Document ID: SEC-2019-1613-0001
Agency: sec
Document Type: Notice
Title: Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals
Posted Date: 2019-10-29T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 209 (Tuesday, October 29, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57924-57925]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-23596]

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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Upon Written Request, Copy Available From: Securities and Exchange 
Commission, Office of FOIA Services, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 
20549-2736

Extension:
    Rule 31a-2, SEC File No. 270-174, OMB Control No. 3235-0179

    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 (the ``Commission'') has submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget (``OMB'') a request for extension of the 
previously approved collection of information discussed below.
    Section 31(a)(1) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 
80a-1 et seq.) (the ``Act'') requires registered investment companies 
(``funds'') and certain underwriters, broker-dealers, investment 
advisers, and depositors to maintain and preserve records as prescribed 
by Commission rules. Rule 31a-1 (17 CFR 270.31a-1) under the Act 
specifies the books and records that each of these entities must 
maintain. Rule 31a-2 (17 CFR 270.31a-2) under the Act specifies the 
time periods that entities must retain certain books and records, 
including those required to be maintained under rule 31a-1.
    The retention of records, as required by the rule, is necessary to 
ensure access to material business and financial information about 
funds and certain related entities. We periodically inspect the 
operations of funds to ensure they are in compliance with the Act and 
regulations under the Act. Due to the limits on our resources, however, 
each fund may only be inspected at intervals of several years. In 
addition, the prosecution of persons who have engaged in certain 
violations of the federal securities laws may not be limited by timing 
restrictions. For these reasons, we often need information relating to 
events or transactions that occurred years ago. Without the requirement 
to preserve books, records, and other documents, our staff would have 
difficulty determining whether the fund was in compliance with the law 
in such areas as valuation of its portfolio securities, computation of 
the prices investors paid, and, when purchasing and selling fund 
shares, types and amounts of expenses the fund incurred, kinds of 
investments the fund purchased, actions of affiliated persons, or 
whether the fund had engaged in any illegal or fraudulent activities. 
As part of our examinations of funds, our staff also reviews the 
materials that directors consider in approving the advisory contract.
    There are 3,160 funds currently operating as of December 31, 2018, 
all of which are required to comply with rule 31a-2. The Commission 
staff estimates that, on average, a fund spends 220.4 hours annually to 
comply with the rule. The Commission therefore estimates the total 
annual hour burden of the rule's and form's paperwork requirements to 
be 696,464 hours. In addition to the burden hours, the Commission staff 
estimates that the

[[Page 57925]]

average yearly cost to each fund that is subject to rule 31a-2 is about 
$36,510.28. The Commission estimates total annual cost is therefore 
about $115.4 million.
    Estimates of average burden hours and costs are made solely for 
purposes of the Paperwork Reduction Act and are not derived from a 
comprehensive or even representative survey or study of the costs of 
Commission rules and forms. Compliance with the collection of 
information requirements of the rule is mandatory. Responses to the 
disclosure requirements will not be kept confidential. 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 OMB 
control number.
    The public may view the background documentation for this 
information collection at the following website: www.reginfo.gov. 
Comments should be directed to: (i) Desk Officer for the Securities and 
Exchange Commission, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, 
Office of Management and Budget, Room 10102, New Executive Office 
Building, Washington, DC 20503, or by sending an email to: 
Lindsay.M.Abate@omb.eop.gov; and (ii) Charles Riddle, Acting Director 
and Chief Information Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, c/o 
Candace Kenner, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549 or by sending an 
email to: PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov. Comments must be submitted to OMB within 
30 days of this notice.

    Dated: October 24, 2019.
 Eduardo A. Aleman,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-23596 Filed 10-28-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P