Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request, 50708-50710 [2014-20084]
Download as PDF
<![CDATA[
50708
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 164 / Monday, August 25, 2014 / Notices
To support its Request, the Postal
Service filed a copy of the contract, a
copy of the Governors’ Decision
authorizing the product, proposed
changes to the Mail Classification
Schedule, a Statement of Supporting
Justification, a certification of
compliance with 39 U.S.C. 3633(a), and
an application for non-public treatment
of certain materials. It also filed
supporting financial workpapers.
II. Notice of Commission Action
The Commission establishes Docket
Nos. MC2014–40 and CP2014–73 to
consider the Request pertaining to the
proposed Priority Mail Contract 90
product and the related contract,
respectively.
The Commission invites comments on
whether the Postal Service’s filings in
the captioned dockets are consistent
with the policies of 39 U.S.C. 3632,
3633, or 3642, 39 CFR part 3015, and 39
CFR part 3020, subpart B. Comments are
due no later than August 26, 2014. The
public portions of these filings can be
accessed via the Commission’s Web site
(https://www.prc.gov).
The Commission appoints Pamela A.
Thompson to serve as Public
Representative in these dockets.
III. Ordering Paragraphs
It is ordered:
1. The Commission establishes Docket
Nos. MC2014–40 and CP2014–73 to
consider the matters raised in each
docket.
2. Pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505, Pamela
A. Thompson is appointed to serve as
an officer of the Commission to
represent the interests of the general
public in these proceedings (Public
Representative).
3. Comments are due no later than
August 26, 2014.
4. The Secretary shall arrange for
publication of this order in the Federal
Register.
By the Commission.
Shoshana M. Grove,
Secretary.
BILLING CODE 7710–FW–P
POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION
emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
[Docket Nos. MC2014–39 and CP2014–72;
Order No. 2161]
New Postal Product
Postal Regulatory Commission.
Notice.
AGENCY:
The Commission is noticing a
recent Postal Service filing concerning
an addition of Priority Mail Contract 89
SUMMARY:
VerDate Mar<15>2010
17:31 Aug 22, 2014
Submit comments
electronically via the Commission’s
Filing Online system at https://
www.prc.gov. Those who cannot submit
comments electronically should contact
the person identified in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section by
telephone for advice on filing
alternatives.
ADDRESSES:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
David A. Trissell, General Counsel, at
202–789–6820.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Notice of Commission Action
III. Request for Supplemental Information
IV. Ordering Paragraphs
I. Introduction
In accordance with 39 U.S.C. 3642
and 39 CFR 3020.30 et seq., the Postal
Service filed a formal request and
associated supporting information to
add Priority Mail Contract 89 to the
competitive product list.1
The Postal Service
contemporaneously filed a redacted
contract related to the proposed new
product under 39 U.S.C. 3632(b)(3) and
39 CFR 3015.5. Id. Attachment B.
To support its Request, the Postal
Service filed a copy of the contract, a
copy of the Governors’ Decision
authorizing the product, proposed
changes to the Mail Classification
Schedule, a Statement of Supporting
Justification, a certification of
compliance with 39 U.S.C. 3633(a), and
an application for non-public treatment
of certain materials. It also filed
supporting financial workpapers.
II. Notice of Commission Action
[FR Doc. 2014–20051 Filed 8–22–14; 8:45 am]
ACTION:
to the competitive product list. This
notice informs the public of the filing,
invites public comment, and takes other
administrative steps.
DATES: Comments are due: August 27,
2014.
Jkt 232001
The Commission establishes Docket
Nos. MC2014–39 and CP2014–72 to
consider the Request pertaining to the
proposed Priority Mail Contract 89
product and the related contract,
respectively.
The Commission invites comments on
whether the Postal Service’s filings in
the captioned dockets are consistent
with the policies of 39 U.S.C. 3632,
3633, or 3642, 39 CFR part 3015, and 39
1 Request
of the United States Postal Service to
Add Priority Mail Contract 89 to Competitive
Product List and Notice of Filing (Under Seal) of
Unredacted Governors’ Decision, Contract, and
Supporting Data, August 18, 2014 (Request).
PO 00000
Frm 00095
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
CFR part 3020, subpart B. Comments are
due no later than August 27, 2014. The
public portions of these filings can be
accessed via the Commission’s Web site
(https://www.prc.gov).
