Options Price Reporting Authority; Notice of Filing of Proposed Amendment to the Plan for Reporting of Consolidated Options Last Sale Reports and Quotation Information To Clarify How the Requirements of the OPRA Plan Pertaining to Vendors Apply to Persons Who Redistribute OPRA Data Over the Internet, 19976-19977 [E5-1786]
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19976
Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 72 / Friday, April 15, 2005 / Notices
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
Sunshine Act Meeting
[Release No. 34–51514; File No. SR–OPRA–
2005–01]
Notice is hereby given, pursuant to
the provisions of the Government in the
Sunshine Act, Pub. L. 94–409, that the
Securities and Exchange Commission
will hold the following meeting during
the week of April 18, 2005:
A closed meeting will be held on
Tuesday, April 19, 2005, at 2 p.m.
Commissioners, Counsel to the
Commissioners, the Secretary to the
Commission, and recording secretaries
will attend the Closed Meeting. Certain
staff members who have an interest in
the matters may also be present.
The General Counsel of the
Commission, or his designee, has
certified that, in his opinion, one or
more of the exemptions set forth in 5
U.S.C. 552b(c)(3), (5), (7), (8), (9)(B), and
(10) and 17 CFR 200.402(a)(3), (5), (7),
(8), 9(ii) and (10), permit consideration
of the scheduled matters at the Closed
Meeting.
Commissioner Glassman, as duty
officer, voted to consider the items
listed for the closed meeting in closed
session and that no earlier notice thereof
was possible.
The subject matter of the closed
meeting scheduled for Tuesday, April
19, 2005, will be:
Options Price Reporting Authority;
Notice of Filing of Proposed
Amendment to the Plan for Reporting
of Consolidated Options Last Sale
Reports and Quotation Information To
Clarify How the Requirements of the
OPRA Plan Pertaining to Vendors
Apply to Persons Who Redistribute
OPRA Data Over the Internet
Formal orders of investigations;
Institution and settlement of injunctive
actions;
Institution and settlement of
administrative proceedings of an
enforcement nature; and a
Regulatory matter regarding financial
institutions.
At times, changes in Commission
priorities require alterations in the
scheduling of meeting items.
For further information and to
ascertain what, if any, matters have been
added, deleted or postponed, please
contact: The Office of the Secretary at
(202) 942–7070.
Dated: April 13, 2005.
Jonathan G. Katz,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 05–7746 Filed 4–13–05; 3:54 pm]
BILLING CODE 8010–01–P
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April 8, 2005.
Pursuant to Section 11A of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(‘‘Act’’) 1 and Rule 11Aa3–2
thereunder,2 notice is hereby given that
on March 30, 2005, the Options Price
Reporting Authority (‘‘OPRA’’) 3
submitted to the Securities and
Exchange Commission (‘‘Commission’’)
an amendment to the Plan for Reporting
of Consolidated Options Last Sale
Reports and Quotation Information
(‘‘Plan’’). The proposed amendment
would issue a written policy that
clarifies how the requirements of the
Plan pertaining to vendors would apply
to persons who redistribute OPRA data
over the Internet. The Commission is
publishing this notice to solicit
comments from interested persons on
the proposed Plan amendment.
I. Description and Purpose of the
Amendment
The purpose of the proposed Plan
amendment is to adopt a written policy
that would codify prior interpretations
concerning how provisions of the Plan
applicable to ‘‘vendors’’ would apply to
persons who redistribute OPRA data by
means of the Internet. In order to make
this policy generally available to
interested persons, OPRA proposes to
publish it on its Web site, https://
www.opradata.com. Because this policy
pertains to the operation and
implementation of the national market
system facility administered by OPRA,
OPRA proposes to treat the policy as
U.S.C. 78k–1.
CFR 240.11Aa3–2.
3 OPRA is a national market system plan
approved by the Commission pursuant to Section
11A of the Act and Rule 11Aa3–2 thereunder. See
Securities Exchange Act Release No. 17638 (March
18, 1981), 22 S.E.C. Docket 484 (March 31, 1981).
