Proposed Collection; Comment Request, 42566-42567 [2017-19072]
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42566
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 173 / Friday, September 8, 2017 / Notices
the requirement will take each
respondent approximately four hours to
complete. The Commission staff
estimates that compliance staff work at
registered transfer agents to comply
with the third party disclosure
requirement will result in an internal
cost of compliance, at an estimated
hourly wage of $283, of $1,128 per year
per transfer agent (4 hours × $283 per
hour = $1,128 per year). Therefore, the
aggregate annual internal cost of
compliance for the approximately one
registered transfer agent each year to
comply with Rule 17Ad–3(b) is also
$1,128. There are no external labor costs
associated with sending the notice to
issuers.
An agency may not conduct or
sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information
under the PRA unless it displays a
currently valid OMB control number.
The public may view background
documentation for this information
collection at the following Web site:
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) Pamela
Dyson, 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.
Dated: September 5, 2017.
Eduardo A. Aleman,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017–19071 Filed 9–7–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
Proposed Collection; Comment
Request
1 15
Extension:
Rule 0–1, SEC File No. 270–472, OMB
Control No. 3235–0531
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
17:18 Sep 07, 2017
Jkt 241001
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)).
2 For
Upon Written Request, Copies Available
From: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of FOIA Services,
100 F Street NE., Washington, DC
20549–2736.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
(‘‘Commission’’) plans to submit to the
Office of Management and Budget 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
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
PO 00000
Frm 00027
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
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
3,108 funds rely on at least one of the
exemptive rules annually.7 We further
assume that the independent directors
of approximately one-third (1,036) of
those funds would need to make the
required determination in order for their
counsel to meet the definition of
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 3,453
funds that could rely on one or more of the
exemptive rules (this figure reflects the three-year
average of open-end and closed-end funds (3,349)
and business development companies (104)). Of
those funds, we assume that approximately 90
percent (3,108) actually rely on at least one
exemptive rules annually.
E:\FR\FM\08SEN1.SGM
08SEN1
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 173 / Friday, September 8, 2017 / Notices
sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
independent legal counsel.8 We
estimate that each of these 1,036 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 777
hours. Based on this estimate, the total
annual cost for all funds’ compliance
with this rule is approximately
$168,350. To calculate this total annual
cost, the Commission staff assumed that
approximately two-thirds of the total
annual hour burden (518 hours) would
be incurred by a compliance manager
with an average hourly wage rate of
$292 per hour,9 and one-third of the
annual hour burden (259 hours) would
be incurred by compliance clerk with an
average hourly wage rate of $66 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.
Written comments are invited on: (a)
Whether the collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of
the functions of the Commission,
including whether the information has
practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the
Commission’s estimate of the burdens of
the collection of information; (c) ways to
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity
of the information collected; and (d)
ways to minimize the burdens of the
collection of information on
respondents, including through the use
of automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology.
Consideration will be given to
comments and suggestions submitted in
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 the Securities Industry
and Financial Markets Association’s Reports on
Management and Professional Earnings in the
Securities Industry (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) (adjusted for inflation), and Office
Salaries in the Securities Industry (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) (adjusted for
inflation).
10 (518 × $292/hour) + (259 × $66/hour) =
$168,350.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:18 Sep 07, 2017
Jkt 241001
writing within 60 days of this
publication.
Please direct your written comments
to Pamela Dyson, Director/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.
Dated: September 5, 2017.
Eduardo A. Aleman,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017–19072 Filed 9–7–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
[Disaster Declaration #15276; California
Disaster Number CA–00276 Declaration of
Economic Injury]
Administrative Declaration of an
Economic Injury Disaster for the State
of California
PO 00000
Frm 00028
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Businesses and Small Agricultural
Cooperatives without Credit
Available Elsewhere ..................
Non-Profit Organizations without
Credit Available Elsewhere .......
3.215
2.500
The number assigned to this disaster
for economic injury is 152760.
The State which received an EIDL
Declaration # is California.
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
Number 59008)
Dated: August 30, 2017.
Linda E. McMahon,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2017–19079 Filed 9–7–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8025–01–P
SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
[Disaster Declaration #15274 and #15275;
Texas Disaster Number TX–00487]
U.S. Small Business
Administration.
ACTION: Amendment 2.
AGENCY:
This is a notice of an
Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL)
declaration for the State of California,
dated 08/30/2017.