The Commission appoints Curtis Kidd
to serve as Public Representative in
these dockets.
III. Request for Supplemental
Information
The public portion of the contract
submitted with the Request states the
quarterly average volumes will be based
on the total number of quarters from the
Effective Date (as defined in Section II
below) of this contract divided by the
total number of Contract Packages.
(Emphasis supplied.) Id., Attachment B
at 2. Rather, it appears the quarterly
average volumes should be calculated
using the total number of quarters
divided into the total number of
contract packages. The Postal Service is
requested to clarify how quarterly
average volumes will be calculated
under the contract and, if necessary, file
an amendment to the contract. The
Postal Service response is due no later
than August 25, 2014.
IV. Ordering Paragraphs
It is ordered:
1. The Commission establishes Docket
Nos. MC2014–39 and CP2014–72 to
consider the matters raised in each
docket.
2. Pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505, Curtis
Kidd is appointed to serve as an officer
of the Commission to represent the
interests of the general public in these
proceedings (Public Representative).
3. The Postal Service’s response to the
request for supplemental information as
described in the body of this Notice is
due no later than August 25, 2014.
4. Comments are due no later than
August 27, 2014.
5. The Secretary shall arrange for
publication of this Order in the Federal
Register.
By the Commission.
Shoshana M. Grove,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014–20052 Filed 8–22–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7710–FW–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
Submission for OMB Review;
Comment Request
Upon Written Request, Copies Available
From: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of FOIA Services,
100 F Street NE., Washington, DC
20549–2736.
E:\FR\FM\25AUN1.SGM
25AUN1
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 164 / Monday, August 25, 2014 / Notices
Extension:
Rule 0–1; OMB Control No. 3235–0531,
SEC File No. 270–472.
Notice is hereby given that, pursuant
to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 350l et seq.), the Securities
and Exchange Commission
(‘‘Commission’’) has submitted to the
Office of Management and Budget
(‘‘OMB’’) a request for extension of the
previous approved collection of
information discussed below.
The Investment Company Act of 1940
(the ‘‘Act’’) 1 establishes a
comprehensive framework for regulating
the organization and operation of
investment companies (‘‘funds’’). A
principal objective of the Act is to
protect fund investors by addressing the
conflicts of interest that exist between
funds and their investment advisers and
other affiliated persons. The Act places
significant responsibility on the fund
board of directors in overseeing the
operations of the fund and policing the
relevant conflicts of interest.2
In one of its first releases, the
Commission exercised its rulemaking
authority pursuant to sections 38(a) and
40(b) of the Act by adopting rule 0–1 (17
CFR 270.0–1).3 Rule 0–1, as
subsequently amended on numerous
occasions, provides definitions for the
terms used by the Commission in the
rules and regulations it has adopted
pursuant to the Act. The rule also
contains a number of rules of
construction for terms that are defined
either in the Act itself or elsewhere in
the Commission’s rules and regulations.
Finally, rule 0–1 defines terms that
serve as conditions to the availability of
certain of the Commission’s exemptive
rules. More specifically, the term
‘‘independent legal counsel,’’ as defined
in rule 0–1, sets out conditions that
funds must meet in order to rely on any
of ten exemptive rules (‘‘exemptive
rules’’) under the Act.4
The Commission amended rule 0–1 to
include the definition of the term
‘‘independent legal counsel’’ in 2001.5
This amendment was designed to
1 15
U.S.C. 80a.
example, fund directors must approve
investment advisory and distribution contracts. See
15 U.S.C. 80a–15(a), (b), and (c).
3 Investment Company Act Release No. 4 (Oct. 29,
1940) (5 FR 4316 (Oct. 31, 1940)). Note that rule 0–
1 was originally adopted as rule N–1.
4 The relevant exemptive rules are: rule 10f–3 (17
CFR 270.10f–3), rule 12b–1 (17 CFR 270.12b–1),
rule 15a–4(b)(2) (17 CFR 270.15a–4(b)(2)), rule 17a–
7 (17 CFR 270.17a–7), rule 17a–8 (17 CFR 270.17a–
8), rule 17d–1(d)(7) (17 CFR 270.17d–1(d)(7)), rule
17e–1(c) (17 CFR 270.17e–1(c)), rule 17g–1 (17 CFR
270.17g–1), rule 18f–3 (17 CFR 270.18f–3), and rule
23c–3 (17 CFR 270.23c–3).