The Plan provides for the collection and
dissemination of last sale and quotation information
on options that are traded on the participant
exchanges. The six participants to the Plan are the
American Stock Exchange LLC, the Boston Stock
Exchange, Inc., the Chicago Board Options
Exchange, Inc., the International Securities
Exchange, Inc., the Pacific Exchange, Inc., and the
Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Inc.
PO 00000
1 15
2 17
Frm 00058
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
part of the Plan and has filed it as an
amendment to the Plan pursuant to Rule
11Aa3–2 under the Act.4
The Plan generally defines a ‘‘vendor’’
as a person who redistributes OPRA
data (i.e., options last sale and quotation
reports and related information) to
persons outside of its own organization.
Persons who act as vendors are required
to enter into vendor agreements with
OPRA and pay applicable access and
redistribution fees. As the Internet has
increasingly been used as a means of
providing OPRA data to subscribers and
others, questions have arisen concerning
exactly who among the various types of
service providers involved in Internet
transmission of OPRA data would be
deemed to be performing the function of
a vendor, and thereby be subject to the
requirements of the Plan applicable to
vendors. Although OPRA has informally
adopted a policy that addresses these
issues and has responded to questions
in accordance with that policy, OPRA
has not made its policy publicly
available in writing until now. By
making this policy available in writing
on OPRA’s Web site, OPRA wishes to be
able to provide useful information to
interested persons and avoid having to
respond to individual questions on this
topic.
The policy would include the
following elements:
(A) A person who redistributes OPRA
data to other persons outside of its own
organization would be a ‘‘vendor’’ under
the Plan. This would include persons
who utilize the Internet as the means of
redistribution.
(B) A person whose only function is
to maintain an Internet site, on which
there is a link or framed page through
which OPRA data is provided by
another person who is an OPRA vendor,
would not itself be treated as a vendor,
if certain additional conditions are
satisfied. These additional conditions
would be the following: (i) The person
has no other involvement in the
redistribution of OPRA data; (ii) the
Internet site maintained by that person
clearly and prominently identifies the
vendor who provides the OPRA data
through the link or framed page and
states that such vendor is responsible
for providing the data; and (iii) either
the vendor, who is identified as
providing the data, controls access to
the data and pays applicable usagebased fees to OPRA, or the person, who
maintains the Internet site and is not a
vendor, is instead a ‘‘correspondent
subscriber’’ who has entered into a
Correspondent Subscriber Agreement
with the vendor and who limits access
4 17
E:\FR\FM\15APN1.SGM
CFR 240.11Aa3–2.
15APN1
Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 72 / Friday, April 15, 2005 / Notices
to the link or framed page and pays fees
to OPRA in accordance with that
Agreement.
The text of the proposed policy is set
forth below. Text additions are in
italics.
*
*
*
*
*
OPRA Policy on Persons Providing
Internet Access to Real Time OPRA
Data
1. A person that redistributes OPRA
data ‘‘externally’’—i.e., outside its own
organization—is a ‘‘Vendor’’ for OPRA’s
purposes and is required to execute a
Vendor Agreement with OPRA and pay
a Redistribution Fee.1 This is true
regardless of the method used to
redistribute OPRA data, and extends to
the redistribution of OPRA data by
means of the Internet.
