed on the

New York Stock Exchange and were authorized by

the Commission. See Holding Co. Act Release No.

25800 (April 21, 1993) and Holding Co. Act Release

No. 24896 (May 31, 1989).

2CNG states that the 83⁄4% Debentures due

October 1, 2019 were called for redemption on

February 16, 2001 at a redemption price of $103.42.

3Either some portions, or the entirety, of sections

6.05 through 6.10 may be deleted as a result of the

proposed amendments.

1 17 CFR 240.11Aa3–2.

2 17 CFR 240.11Ac1–5.

3Securities Exchange Act Release No. 43590

(November 17, 2000), 65 FR 75414.

4The term ‘‘market center’’ is defined in Rule

11Ac1–5(a)(14) as ‘‘any exchange market maker,

OTC market maker, alternative trading system,

national securities exchange, or national securities

association.’’

27113). CNG is engaged, throgh

subsidiaries, in all phases of the natural

gas business including distribution,

transmission, exploration and

production. CNG’s three utility public

subsidiaries, Dominion East Ohio,

Dominion Peoples and Dominion Hope,

serve approximately 1.7 million retail

customers.

CNG seeks authorization to solicit

consents and amend the indenture

dated as of May 1, 1971, between CNG

and the Chase Manhattan Bank, as

successor Trustee (‘‘1971 Indenture’’) as

supplemented by 19 supplemental

indentures. In connection with a 20th

supplemental indenture, CNG proposes

to effect changes in the 1971 Indenture

(‘‘Amendments’’). Currently there are

three series of debentures outstanding

under the 1971 Indenture as follows:1

Debentures Principal Amount

5 3⁄4% Debentures due

August 1, 2003 .............. $150,000,000

6 5⁄8% Debentures due

December 1, 2013 ........ 150,000,000

8 3⁄4% Debentures due

October 1, 2019 ............ 71,010,000

Total outstanding ....... 371,010,000

CNG requests authority to solicit

consents from holders of the 53⁄4%

Debentures due August 1, 2003 and the

65⁄8% Debentures due December 1, 2013

(collectively, ‘‘Debentures’’).2 CNG

contemplates that a consent solicitation

statement and accompanying materials

(which consist of a consent letter, a form

of beneficial owner proxy authorizing a

registered owner to consent, a letter to

nominees such as brokers and dealers

and a form letter to be used by nominees

to advise their clients of the consent

solicitation) will be mailed or hand

delivered to holders of the Debentures

(‘‘Debentureholders’’). Debentureholders

of 662⁄3% in principal amount of each

series of Debentures and of all the

Debentures collectively must consent to

the amendments in order for them to

become effective. If the required

consents are received, CNG will pay a

consent fee to each Debentureholder

who has delivered a valid consent

before the expiration date as set by CNG.

CNG also currently has outstanding

$1,350,000,000 principal amount in

debt securities under an indenture dated

as of April 1, 1995 between CNG and

United States Trust Company of New

York, as trustee (‘‘1995 Indenture’’).

CNG plans to amend the 1971 Indenture

to remove certain covenant restrictions.

CNG states the effect of these

amendments will, in general, be to

eliminate covenants and restrictions

found in the 1971 Indenture but not in

the 1995 Indenture.

Specifically, CNG proposes to amend

the 1971 Indenture as follows: (1) Delete

section 6.05, which imposes restrictions

on the sale of common or voting shares;

(2) delete section 6.06, which imposes

restrictions on additional funded debt of

CNG and its subsidiaries and preferred

stock of subsidiaries; (3) delete section

6.07, which imposes other restrictions

on additional funded debt and preferred

stock of new subsidiary companies; (4)

delete section 6.08, which imposes

restrictions on the payment of

dividends; (5) delete section 6.09, which

imposes restrictions on consolidation,

merger or transfer of property unless

specified ratios are complied with; (6)

delete section 6.10, which requires CNG

to file officers’ certificates evidencing

compliance with certain of the

provisions of sections 6.06 through

6.09,3 (7) CNG will agree for the benefit

of the Debentureholders that it will

comply with all covenants and

restrictions in the 1995 Indenture; and

(8) CNG will agree not to issue any

additional debentures under the 1971

Indenture.