5 See Role of Independent Directors of Investment
Companies, Investment Company Act Release No.
24816 (Jan. 2, 2001) (66 FR 3735 (Jan. 16, 2001)).
emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
2 For
VerDate Mar<15>2010
17:31 Aug 22, 2014
Jkt 232001
enhance the effectiveness of fund boards
of directors and to better enable
investors to assess the independence of
those directors. The Commission also
amended the exemptive rules to require
that any person who serves as legal
counsel to the independent directors of
any fund that relies on any of the
exemptive rules must be an
‘‘independent legal counsel.’’ This
requirement was added because
independent directors can better
perform the responsibilities assigned to
them under the Act and the rules if they
have the assistance of truly independent
legal counsel.
If the board’s counsel has represented
the fund’s investment adviser, principal
underwriter, administrator (collectively,
‘‘management organizations’’) or their
‘‘control persons’’ 6 during the past two
years, rule 0–1 requires that the board’s
independent directors make a
determination about the adequacy of the
counsel’s independence. A majority of
the board’s independent directors are
required to reasonably determine, in the
exercise of their judgment, that the
counsel’s prior or current representation
of the management organizations or
their control persons was sufficiently
limited to conclude that it is unlikely to
adversely affect the counsel’s
professional judgment and legal
representation. Rule 0–1 also requires
that a record for the basis of this
determination is made in the minutes of
the directors’ meeting. In addition, the
independent directors must have
obtained an undertaking from the
counsel to provide them with the
information necessary to make their
determination and to update promptly
that information when the person begins
to represent a management organization
or control person, or when he or she
materially increases his or her
representation. Generally, the
independent directors must re-evaluate
their determination no less frequently
than annually.
Any fund that relies on one of the
exemptive rules must comply with the
requirements in the definition of
‘‘independent legal counsel’’ under rule
0–1. We assume that approximately
3751 funds rely on at least one of the
exemptive rules annually.7 We further
assume that the independent directors
6 A ‘‘control person’’ is any person—other than a
fund—directly or indirectly controlling, controlled
by, or under common control, with any of the
fund’s management organizations. See 17 CFR
270.01(a)(6)(iv)(B).
7 Based on statistics compiled by Commission
staff, we estimate that there are approximately 4168
funds that could rely on one or more of the
exemptive rules. Of those funds, we assume that
approximately 90 percent (3751) actually rely on at
least one exemptive rules annually.
PO 00000
Frm 00096
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
50709
of approximately one-third (1250) of
those funds would need to make the
required determination in order for their
counsel to meet the definition of
independent legal counsel.8 We
estimate that each of these 1250 funds
would be required to spend, on average,
0.75 hours annually to comply with the
recordkeeping requirement associated
with this determination, for a total
annual burden of approximately 938
hours. Based on this estimate, the total
annual cost for all funds’ compliance
with this rule is approximately
$196,907. To calculate this total annual
cost, the Commission staff assumed that
approximately two-thirds of the total
annual hour burden (625 hours) would
be incurred by a compliance manager
with an average hourly wage rate of
$283 per hour,9 and one-third of the
annual hour burden (313 hours) would
be incurred by compliance clerk with an
average hourly wage rate of $64 per
hour.10
These burden hour estimates are
based upon the Commission staff’s
experience and discussions with the
fund industry. The estimates of average
burden hours are made solely for the
purposes of the Paperwork Reduction
Act. These estimates are not derived
from a comprehensive or even a
representative survey or study of the
costs of Commission rules.
Compliance with the collection of
information requirements of the rule is
mandatory and is necessary to comply
with the requirements of the rule in
general. 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
control number.
The public may view the background
documentation for this information
collection at the following Web site,
8 We assume that the independent directors of the
remaining two-thirds of those funds will choose not
to have counsel, or will rely on counsel who has
not recently represented the fund’s management
organizations or control persons. In both
circumstances, it would not be necessary for the
fund’s independent directors to make a
determination about their counsel’s independence.
9 The estimated hourly wages used in this PRA
analysis were derived from reports prepared by the
Securities Industry and Financial Markets
Association. See Securities Industry and Financial
Markets Association, Report on Management and
Professional Earnings in the Securities Industry—
2013 (2013), modified to account for an 1800-hour
work year and multiplied by 5.35 to account for
bonuses, firm size, employee benefits and overhead;
and Securities Industry and Financial Markets
Association, Office Salaries in the Securities
Industry—2013 (2013), modified to account for an
1800-hour work year and multiplied by 2.93 to
account for bonuses, firm size, employee benefits
and overhead.
