2020-23168
Federal Register, Volume 85 Issue 203 (Tuesday, October 20, 2020)
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 203 (Tuesday, October 20, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66539-66541]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-23168]
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COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection Activities: Notice of Intent To
Revise Collection, Comment Request: Adoption of Revised Notice of
Exemption
AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this
notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR)
abstracted below has been forward to the Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
for review and comment. The ICR describes the nature of the information
collection and its expected costs and burdens.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before November 18, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be submitted within 30 days of this
notice's publication to OIRA, at https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Please find this particular information collection by
selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments''
or by using the website's search function. Comments can be entered
electronically by clicking on the ``comment'' button next to the
information collection on the ``OIRA Information Collections Under
Review'' page, or the ``View ICR--Agency Submission'' page. A copy of
the supporting statement for the collection of information discussed
herein may be obtained by visiting https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
In addition to the submission of comments to https://Reginfo.gov as
indicated above, a copy of all comments submitted to OIRA may also be
submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the
``Commission'' or ``CFTC'') by clicking on the ``Submit Comment'' box
next to the descriptive entry for OMB Control No. 3038-0005, at https://comments.cftc.gov/FederalRegister/PublicInfo.aspx.
Or by either of the following methods:
Mail: Christopher Kirkpatrick, Secretary of the
Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three Lafayette
Centre, 1155 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20581.
Hand Delivery/Courier: Same as Mail above.
All comments must be submitted in English, or if not, accompanied
by an English translation. Comments submitted to the Commission should
include only information that you wish to make available publicly. If
you wish the Commission to consider information that you believe is
exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, a petition
for confidential treatment of the exempt information may be submitted
according to the procedures established in Sec. 145.9 of the
Commission's regulations.\1\ The Commission reserves the right, but
shall have no obligation, to review, pre-screen, filter, redact, refuse
or remove any or all of your submission from https://www.cftc.gov that
it may deem to be inappropriate for publication, such as obscene
language. All submissions that have been redacted or removed that
contain comments on the merits of the
[[Page 66540]]
ICR will be retained in the public comment file and will be considered
as required under the Administrative Procedure Act and other applicable
laws, and may be accessible under the Freedom of Information Act.
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\1\ 17 CFR 145.9.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joshua Sterling, Director, (202) 418-
6700, [email protected]; Amanda Olear, Deputy Director, (202) 418-
5283, [email protected]; or Elizabeth Groover, Special Counsel, (202)
418-5985, [email protected], Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary
Oversight, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 1155 21st Street NW,
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Washington, DC 20581.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Titles: Rules Relating to the Operations and Activities of
Commodity Pool Operators and Commodity Trading Advisors and to Monthly
Reporting by Futures Commission Merchants (OMB control number 3038-
0005). This is a request for extension and revision of this currently
approved information collection.
Abstract: In Amendments to Registration and Compliance Requirements
for Commodity Pool Operators and Commodity Trading Advisors:
Prohibiting Exemptions under Regulation 4.13 on Behalf of Persons
Subject to Certain Statutory Disqualifications, 85 FR 40877 (July 8,
2020), the Commission recently revised the notice of exemption required
by Commission regulation 4.13(b)(1) of any person who desires to claim
the relief from CPO registration.\2\ Separately, in Agency Information
Activities: Notice of Intent to Revise Collection 3038-0005, Adoption
of Revised Notice of Exemption Under Regulation 4.13(b)(1), 85 FR 47359
(Aug. 5, 2020) (60-Day Notice), the Commission addressed the PRA
implications of revising the notice filing required by Commission
regulation 4.13(b)(1).\3\ The various collections of information
required by part 4 of the Commission's regulations, including that
notice filing, were previously approved by OMB in accordance with the
PRA and assigned OMB control number 3038-0005. The Commission offers
the following summary of the revision to the notice and the resulting
estimated impact on existing burden hour estimates associated with this
information collection.
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\2\ Amendments to Registration and Compliance Requirements for
Commodity Pool Operators and Commodity Trading Advisors: Prohibiting
Exemptions under Regulation 4.13 on Behalf of Persons Subject to
Certain Statutory Disqualifications, 85 FR 40877 (July 8, 2020)
(Statutory Disqualifications Final Rule), amending 17 CFR
4.13(b)(1).
\3\ Agency Information Activities: Notice of Intent to Revise
Collection 3038-0005, Adoption of Revised Notice of Exemption Under
Regulation 4.13(b)(1), 85 FR 47359 (Aug. 5, 2020) (60-Day Notice).