CNG states that neither the 1995

Indenture nor any of CNG’s other credit

arrangements contain restrictions of the

kind imposed by sections 6.05 through

6.10 of the 1971 Indenture. CNG asserts

the removal of these restrictions

provides CNG with greater freedom to

incur debt, pay dividends and engage in

restructuring transactions that would

otherwise be prohibited by the terms of

the 1971 Indenture. CNG further asserts

the amendments would update the

terms of the 1971 Indenture to those

generally accepted in capital markets for

borrowers of the financial stature of

CNG and DRI.

CNG requests that an order

authorizing the solicitation of consents

be issued as soon as practicable under

rule 62(d).

For the Commission by the Division of

Investment Management, pursuant to

delegated authority.

Margaret H. McFarland,

Deputy Secretary.

[FR Doc. 01–4749 Filed 2–26–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8010–01–M

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE

COMMISSION

[Release No. 34–43992; File No. 4–208]

Joint Industry Plan; Notice of Filing of

Proposed Plan Establishing

Procedures Under Rule 11Ac1–5 by the

American Stock Exchange, Boston

Stock Exchange, Chicago Stock

Exchange, Cincinnati Stock Exchange,

National Association of Securities

Dealers, New York Stock Exchange,

Pacific Exchange, and Philadelphia

Stock Exchange

February 21, 2001.

I. Introduction

On February 20, 2001, pursuant to

Rule 11Aa3–2 under the Securities

Exchange Act of 1934 (‘‘Exchange

Act’’),1 the American Stock Exchange

LLC (‘‘Amex’’), Boston Stock Exchange,

Inc. (‘‘BSE’’), Chicago Stock Exchange,

Inc. (‘‘CHX’’), Cincinnati Stock

Exchange, Inc. (‘‘CSE’’), National

Association of Securities Dealers, Inc.

(‘‘NASD’’), New York Stock Exchange,

Inc. (‘‘NYSE’’), Pacific Exchange, Inc.

(‘‘PCX’’) and Philadelphia Stock

Exchange, Inc. (‘‘Phlx’’) filed with the

Securities and Exchange Commission

(‘‘SEC’’ or ‘‘Commission’’) a proposed

plan (‘‘Plan’’) for the purpose of

establishing procedures for market

centers to follow in making their

monthly reports available to the public

under Exchange Act Rule 11Ac1–5.2

Pursuant to Rule 11Aa3–2(c)(1), the

Commission is publishing this notice of,

and requesting comments on, the Plan.

II. Background

On November 17, 2000, the

Commission adopted Rule 11Ac1–5,

which requires public disclosure of

order execution information.3 Under the

Rule, all ‘‘market centers’’4 that trade

national market system securities are

required to make available to the public

monthly electronic reports that include

uniform statistical measures of

execution quality. Paragraph (b)(2) of

the Rule directs the self-regulatory

organizations (‘‘SROs’’) that trade

national market system securities to act

jointly in establishing procedures for

market centers to follow in making their

monthly reports available to the public

12572 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 39 / Tuesday, February 27, 2001 / Notices

in a uniform, readily accessible, and

usable electronic format.

III. Summary of Plan

The full text of the Plan is set forth

in the Appendix and should be referred

to for all details of Plan procedures. In

general, each market center required by

the Rule to make monthly reports

available to the public must prepare

such reports in the form of electronic

data files that meet the requirements set

forth in Sections V and VI of the Plan.

Section V, for example, provides that

market center files must be in standard,

pipe-delimited ASCII format, and

Section VI(a) sets forth the 26 fields of

information that market center files

must include (in order), as well as

formatting instructions for the fields. A

market center must make its files

available for downloading on an

Internet site (‘‘Download Site’’) in

accordance with the provisions set forth

in Section VII of the Plan (e.g., the site

must be free of charge and readily

accessible to the public).

Under Section VIII of the Plan, each

market center must make arrangements

with a single SRO that is a Participant

in the Plan to act as the market center’s

‘‘Designated Participant.’’ A market

center must notify its Designated

Participant of a hyperlink to the market

center’s Download Site. Finally, each

Participant SRO will maintain an

Internet site that includes a

comprehensive list of links (‘‘Link Site’’)

where the files can be obtained for all

of the market centers for which the

Participant functions as a Designated

Participant. As a result, anyone who

wishes to download all files for a month

can be assured that, if they visit the

Internet sites of all Participants, they

will find hyperlinks to all files for the

month.

