Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request, 53538-53539 [2017-24755]
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53538
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 220 / Thursday, November 16, 2017 / Notices
The estimated total annual burden for
all 4,029 funds subject to the rule
therefore is approximately 28,203,000
hours. Based on conversations with
fund representatives, however, the
Commission staff estimates that even
absent the requirements of rule 31a–1,
90 percent of the records created
pursuant to the rule are the type that
generally would be created as a matter
of normal business practice and to
prepare financial statements. Thus, the
Commission staff estimates that the total
annual burden associated with rule 31a–
1 is 2,820,300 hours.
The estimate of average burden hours
is made solely for the purposes of the
Paperwork Reduction Act, and is not
derived from a comprehensive or even
a representative survey or study. 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.
Written comments are requested 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 burden(s) of the collection of
information; (c) ways to enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the
information collected; and (d) ways to
minimize the burden 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: November 9, 2017.
Eduardo A. Aleman,
Assistant Secretary.
asabaliauskas on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with NOTICES
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
Jkt 244001
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
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
16:52 Nov 15, 2017
Notice is hereby given that, pursuant
to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et. seq.), the Securities
and Exchange Commission
(‘‘Commission’’) has submitted 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
1 15
[FR Doc. 2017–24751 Filed 11–15–17; 8:45 am]
VerDate Sep<11>2014
Extension:
Rule 0–1, SEC File No. 270–472, OMB
Control No. 3235–0531
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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
3,108 funds rely on at least one of the
exemptive rules annually.7 We further
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
E:\FR\FM\16NON1.SGM
16NON1
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 220 / Thursday, November 16, 2017 / Notices
asabaliauskas on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with NOTICES
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
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.
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
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 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
16:52 Nov 15, 2017
Jkt 244001
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 send an email to: PRA_Mailbox@
sec.gov. Comments must be submitted to
OMB within 30 days of this notice.
Dated: November 9, 2017.
Eduardo A. Aleman,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017–24755 Filed 11–15–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 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:
Form N–6F; SEC File No. 270–185, OMB
Control No. 3235–0238
Notice is hereby given that, pursuant
to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Securities
and Exchange Commission
(‘‘Commission’’) has submitted to the
Office of Management and Budget a
request for extension of the previously
approved collection of information
discussed below.
The title for the collection of
information is ‘‘Form N–6F (17 CFR
274.15), Notice of Intent to Elect to be
Subject to Sections 55 through 65 of the
Investment Company Act of 1940.’’ The
purpose of Form N–6F is to notify the
Commission of a company’s intent to
file a notification of election to become
subject to Sections 55 through 65 of the
Investment Company Act of 1940 (15
U.S.C. 80a–1 et seq.) (‘‘1940 Act’’).
Certain companies may have to make a
filing with the Commission before they
are ready to elect to be regulated as a
business development company.1 A
company that is excluded from the
definition of ‘‘investment company’’ by
Section 3(c)(1) because it has fewer than
one hundred shareholders and is not
making a public offering of its securities
may lose such an exclusion solely
because it proposes to make a public
offering of securities as a business
development company. Such company,
under certain conditions, would not
lose its exclusion if it notifies the
Commission on Form N–6F of its intent
to make an election to be regulated as
a business development company. The
company only has to file a Form N–6F
once.
The Commission estimates that on
average approximately 12 companies
file these notifications each year. Each
of those companies need only make a
single filing of Form N–6F. The
Commission further estimates that this
information collection imposes burden
of 0.5 hours, resulting in a total annual
PRA burden of 6 hours. Based on the
estimated wage rate, the total cost to the
industry of the hour burden for
complying with Form N–6F would be
approximately $2,070.
The collection of information under
Form N–6F is mandatory. The
information provided under the form is
not kept confidential. An agency may
not conduct or sponsor, and a person is
not required to respond to, a collection
of information unless it displays a
currently valid OMB control number.
The public may view the background
documentation for this information
collection at the following 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 send an email to: PRA_Mailbox@
sec.gov. Comments must be submitted to
OMB within 30 days of this notice.
Dated: November 9, 2017.
Eduardo A. Aleman,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017–24754 Filed 11–15–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
1A
company might not be prepared to elect to be
subject to Sections 55 through 65 of the 1940 Act
because its capital structure or management
compensation plan is not yet in compliance with
the requirements of those sections.
PO 00000
Frm 00090
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 9990
53539
E:\FR\FM\16NON1.SGM
16NON1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 220 (Thursday, November 16, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53538-53539]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-24755]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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 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. 3501 et. seq.), the Securities and Exchange
Commission (``Commission'') has submitted 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
[[Page 53539]]
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 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 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.
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, 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 send an email
to: PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov. Comments must be submitted to OMB within 30
days of this notice.
Dated: November 9, 2017.
Eduardo A. Aleman,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017-24755 Filed 11-15-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