10 (625 × $283/hour) + (313 × $64/hour) =
$196,907.
E:\FR\FM\25AUN1.SGM
25AUN1
50710
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 164 / Monday, August 25, 2014 / Notices
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:
Shagufta_Ahmed@omb.eop.gov; and (ii)
Thomas Bayer, Chief Information
Officer, Securities and Exchange
Commission, c/o Remi Pavlik-Simon,
100 F Street NE., Washington, DC 20549
or send an email to:
PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov. Comments must
be submitted to OMB within 30 days of
this notice.
Dated: August 19, 2014.
Kevin M. O’Neill,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014–20084 Filed 8–22–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
Submission for OMB Review;
Comment Request
Upon Written Request, Copies Available
From: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of FOIA Services,
100 F Street NE., Washington, DC
20549–2736.
emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Extension:
Rule 10b–17; SEC File No. 270–427, OMB
Control No. 3235–0476.
Notice is hereby given that pursuant
to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(‘‘PRA’’) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the
Securities and Exchange Commission
(‘‘Commission’’) has submitted to the
Office of Management and Budget
(‘‘OMB’’) a request for approval of
extension of the previously approved
collection of information provided for in
Rule 10b–17 (17 CFR 240.10b–17),
under the Securities Exchange Act of
1934 (15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.).
Rule 10b–17 requires any issuer of a
class of securities publicly traded by the
use of any means or instrumentality of
interstate commerce or of the mails or
of any facility of any national securities
exchange to give notice of the following
specific distributions relating to such
class of securities: (1) A dividend or
other distribution in cash or in kind
other than interest payments on debt
securities; (2) a stock split or reverse
stock split; or (3) a rights or other
subscription offering. Notice shall be
either given to the Financial Industry
Regulatory Authority, Inc. as successor
to the National Association of Securities
Dealers, Inc. or in accordance with the
procedures of the national securities
VerDate Mar<15>2010
17:31 Aug 22, 2014
Jkt 232001
exchange upon which the securities are
registered. The Commission may
exempt an issuer of over-the-counter
(but not listed) securities from the
notice requirement. The requirements of
10b–17 do not apply to redeemable
securities of registered open-end
investment companies or unit
investment trusts.
The information required by Rule
10b–17 is necessary for the execution of
the Commission’s mandate under the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to
prevent fraudulent, manipulative, and
deceptive acts and practices. The
Commission has found that not
requiring formal notices of the types of
distributions covered by Rule 10b–17
has led to a number of abuses including
purchasers not being aware of their
rights to such distributions. It is only
through formal notice of the
distribution, including the date of the
distribution, that current holders,
potential buyers, or potential sellers of
the securities at issue will know their
rights to the distribution. Therefore, it is
only through formal notice that
investors can make an informed
decision as to whether to buy or sell a
security.
There are approximately 6,668
respondents per year. These
respondents make approximately 22,354
responses per year. Each response takes
approximately 10 minutes to complete.
Thus, the total compliance burden per
year is 3,726 burden hours. The total
internal labor cost of compliance for the
respondents, associated with producing
and filing the reports, is approximately
$254,038.68.
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 background
documentation for this information
collection at the following Web site:
https://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: Shagufta_Ahmed@
omb.eop.gov; and (ii) Thomas Bayer,
Director/Chief Information Officer,
Securities and Exchange Commission, c/
o Remi Pavlik-Simon, 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.
PO 00000
Frm 00097
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Dated: August 19, 2014.
Kevin M. O’Neill,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014–20086 Filed 8–22–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
Submission for OMB Review;
Comment Request
Upon Written Request, Copies Available
From: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of FOIA Services,
100 F Street NE., Washington, DC
20549–2736.
Extension:
Rule 18f–3; OMB Control No. 3235–0441,
SEC File No. 270–385.
Notice is hereby given that, pursuant
to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) (‘‘Paperwork
Reduction Act’’), 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.