IV. Solicitation of Comments

Interested persons are invited to

submit written data, views, and

arguments concerning the foregoing,

including whether the proposed Plan is

consistent with the Exchange Act.

Persons making written submissions

should file six copies thereof with the

Secretary, Securities and Exchange

Commission, 450 Fifth Street, NW.,

Washington, DC 20549–0609. Copies of

the submission, all subsequent

amendments to the proposed Plan, all

written statements with respect to the

proposed Plan that are filed with the

Commission, and all written

communications relating to the

proposed Plan 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

inspection and copying at the

Commission’s Public Reference Room.

All submissions should refer to File No.

4–208 and should be submitted by

March 20, 2001.

By the Commission.

Margaret H. McFarland,

Deputy Secretary.

Appendix—Text Of Plan

The Participants submit to the SEC this

Plan establishing procedures for market

centers to follow in making available to the

public the monthly reports required by Rule

11Ac1–5 in a uniform, readily accessible, and

usable electronic form. The Participants

developed this Plan pursuant to paragraph

(b)(2) of the Rule, which directs the

Participants to act jointly in establishing such

procedures.

I. Definitions

(a) ‘‘Designated Participant’’ means the

Participant with which each market center

has made the arrangements set forth in

Section VIII of the Plan.

(b) ‘‘Exchange Act’’ means the Securities

Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

(c) ‘‘Participant’’ means a party to the Plan.

(d) ‘‘Plan’’ means the plan set forth in this

instrument, as amended from time to time in

accordance with its provisions.

(e) ‘‘Rule’’ means Rule 11Ac1–5 under the

Exchange Act.

(f) ‘‘SEC’’ means the United States

Securities and Exchange Commission.

(g) All terms defined in paragraph (a) of the

Rule shall have the same meaning when used

in the Plan, unless otherwise specified.

II. Parties

(a) List of Parties

The parties to the Plan are as follows:

American Stock Exchange LLC (‘‘Amex’’),

registered as a national securities exchange

under the Exchange Act and having its

principal place of business at 86 Trinity

Place, New York, New York 10006.

Boston Stock Exchange, Inc. (‘‘BSE’’),

registered as a national securities exchange

under the Exchange Act and having its

principal place of business at 100 Franklin

Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02110.

Chicago Stock Exchange, Inc. (‘‘CHX’’),

registered as a national securities exchange

under the Exchange Act and having its

principal place of business at 440 South

LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois 60605.

Cincinnati Stock Exchange, Inc. (‘‘CSE’’),

registered as a national securities exchange

under the Exchange Act and having its

principal place of business at 440 South

LaSalle Street, Suite 2600, Chicago, Illinois

60605.

National Association of Securities Dealers,

Inc. (‘‘NASD’’), registered as a national

securities association under the Exchange

Act and having its principal place of business

at 1735 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.

20006.

New York Stock Exchange, Inc. (‘‘NYSE’’),

registered as a national securities exchange

under the Exchange Act and having its

principal place of business at 11 Wall Street,

New York, New York 10005.

Pacific Exchange, Inc. (‘‘PCX’’), registered

as a national securities exchange under the

Exchange Act and having its principal place

of business at 301 Pine Street, San Francisco,

California 94104.

Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Inc.

(‘‘Phlx’’), registered as a national securities

exchange under the Exchange Act and having

its principal place of business at 1900 Market

Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103.

(b) Compliance Undertaking

By subscribing to and submitting the Plan

for approval by the SEC, each Participant

agrees to comply with and to enforce

compliance by its members with the

provisions of the Plan.

(c) New Participants

The Participants agree that any entity

registered as a national securities exchange or

national securities association under the

Exchange Act may become a Participant by:

(i) executing a copy of the Plan, as then in

effect; (ii) providing each then-current

Participant with a copy of such executed

Plan; and (iii) effecting an amendment to the

Plan as specified in Section III(b) of the Plan.