Incident: Flooding Due to Extreme
Snow Melt.
Incident Period: 06/17/2017 through
06/29/2017.
DATES: Issued on 08/30/2017.
Economic Injury (EIDL) Loan
Application Deadline Date: 05/30/2018.
ADDRESSES: Submit completed loan
applications to: U.S. Small Business
Administration, Processing and
Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport
Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A.
Escobar, Office of Disaster Assistance,
U.S. Small Business Administration,
409 3rd Street SW., Suite 6050,
Washington, DC 20416, (202) 205–6734.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is
hereby given that as a result of the
Administrator’s EIDL declaration,
applications for economic injury
disaster loans may be filed at the
address listed above or other locally
announced locations.
The following areas have been
determined to be adversely affected by
the disaster:
Primary Counties: Fresno, Tulare
Contiguous Counties:
California: Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera,
Merced, Mono, Monterey, San
Benito
The Interest Rates are:
Percent
Presidential Declaration Amendment of
a Major Disaster for the State of Texas
U.S. Small Business
Administration.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY:
42567
This is an amendment of the
Presidential declaration of a major
disaster for the State of Texas (FEMA–
4332–DR), dated 08/25/2017.
Incident: Hurricane Harvey.
Incident Period: 08/23/2017 and
continuing.
SUMMARY:
Issued on 08/30/2017.
Physical Loan Application Deadline
Date: 10/24/2017.
Economic Injury (EIDL) Loan
Application Deadline Date: 05/25/2018.
ADDRESSES: Submit completed loan
applications to: U.S. Small Business
Administration, Processing and
Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport
Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A.
Escobar, Office of Disaster Assistance,
U.S. Small Business Administration,
409 3rd Street SW., Suite 6050,
Washington, DC 20416, (202) 205–6734.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The notice
of the President’s major disaster
declaration for the State of Texas, dated
08/25/2017, is hereby amended to
include the following areas as adversely
affected by the disaster:
Primary Counties (Physical Damage and
Economic Injury Loans):
Colorado, Fayette, Hardin, Jasper,
Jefferson, Montgomery, Newton,
Orange, Sabine, San Jacinto, Waller
Contiguous Counties (Economic Injury
Loans Only):
DATES:
E:\FR\FM\08SEN1.SGM
08SEN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 173 (Friday, September 8, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42566-42567]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-19072]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Proposed Collection; 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 0-1, SEC File No. 270-472, OMB Control No. 3235-0531
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'') plans to submit to the Office of Management
and Budget 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 3,108 funds rely on at
least one of the exemptive rules annually.\7\ We further assume that
the independent directors of approximately one-third (1,036) of those
funds would need to make the required determination in order for their
counsel to meet the definition of
[[Page 42567]]
independent legal counsel.\8\ We estimate that each of these 1,036
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 777 hours.
Based on this estimate, the total annual cost for all funds' compliance
with this rule is approximately $168,350. To calculate this total
annual cost, the Commission staff assumed that approximately two-thirds
of the total annual hour burden (518 hours) would be incurred by a
compliance manager with an average hourly wage rate of $292 per
hour,\9\ and one-third of the annual hour burden (259 hours) would be
incurred by compliance clerk with an average hourly wage rate of $66
per hour.\10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ Based on statistics compiled by Commission staff, we
estimate that there are approximately 3,453 funds that could rely on
one or more of the exemptive rules (this figure reflects the three-
year average of open-end and closed-end funds (3,349) and business
development companies (104)). Of those funds, we assume that
approximately 90 percent (3,108) 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 the Securities Industry and Financial Markets
Association's Reports on Management and Professional Earnings in the
Securities Industry (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) (adjusted for inflation), and Office
Salaries in the Securities Industry (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) (adjusted for
inflation).
\10\ (518 x $292/hour) + (259 x $66/hour) = $168,350.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
Written comments are invited on: (a) Whether the collection of
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
the Commission, including whether the information has practical
utility; (b) the accuracy of the Commission's estimate of the burdens
of the collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information collected; and (d) ways to
minimize the burdens of the collection of information on respondents,
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other
forms of information technology. Consideration will be given to
comments and suggestions submitted in writing within 60 days of this
publication.
Please direct your written comments to Pamela Dyson, Director/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.
Dated: September 5, 2017.
Eduardo A. Aleman,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017-19072 Filed 9-7-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