2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1
above, OPRA does not regard a person
as a Vendor, and the person will not be
required to enter into a Vendor
Agreement or pay a Redistribution Fee,
if the person does no more than
maintain an Internet site on which there
is a link or a framed page through which
OPRA data provided by a person that is
an OPRA Vendor may be accessed, and
if each of the following additional
conditions is satisfied:
• The person maintaining the Internet
site has no involvement in the
redistribution of OPRA data other than
through a link or framed page on that
Internet site;
• The Internet site clearly and
prominently identifies the Vendor who
provides OPRA data through the link or
framed page on that site as the Vendor
responsible for furnishing the data;
• Either:
Æ The Vendor who provides OPRA
data through a linked site or framed
page has control of the entitlement or
enablement process for each person who
has access to OPRA data by means of
the linked site or framed page and pays
applicable usage-based fees to OPRA in
respect thereof; or
Æ The person who maintains the
Internet site is a ‘‘Correspondent
Subscriber’’ as defined in OPRA’s
Vendor Agreement—that is, the person
has entered into and is in compliance
with (i) a Professional Subscriber
Agreement with OPRA and (ii) a
Correspondent Subscriber Agreement
with the Vendor who provides OPRA
data through the link or framed page on
the Internet site that satisfies the
requirements of Section 7 of the
Vendor’s Vendor Agreement with
OPRA—and limits access to OPRA data
by means of the link or framed page to
persons with whom it has entered into
a Subscriber Agreement and in respect
of whom it pays applicable usage-based
fees to OPRA.
*
*
*
*
*
submissions. You should submit only
information that you wish to make
available publicly. All submissions
should refer to File Number SR–OPRA–
2005–01 and should be submitted on or
before May 6, 2005.
II. Implementation of Plan Amendment
The proposed amendment will be
effective upon its approval by the
Commission pursuant to Rule 11Aa3–2
of the Act.5
For the Commission, by the Division of
Market Regulation, pursuant to delegated
authority.6
Margaret H. McFarland,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. E5–1786 Filed 4–14–05; 8:45 am]
III. Solicitation of Comments
Interested persons are invited to
submit written data, views, and
arguments concerning the foregoing,
including whether the proposed Plan
amendment is consistent with the Act.
Comments may be submitted by any of
the following methods:
BILLING CODE 8010–01–P
Electronic Comments
• Use the Commission’s Internet
comment form (https://www.sec.gov/
rules/sro.shtml); or
• Send an e-mail to rulecomments@sec.gov. Please include File
Number SR–OPRA–2005–01 on the
subject line.
Paper Comments
• Send paper comments in triplicate
to Jonathan G. Katz, Secretary,
Securities and Exchange Commission,
450 Fifth Street, NW., Washington, DC
20549–0609. All submissions should
refer to File Number SR–OPRA–2005–
01. This file number should be included
on the subject line if e-mail 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 Web site
(https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml).
Copies of the submission, all subsequent
amendments, all written statements
with respect to the proposed plan
amendment that are filed with the
Commission, and all written
communications relating to the
proposed plan amendment 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 in
the Commission’s Public Reference
Section, 450 Fifth Street, NW.,
Washington, DC 20549. Copies of such
filing also will be available for
inspection and copying at the principal
office of OPRA. All comments received
will be posted without change; the
Commission does not edit personal
identifying information from
1 OPRA’s Usage-based Vendor Fee and Direct
Access Fee may also apply.
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19977
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5 17
CFR 240.11Aa3–2.
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SECURTITES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[Release No. 34–51520; File No. SR–NASD–
2005–040]
Self-Regulatory Organizations;
National Association of Securities
Dealers, Inc.; Notice of Filing and
Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed
Rule Change Relating to Establishing a
Pilot Period to Increase Position and
Exercise Limits for Equity Options and
Establishing a Reverse Collar Hedge
Exemption
April 11, 2005
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 March 30,
2005, the National Association of
Securities Dealers, Inc. (‘‘NASD’’) 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 NASD. NASD has
filed the proposal as a ‘‘noncontroversial’’ rule change pursuant to
Section 19(b)(3)(A) of the Act 3 and Rule
19b–4(f)(6) thereunder,4 which renders
it effective upon filing with the
Commission. 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
NASD is proposing to amend NASD
Rule 2860 to increase certain options
position limits for a pilot period and to
expand the available equity option
hedge exemptions to include ‘‘reverse
collars.’’ The text of the proposed rule
change is available on NASD’s Web site
(https://www.nasd.com), at NASD’s
6 17
CFR 200.30–3(a)(29).
U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
2 17 CFR 240.19b–4.