III. Amendments to Plan

(a) General Amendments

Except with respect to the addition of new

Participants to the Plan, any proposed change

in, addition to, or deletion from the Plan

shall be effected by means of a written

amendment to the Plan that: (A) Sets forth

the change, addition, or deletion; (B) is

executed on behalf of each Participant; and

(C) is approved by the SEC or otherwise

becomes effective pursuant to Section 11A of

the Exchange Act and Rule 11Aa3–2

thereunder.

(b) New Participants

With respect to new Participants, an

amendment to the Plan may be effected by

the new national securities exchange or

national securities association executing a

copy of the Plan, as then in effect (with the

only changes being the addition of the new

Participant’s name in Section II(a) of the Plan

and the new Participant’s single-digit code in

Section VI(a)(1) of the Plan) and submitting

such executed Plan to the SEC for approval.

The amendment will be effective when it is

approved by the SEC or otherwise becomes

effective pursuant to Section 11A of the

Exchange Act and Rule 11Aa3–2 thereunder.

(c) Advisory Committee on Plan

Amendments

(1) Each Participant shall select from its

staff one individual to represent such

Participant as a member of an Advisory

Committee on Plan Amendments (‘‘Advisory

Committee’’), together with a substitute for

such individual. Such substitute may

participate in deliberations of the Advisory

Committee and shall be considered a voting

member thereof only in the absence of the

primary representative. Each Participant

shall have one vote on all matters considered

by the Advisory Committee.

(2) The Advisory Committee shall monitor

the procedures established pursuant to this

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 39 / Tuesday, February 27, 2001 / Notices 12573

1An entity that acts as a market maker in different

trading venues (e.g., as specialist on an exchange

and as an OTC market maker) would be considered

as a separate market center under the Rule for each

of those trading venues. Consequently, the entity

should arrange for a Designated Participant for each

market center/trading venue (e.g., an exchange for

its specialist trading and an association for its OTC

trading).

2For each individual security, there are five order

types that could each be broken down into four size

buckets.

Plan and advise the Participants with respect

to any deficiencies, problems, or

recommendations as the Advisory Committee

may deem appropriate. Any recommendation

for an amendment to the Plan from the

Advisory Committee that receives an

affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the

Participants, but is less than unanimous,

shall be submitted to the SEC as a request for

rulemaking under Exchange Act Rule 11Aa3–

2.

IV. Overview of Plan Procedures

Any market center required by the Rule to

make monthly reports available to the public

shall prepare such reports in the form of

electronic data files that meet the

requirements set forth in Sections V and VI

of the Plan. A market center shall make its

files available for downloading on an Internet

site in accordance with the provisions set

forth in Section VII of the Plan. In accordance

with Section VIII of the Plan, each market

center 1 shall make arrangements with a

single Participant to act as the market

center’s Designated Participant. A market

center shall notify its Designated Participant

of a hyperlink to the Internet site where its

files can be downloaded. Each Participant

will maintain an Internet site that includes a

comprehensive list of links where the files

can be obtained for all of the market centers

for which the Participant functions as a

Designated Participant.

V. File Type, Compression, and Naming

Files shall be prepared in standard, pipedelimited (‘‘|’’) ASCII format and compressed

using standard Zip compression.

Uncompressed files shall be named

according to the following convention: ‘‘[file

identification code][six-digit date code

(yyyymm)].dat’’. A market center will use the

file identification code assigned to it

pursuant to section VIII of the Plan. The date

code shall refer to the calendar month of

trading for the market center report contained

in the file. Compressed files will be named

according to the same convention, except

that the extension will be ‘‘.zip’’.

VI. File Structure

(a) Order and Format of Fields

(1) The first field in a file shall be the code

identifying the Participant that is acting as

Designated Participant for the market center

under Section VIII of the Plan. The

Participant identification codes are as

follows: Amex—‘‘A’’; BSE—‘‘B’’; CHX—‘‘M’’;

CSE—‘‘CSE’’; NASD—‘‘T’’; NYSE—‘‘N’’;

PCX—‘‘P’’; Phlx—‘‘X’’.

(2) The next field in a file shall be the code

identifying the market center, as assigned by

a Designated Participant pursuant to Section

VIII of the Plan.