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Revision to the Notice of Exemption
On June 4, 2020, the Commission revised Commission regulation
4.13(b)(1) by adding a representation to the notice already required to
be electronically filed with the Commission by persons claiming an
exemption from CPO registration thereunder.\4\ With that amendment, the
Commission is requiring persons filing a notice of exemption thereunder
to also represent that neither the person nor any of its principals has
in its background a statutory disqualification listed in section 8a(2)
of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA or Act) that would require
disclosure, if the person sought registration. Subject to one limited
exception, the amended regulation provides that a person who has, or
whose principals have, in their backgrounds a statutory
disqualification under CEA section 8a(2) will generally be prohibited
from claiming an exemption from CPO registration under Commission
regulation 4.13. The Commission intended this amendment to eliminate
the inconsistent treatment of exempt CPOs as compared to registered
CPOs (and the principals thereof), whereby certain persons could avoid
the CEA's basic conduct requirements established for all persons
registering as intermediaries with the Commission by claiming an
exemption from CPO registration instead. Ultimately, the Commission's
stated purpose in adopting this amendment was to improve the customer
protection and general investor confidence experienced by exempt pool
participants.
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\4\ Statutory Disqualifications Final Rule, 85 FR at 40890.
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The Commission noted in the Statutory Disqualifications Final Rule
that the amendment in its proposed form had not implicated an
additional or existing collection of information, and thus, the
proposed regulation was not considered in the PRA context.\5\ Because
the Statutory Disqualifications Final Rule resulted in a representation
being added to the existing notice filing in Commission regulation
4.13(b), the Commission determined that this amendment constitutes the
modification of an existing information collection; as such, the PRA
implications of the revised notice filing were considered separately in
the 60-Day Notice.\6\
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\5\ Statutory Disqualifications Final Rule, 85 FR at 40887.
\6\ 60-Day Notice, 85 FR at 47360-61.
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By adding this representation to the notice of exemption from CPO
registration required by Commission regulation 4.13(b)(1), the
Commission recognizes that the existing information collection burden
for that notice, currently estimated at 0.1 hours, is expected to
increase. The Commission estimates that this amendment would add a
total of 0.2 burden hours to the information collection burdens
currently estimated for the notice of exemption under Commission
regulation 4.13(b)(1), for an aggregate total of 0.3 burden hours.
Additionally, the Commission estimates that currently, approximately
8,600 respondents would claim an exemption via the notice filing in
Commission regulation 4.13(b)(1).
Comments
In the 60-Day Notice, the Commission provided 60 days for public
comment on the extension and revision of the currently approved
information collection under OMB control number 3038-0005, including
its estimates, restated above, regarding the impact of the revised
notice filing on the burdens associated with Commission regulation
4.13(b)(1) and the number of expected respondents under that
regulation. The Commission did not receive any comments that addressed
any of its estimates or any other aspect of the information collection.
Burden Statement: As explained above, the Commission believes that
the addition of a representation to the notice of exemption required by
Commission regulation 4.13(b)(1) will increase the information
collection burden associated with that notice under OMB control number
3038-0005.
OMB control number 3038-0005:
The Commission estimates that as a result of revising the notice of
exemption under Commission regulation 4.13(b)(1), the burden of the
collection of information under OMB control number 3038-0005 \7\ would
be as follows:
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\7\ OMB control number 3038-0005 currently covers two separate
Information Collections (``IC''): (1) Part-4 Commodity Pool
Operators and Commodity Trading Advisors IC, and (2) Commodity Pool
Operator Annual Report IC. The estimates in this notice reflect
changes specifically made by the Statutory Disqualifications Final
Rule to the Part-4 Commodity Pool Operators and Commodity Trading
Advisors IC, for which the current active information collection
estimates of 43,397 respondents and 354,333 burden hours were
approved by OMB on March 6, 2020 (ICR Reference No. 201912-3038-
001). The aggregate burden for OMB control number 3038-0005 may be
further impacted by a separate rulemaking, Amendments to Compliance
Requirements for Commodity Pool Operators on Form CPO-PQR, published
in the Federal Register, 85 FR 26378 (May 4, 2020). Neither the
Statutory Disqualification Final Rule nor the Form CPO-PQR
rulemaking impact the estimates of the Commodity Pool Operator
Annual Report IC, which remain the same.
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[[Page 66541]]
Respondents/Affected Entities: (1) All persons filing a notice of
exemption as required by Commission regulation 4.13(b)(1) for the
purpose of claiming relief from CPO registration, and (2) all
principals of such persons.
Estimated number of respondents: 8,600.
Estimated number of exempt pools/reports per respondent: 3.
Estimated total annual burden on respondents: 8,600 hours.\8\
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\8\ The burden hour per response is 0.3 burden hour for an
aggregate total of 0.9 burden hour for all three responses per
respondent. This estimate has been rounded up to 1 burden hour for
all three responses per respondent.
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Frequency of collection: Annually.
There are no capital costs or operating and maintenance costs
associated with this collection.
(Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.)
Dated: October 15, 2020.
Robert Sidman,
Deputy Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2020-23168 Filed 10-19-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6351-01-P