3 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
4 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6).
1 15
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 72 (Friday, April 15, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19976-19977]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-1786]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 34-51514; File No. SR-OPRA-2005-01]
Options Price Reporting Authority; Notice of Filing of Proposed
Amendment to the Plan for Reporting of Consolidated Options Last Sale
Reports and Quotation Information To Clarify How the Requirements of
the OPRA Plan Pertaining to Vendors Apply to Persons Who Redistribute
OPRA Data Over the Internet
April 8, 2005.
Pursuant to Section 11A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(``Act'') \1\ and Rule 11Aa3-2 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given
that on March 30, 2005, the Options Price Reporting Authority
(``OPRA'') \3\ submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission
(``Commission'') an amendment to the Plan for Reporting of Consolidated
Options Last Sale Reports and Quotation Information (``Plan''). The
proposed amendment would issue a written policy that clarifies how the
requirements of the Plan pertaining to vendors would apply to persons
who redistribute OPRA data over the Internet. The Commission is
publishing this notice to solicit comments from interested persons on
the proposed Plan amendment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
\2\ 17 CFR 240.11Aa3-2.
\3\ OPRA is a national market system plan approved by the
Commission pursuant to Section 11A of the Act and Rule 11Aa3-2
thereunder. See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 17638 (March 18,
1981), 22 S.E.C. Docket 484 (March 31, 1981).
The Plan provides for the collection and dissemination of last
sale and quotation information on options that are traded on the
participant exchanges. The six participants to the Plan are the
American Stock Exchange LLC, the Boston Stock Exchange, Inc., the
Chicago Board Options Exchange, Inc., the International Securities
Exchange, Inc., the Pacific Exchange, Inc., and the Philadelphia
Stock Exchange, Inc.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Description and Purpose of the Amendment
The purpose of the proposed Plan amendment is to adopt a written
policy that would codify prior interpretations concerning how
provisions of the Plan applicable to ``vendors'' would apply to persons
who redistribute OPRA data by means of the Internet. In order to make
this policy generally available to interested persons, OPRA proposes to
publish it on its Web site, https://www.opradata.com. Because this
policy pertains to the operation and implementation of the national
market system facility administered by OPRA, OPRA proposes to treat the
policy as part of the Plan and has filed it as an amendment to the Plan
pursuant to Rule 11Aa3-2 under the Act.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ 17 CFR 240.11Aa3-2.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Plan generally defines a ``vendor'' as a person who
redistributes OPRA data (i.e., options last sale and quotation reports
and related information) to persons outside of its own organization.
Persons who act as vendors are required to enter into vendor agreements
with OPRA and pay applicable access and redistribution fees. As the
Internet has increasingly been used as a means of providing OPRA data
to subscribers and others, questions have arisen concerning exactly who
among the various types of service providers involved in Internet
transmission of OPRA data would be deemed to be performing the function
of a vendor, and thereby be subject to the requirements of the Plan
applicable to vendors. Although OPRA has informally adopted a policy
that addresses these issues and has responded to questions in
accordance with that policy, OPRA has not made its policy publicly
available in writing until now. By making this policy available in
writing on OPRA's Web site, OPRA wishes to be able to provide useful
information to interested persons and avoid having to respond to
individual questions on this topic.
The policy would include the following elements:
(A) A person who redistributes OPRA data to other persons outside
of its own organization would be a ``vendor'' under the Plan. This
would include persons who utilize the Internet as the means of
redistribution.
(B) A person whose only function is to maintain an Internet site,
on which there is a link or framed page through which OPRA data is
provided by another person who is an OPRA vendor, would not itself be
treated as a vendor, if certain additional conditions are satisfied.