Rule 18f–3 (17 CFR 270.18f–3) under
the Investment Company Act of 1940
(15 U.S.C. 80a–1 et seq.) exempts from
section 18(f)(1) a fund that issues
multiple classes of shares representing
interests in the same portfolio of
securities (a ‘‘multiple class fund’’) if
the fund satisfies the conditions of the
rule. In general, each class must differ
in its arrangement for shareholder
services or distribution or both, and
must pay the related expenses of that
different arrangement. The rule includes
one requirement for the collection of
information. A multiple class fund must
prepare, and fund directors must
approve, a written plan setting forth the
separate arrangement and expense
allocation of each class, and any related
conversion features or exchange
privileges (‘‘rule 18f–3 plan’’). Approval
of the plan must occur before the fund
issues any shares of multiple classes
and whenever the fund materially
amends the plan. In approving the plan,
the fund board, including a majority of
the independent directors, must
determine that the plan is in the best
interests of each class and the fund as
a whole.
The requirement that the fund prepare
and directors approve a written rule
18f–3 plan is intended to ensure that the
fund compiles information relevant to
the fairness of the separate arrangement
and expense allocation for each class,
and that directors review and approve
the information. Without a blueprint
E:\FR\FM\25AUN1.SGM
25AUN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 164 (Monday, August 25, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50708-50710]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-20084]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request
Upon Written Request, Copies Available From: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of FOIA Services, 100 F Street NE., Washington, DC
20549-2736.
[[Page 50709]]
Extension:
Rule 0-1; OMB Control No. 3235-0531, SEC File No. 270-472.
Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 350l et seq.), the Securities and Exchange
Commission (``Commission'') has submitted to the Office of Management
and Budget (``OMB'') a request for extension of the previous approved
collection of information discussed below.
The Investment Company Act of 1940 (the ``Act'') \1\ establishes a
comprehensive framework for regulating the organization and operation
of investment companies (``funds''). A principal objective of the Act
is to protect fund investors by addressing the conflicts of interest
that exist between funds and their investment advisers and other
affiliated persons. The Act places significant responsibility on the
fund board of directors in overseeing the operations of the fund and
policing the relevant conflicts of interest.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ 15 U.S.C. 80a.
\2\ For example, fund directors must approve investment advisory
and distribution contracts. See 15 U.S.C. 80a-15(a), (b), and (c).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In one of its first releases, the Commission exercised its
rulemaking authority pursuant to sections 38(a) and 40(b) of the Act by
adopting rule 0-1 (17 CFR 270.0-1).\3\ Rule 0-1, as subsequently
amended on numerous occasions, provides definitions for the terms used
by the Commission in the rules and regulations it has adopted pursuant
to the Act. The rule also contains a number of rules of construction
for terms that are defined either in the Act itself or elsewhere in the
Commission's rules and regulations. Finally, rule 0-1 defines terms
that serve as conditions to the availability of certain of the
Commission's exemptive rules. More specifically, the term ``independent
legal counsel,'' as defined in rule 0-1, sets out conditions that funds
must meet in order to rely on any of ten exemptive rules (``exemptive
rules'') under the Act.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ Investment Company Act Release No. 4 (Oct. 29, 1940) (5 FR
4316 (Oct. 31, 1940)). Note that rule 0-1 was originally adopted as
rule N-1.