(3) The next field in a file shall be the sixdigit code identifying the date of the calendar

month of trading for the market center report

contained in the file (‘‘yyyymm’’).

(4) The next field in a file shall be the

symbol assigned to an individual security

under the national market system plan

pursuant to which the consolidated best bid

and offer for such security are disseminated

on a current and continuous basis.

(5) The next field in a file shall be the code

for the one of the five types of order by which

the Rule requires a market center to

categorize its report. The order type codes are

as follows: market orders—‘‘11’’; marketable

limit orders—‘‘12’’; inside-the-quote limit

orders—‘‘13’’; at-the-quote limit orders—

‘‘14’’; near-the-quote limit orders—‘‘15’’.

(6) The next field in a file shall be the code

for one of the four order size buckets by

which the Rule requires a market center to

categorize its report. The order size codes are

as follows: 100–499 shares— ‘‘21’’; 500–1999

shares—‘‘22’’; 2000–4999 shares—‘‘23’’; 5000

or more shares— ‘‘24’’.

(7) The next field in a file shall be the

number of covered orders, as specified in

paragraph (b)(1)(i)(A) of the Rule.

(8) The next field in a file shall be the

cumulative number of shares of covered

orders, as specified in paragraph (b)(1)(i)(B)

of the Rule.

(9) The next field in a file shall be the

cumulative number of shares of covered

orders cancelled prior to execution, as

specified in paragraph (b)(1)(i)(C) of the Rule.

(10) The next field in a file shall be the

cumulative number of shares of covered

orders executed at the receiving market

center, as specified in paragraph (b)(1)(i)(D)

of the Rule.

(11) The next field in a file shall be the

cumulative number of shares of covered

orders executed at any other venue, as

specified in paragraph (b)(1)(i)(E) of the Rule.

(12) The next field in a file shall be the

cumulative number of shares of covered

orders executed from 0 to 9 seconds after the

time of order receipt, as specified in

paragraph (b)(1)(i)(F) of the Rule.

(13) The next field in a file shall be the

cumulative number of shares of covered

orders executed from 10 to 29 seconds after

the time of order receipt, as specified in

paragraph (b)(1)(i)(G) of the Rule.

(14) The next field in a file shall be the

cumulative number of shares of covered

orders executed from 30 to 59 seconds after

the time of order receipt, as specified in

paragraph (b)(1)(i)(H) of the Rule.

(15) The next field in a file shall be the

cumulative number of shares of covered

orders executed from 60 to 299 seconds after

the time of order receipt, as specified in

paragraph (b)(1)(i)(I) of the Rule.

(16) The next field in a file shall be the

cumulative number of shares of covered

orders executed from 5 minutes to 30

minutes after the time of order receipt, as

specified in paragraph (b)(1)(i)(J) of the Rule.

(17) The next field in a file shall be the

average realized spread for executions of

covered orders, as specified in paragraph

(b)(1)(i)(K) of the Rule. The amount shall be

expressed in dollars and carried out to four

decimal places.

(18) The next field in a file shall be the

average effective spread for executions of

covered orders, as specified in paragraph

(b)(1)(ii)(A) of the Rule. The amount shall be

expressed in dollars and carried out to four

decimal places.

(19) The next field in a file shall be the

cumulative number of shares of covered

orders executed with price improvement, as

specified in paragraph (b)(1)(ii)(B) of the

Rule.

(20) The next field in a file shall be, for

shares executed with price improvement, the

share-weighted average amount per share

that prices were improved, as specified in

paragraph (b)(1)(ii)(C) of the Rule. The

amount shall be expressed in dollars and

carried out to four decimal places.

(21) The next field in a file shall be, for

shares executed with price improvement, the

share-weighted average period from the time

of order receipt to the time of order

execution, as specified in paragraph

(b)(1)(ii)(D) of the Rule. The period shall be

expressed in number of seconds and carried

out to one decimal place.

(22) The next field in a file shall be the

cumulative number of shares of covered

orders executed at the quote, as specified in

paragraph (b)(1)(ii)(E) of the Rule.