These additional conditions would be the following: (i) The person has
no other involvement in the redistribution of OPRA data; (ii) the
Internet site maintained by that person clearly and prominently
identifies the vendor who provides the OPRA data through the link or
framed page and states that such vendor is responsible for providing
the data; and (iii) either the vendor, who is identified as providing
the data, controls access to the data and pays applicable usage-based
fees to OPRA, or the person, who maintains the Internet site and is not
a vendor, is instead a ``correspondent subscriber'' who has entered
into a Correspondent Subscriber Agreement with the vendor and who
limits access
[[Page 19977]]
to the link or framed page and pays fees to OPRA in accordance with
that Agreement.
The text of the proposed policy is set forth below. Text additions
are in italics.
* * * * *
OPRA Policy on Persons Providing Internet Access to Real Time OPRA Data
1. A person that redistributes OPRA data ``externally''--i.e.,
outside its own organization--is a ``Vendor'' for OPRA's purposes and
is required to execute a Vendor Agreement with OPRA and pay a
Redistribution Fee.\1\ This is true regardless of the method used to
redistribute OPRA data, and extends to the redistribution of OPRA data
by means of the Internet.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ OPRA's Usage-based Vendor Fee and Direct Access Fee may also
apply.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1 above, OPRA does not regard a person
as a Vendor, and the person will not be required to enter into a Vendor
Agreement or pay a Redistribution Fee, if the person does no more than
maintain an Internet site on which there is a link or a framed page
through which OPRA data provided by a person that is an OPRA Vendor may
be accessed, and if each of the following additional conditions is
satisfied:
The person maintaining the Internet site has no
involvement in the redistribution of OPRA data other than through a
link or framed page on that Internet site;
The Internet site clearly and prominently identifies the
Vendor who provides OPRA data through the link or framed page on that
site as the Vendor responsible for furnishing the data;
Either:
[cir] The Vendor who provides OPRA data through a linked site or
framed page has control of the entitlement or enablement process for
each person who has access to OPRA data by means of the linked site or
framed page and pays applicable usage-based fees to OPRA in respect
thereof; or
[cir] The person who maintains the Internet site is a
``Correspondent Subscriber'' as defined in OPRA's Vendor Agreement--
that is, the person has entered into and is in compliance with (i) a
Professional Subscriber Agreement with OPRA and (ii) a Correspondent
Subscriber Agreement with the Vendor who provides OPRA data through the
link or framed page on the Internet site that satisfies the
requirements of Section 7 of the Vendor's Vendor Agreement with OPRA--
and limits access to OPRA data by means of the link or framed page to
persons with whom it has entered into a Subscriber Agreement and in
respect of whom it pays applicable usage-based fees to OPRA.
* * * * *
II. Implementation of Plan Amendment
The proposed amendment will be effective upon its approval by the
Commission pursuant to Rule 11Aa3-2 of the Act.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ 17 CFR 240.11Aa3-2.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
III. Solicitation of Comments
Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and
arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed Plan
amendment is consistent with the Act. Comments may be submitted by any
of the following methods:
Electronic Comments
Use the Commission's Internet comment form (https://
www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml); or
Send an e-mail to rule-comments@sec.gov. Please include
File Number SR-OPRA-2005-01 on the subject line.
Paper Comments
Send paper comments in triplicate to Jonathan G. Katz,
Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 450 Fifth Street, NW.,
Washington, DC 20549-0609. All submissions should refer to File Number
SR-OPRA-2005-01. This file number should be included on the subject
line if e-mail 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 Web site (https://
www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the submission, all subsequent
amendments, all written statements with respect to the proposed plan
amendment that are filed with the Commission, and all written
communications relating to the proposed plan amendment 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 in the Commission's Public
Reference Section, 450 Fifth Street, NW., Washington, DC 20549. Copies
of such filing also will be available for inspection and copying at the
principal office of OPRA. All comments received will be posted without
change; the Commission does not edit personal identifying information
from submissions. You should submit only information that you wish to
make available publicly. All submissions should refer to File Number
SR-OPRA-2005-01 and should be submitted on or before May 6, 2005.
For the Commission, by the Division of Market Regulation,
pursuant to delegated authority.\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(29).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Margaret H. McFarland,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. E5-1786 Filed 4-14-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010-01-P