\4\ The relevant exemptive rules are: rule 10f-3 (17 CFR
270.10f-3), rule 12b-1 (17 CFR 270.12b-1), rule 15a-4(b)(2) (17 CFR
270.15a-4(b)(2)), rule 17a-7 (17 CFR 270.17a-7), rule 17a-8 (17 CFR
270.17a-8), rule 17d-1(d)(7) (17 CFR 270.17d-1(d)(7)), rule 17e-1(c)
(17 CFR 270.17e-1(c)), rule 17g-1 (17 CFR 270.17g-1), rule 18f-3 (17
CFR 270.18f-3), and rule 23c-3 (17 CFR 270.23c-3).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Commission amended rule 0-1 to include the definition of the
term ``independent legal counsel'' in 2001.\5\ This amendment was
designed to enhance the effectiveness of fund boards of directors and
to better enable investors to assess the independence of those
directors. The Commission also amended the exemptive rules to require
that any person who serves as legal counsel to the independent
directors of any fund that relies on any of the exemptive rules must be
an ``independent legal counsel.'' This requirement was added because
independent directors can better perform the responsibilities assigned
to them under the Act and the rules if they have the assistance of
truly independent legal counsel.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ See Role of Independent Directors of Investment Companies,
Investment Company Act Release No. 24816 (Jan. 2, 2001) (66 FR 3735
(Jan. 16, 2001)).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
If the board's counsel has represented the fund's investment
adviser, principal underwriter, administrator (collectively,
``management organizations'') or their ``control persons'' \6\ during
the past two years, rule 0-1 requires that the board's independent
directors make a determination about the adequacy of the counsel's
independence. A majority of the board's independent directors are
required to reasonably determine, in the exercise of their judgment,
that the counsel's prior or current representation of the management
organizations or their control persons was sufficiently limited to
conclude that it is unlikely to adversely affect the counsel's
professional judgment and legal representation. Rule 0-1 also requires
that a record for the basis of this determination is made in the
minutes of the directors' meeting. In addition, the independent
directors must have obtained an undertaking from the counsel to provide
them with the information necessary to make their determination and to
update promptly that information when the person begins to represent a
management organization or control person, or when he or she materially
increases his or her representation. Generally, the independent
directors must re-evaluate their determination no less frequently than
annually.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ A ``control person'' is any person--other than a fund--
directly or indirectly controlling, controlled by, or under common
control, with any of the fund's management organizations. See 17 CFR
270.01(a)(6)(iv)(B).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Any fund that relies on one of the exemptive rules must comply with
the requirements in the definition of ``independent legal counsel''
under rule 0-1. We assume that approximately 3751 funds rely on at
least one of the exemptive rules annually.\7\ We further assume that
the independent directors of approximately one-third (1250) of those
funds would need to make the required determination in order for their
counsel to meet the definition of independent legal counsel.\8\ We
estimate that each of these 1250 funds would be required to spend, on
average, 0.75 hours annually to comply with the recordkeeping
requirement associated with this determination, for a total annual
burden of approximately 938 hours. Based on this estimate, the total
annual cost for all funds' compliance with this rule is approximately
$196,907. To calculate this total annual cost, the Commission staff
assumed that approximately two-thirds of the total annual hour burden
(625 hours) would be incurred by a compliance manager with an average
hourly wage rate of $283 per hour,\9\ and one-third of the annual hour
burden (313 hours) would be incurred by compliance clerk with an
average hourly wage rate of $64 per hour.\10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ Based on statistics compiled by Commission staff, we
estimate that there are approximately 4168 funds that could rely on
one or more of the exemptive rules. Of those funds, we assume that
approximately 90 percent (3751) actually rely on at least one
exemptive rules annually.
\8\ We assume that the independent directors of the remaining
two-thirds of those funds will choose not to have counsel, or will
rely on counsel who has not recently represented the fund's
management organizations or control persons. In both circumstances,
it would not be necessary for the fund's independent directors to
make a determination about their counsel's independence.
\9\ The estimated hourly wages used in this PRA analysis were
derived from reports prepared by the Securities Industry and
Financial Markets Association. See Securities Industry and Financial
Markets Association, Report on Management and Professional Earnings
in the Securities Industry--2013 (2013), modified to account for an
1800-hour work year and multiplied by 5.35 to account for bonuses,
firm size, employee benefits and overhead; and Securities Industry
and Financial Markets Association, Office Salaries in the Securities
Industry--2013 (2013), modified to account for an 1800-hour work
year and multiplied by 2.93 to account for bonuses, firm size,
employee benefits and overhead.
\10\ (625 x $283/hour) + (313 x $64/hour) = $196,907.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
These burden hour estimates are based upon the Commission staff's
experience and discussions with the fund industry. The estimates of
average burden hours are made solely for the purposes of the Paperwork
Reduction Act. These estimates are not derived from a comprehensive or
even a representative survey or study of the costs of Commission rules.
Compliance with the collection of information requirements of the
rule is mandatory and is necessary to comply with the requirements of
the rule in general. 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 control number.
The public may view the background documentation for this
information collection at the following Web site,
[[Page 50710]]
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: Shagufta_Ahmed@omb.eop.gov; and (ii) Thomas Bayer, Chief
Information Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, c/o Remi
Pavlik-Simon, 100 F Street NE., Washington, DC 20549 or send an email
to: PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov. Comments must be submitted to OMB within 30
days of this notice.
Dated: August 19, 2014.
Kevin M. O'Neill,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014-20084 Filed 8-22-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