(23) The next field in a file shall be, for

shares executed at the quote, the shareweighted average period of time from the

time of order receipt to the time of order

execution, as specified in paragraph

(b)(1)(ii)(F) of the Rule. The period shall be

expressed in number of seconds and carried

out to one decimal place.

(24) The next field in a file shall be the

cumulative number of shares of covered

orders executed outside the quote, as

specified in paragraph (b)(1)(ii)(G) of the

Rule.

(25) The next field in a file shall be, for

shares executed outside the quote, the shareweighted average amount per share that

prices were outside the quote, as specified in

paragraph (b)(1)(ii)(H) of the Rule. The

amount shall be expressed in dollars and

carried out to four decimal places.

(26) The next field in a file shall be, for

shares executed outside the quote, the shareweighted average period of time from the

time of order receipt to the time of order

execution, as specified in paragraph

(b)(1)(ii)(I) of the Rule. The period shall be

expressed in number of seconds and carried

out to one decimal place.

(b) Records

Files shall have separate records for each

combination of security, order type, and

order size by which a market center must

categorize its report under the Rule (a

maximum of 20 records for each individual

security).2 The end of each record shall be

designated by a carriage return line feed. If

there are no orders on which a market center

must report during a month for a specific

combination of security, order type, and

order size, no record for such combination

need be displayed. If there is no data for a

particular field within a record (e.g., the Rule

does not require such information for insideVerDate 11<MAY>2000 19:49 Feb 26, 2001 Jkt 194001 PO 00000 Frm 00120 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 E:\FR\FM\27FEN1.SGM pfrm01 PsN: 27FEN1
12574 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 39 / Tuesday, February 27, 2001 / Notices

3A market center can maintain its own Internet

site at which its files can be downloaded or arrange

for another person to maintain the Internet site at

which the market center’s files can be downloaded

(as well as potentially the files of other market

centers).

4See note 1 above for treatment of an entity that

acts as a market maker in more than one trading

venue and therefore would arrange for a Designated

Participant for each market center/trading venue

under the Rule.

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

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4.

3Letter from Timothy Thompson, Assistant

General General Counsel, Legal Department, CBOE,

to Deborah Flynn, Senior Special Counsel, Division

of Market Regulation (‘‘Division’’), Commission,

dated October 23, 2000 (‘‘Amendment No. 1’’). In

response to comments from Commission staff, the

Exchange submitted Amendment No. 1, which: (i)

States that staff at the American Stock Exchange

LLC, International Securities Exchange LLC, Pacific

Exchange, Inc., and Philadelphia Stock Exchange,

Inc. have informed the CBOE that their respective

regulatory policies do not include any specific rule

or regulatory circular that addresses wash sale

transactions or that prohibits trading between joint

accounts with common participants; (ii) represents

that the proposed rule change makes the CBOE’s

rules and regulatory policies regarding transactions

between related accounts or entities consistent with

those in place at the other options exchanges; and

(iii) cites three letters that were submitted by CBOE

members to the Exchange in support of the rule

filing.

the-quote limit orders, at-the-quote limit

orders, and near-the-quote limit orders), the

field shall be left empty.

VII. Internet Sites for Downloading Market

Center Files

A market center shall make its compressed

files available for downloading (via FTP) at

a single page on an Internet site that is free

of charge and readily accessible to the

public.3 A market center shall make available

on such page the files containing at least the

three most recent monthly reports of the

market center.

VIII. Functions of Designated Participant

Each market center shall be responsible for

arranging with a single Participant to act as

the market center’s Designated Participant.4

The functions of a Designated Participant are

as follows.

(a) Assignment of Market Center and File

Identification Codes

A Designated Participant shall assign a

unique market center identification code to

each market center for which it acts as

Designated Participant. If an individual

market center’s report will be included in a

file that contains only that market center’s

report, the file identification code for the file

shall be the same as the market center

identification code. If an individual market

center’s report will be included in a file that

contains any additional market center’s

report (e.g., if the reports for all of an

exchange’s specialists are included in a

single file), the Designated Participant also

shall assign a separate file identification code

for such file. All Designated Participants will

act jointly to assure that no market center or

file is assigned a code that previously has

been assigned (e.g., by circulating advance

notice to all Participants of codes that have

been assigned).

(b) Maintenance of Market Center

Identification Files

A Designated Participant shall create and

maintain a market center identification file

(in standard, pipe-delimited (‘‘|’’) ASCII

format) for each calendar month. Such file

shall contain fields setting forth, in order, (A)

the identification code for the Designated

Participant (as set forth in Section VI(a)(1) of

the Plan); (B) all market center identification

codes that the Designated Participant has

assigned for the month, (C) the full name of

the market center (in upper case), and (D) the

file identification code applicable to each

market center (if different from the market

center identification code). A Designated

Participant shall make at least the three most

recent market center identification files

available for downloading (via FTP) on an

Internet site that is free of charge and easily

accessible to the public.

(c) Maintenance of Internet Site with Links to

Download Sites

A market center shall notify its Designated

Participant of the hyperlink to the location

where the market center’s files can be

downloaded in accordance with Section VII

of the Plan. A Designated Participant shall

maintain a comprehensive list of the

hyperlinks provided by its market centers at

the same location at which market center

identification files can be downloaded in

accordance with Section VIII(b) of the Plan.

As a result, anyone who wishes to download

all files for a month can be assured that, if

they visit the Internet sites of all Participants,

they will find hyperlinks to all files for the

month.

(d) Change of Designated Participant

A market center may change the identity of

its Designated Participant only by arranging

with another Participant to act as a

replacement. The Participant that has agreed

to act as a replacement Designated

Participant shall provide written notice of the

change to all other Participants, as well as

make such notice available on the Internet

site maintained by the replacement

Designated Participant under Section VIII(b)

of the Plan. The notice shall specify both the

past and new market center identification

code and file identification code for the

market center, or state that the codes have

not changed. The change shall not be

effective until 30 days after the date of the

written notice.

IX. Internet References to Information

Required by Rule

When referring to information on Internet

sites that the Rule requires to be made

available to the public, market centers and

Designated Participants shall use the phrase

‘‘Disclosure of SEC-Required Order

Execution Information.’’

X. Specifying Regular Trading Hours Under

the Rule

With respect to the meaning of the term

‘‘regular trading hours’’ under paragraph

(a)(19) of the Rule, the Participant who

maintains the primary listing for a national

market system security shall specify the

regular trading hours for such security if they

are to be other than the time between 9:30

a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. To effect a

specification of regular trading hours under

this Section X, a Participant shall submit a

proposed rule change to the SEC under

Section 19 of the Exchange Act. A Participant

may specify as regular trading hours for a

security only those times when the

Participant itself is trading the security.

XI. Withdrawal from Plan

If a Participant ceases to be subject to the

Rule or obtains SEC approval for another

means of complying with the Rule, such

Participant may withdraw from the Plan at

any time on not less than 30 days’ prior

written notice to each of the other

Participants. At such time, the withdrawing

Participant shall have no further rights or

obligations under the Plan.

XII. Counterparts and Signatures

The Plan may be executed in any number

of counterparts, no one of which need

contain all signatures of all Participants, and

as many of such counterparts as shall

together contain all such signatures shall

constitute one and the same instrument.

In Witness Thereof, this Plan has been

executed as of the 20th day of February 2001

by each of the parties hereto.

[FR Doc. 01–4748 Filed 2–26–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8010–01–P

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE

COMMISSION

[Release No. 34–43984; File No. SR–CBOE–

00–13]

Self Regulatory Organizations; Notice

of Filing of Proposed Rule Change by

the Chicago Board Options Exchange,

Inc. Amending Procedures and

Requirements for Trading in Joint

Accounts in Equity and Index Options

February 20, 2001.

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

Securities Exchange Act of 1934

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

notice is hereby given that on April 3,

2000, the Chicago Board Options

Exchange, Inc. (‘‘CBOE’’ or ‘‘Exchange’’)

filed with the Securities and Exchange

Commission (‘‘SEC’’ or ‘‘Commission’’)

the proposed rule change as described

in Items I, II, and III below, which Items

have been prepared by the Exchange.

On January 8, 2001, the CBOE filed

Amendment No. 1 with the

Commission.3 The Commission is

publishing this notice to solicit

comments on the proposed rule change,

as amended, from interested persons.