[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 128 (Tuesday, July 6, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38854-38856]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-16309]
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Proposed Collection; Comment Request
Upon Written Request, Copies Available From: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of Investor
[[Page 38855]]
Education and Advocacy, Washington, DC 20549-0213.
Extension:
Rule 7d-1; SEC File No. 270-176; OMB Control No. 3235-0311.
Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), the Securities and Exchange
Commission (the ``Commission'') is soliciting comments on the
collections of information summarized below. The Commission plans to
submit these existing collection of information to the Office of
Management and Budget for extension and approval.
Section 7(d) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-
7(d)) (the ``Act'' or ``Investment Company Act'') requires an
investment company (``fund'') organized outside the United States
(``foreign fund'') to obtain an order from the Commission allowing the
fund to register under the Act before making a public offering of its
securities through the United States mail or any means of interstate
commerce. The Commission may issue an order only if it finds that it is
both legally and practically feasible effectively to enforce the
provisions of the Act against the foreign fund, and that the
registration of the fund is consistent with the public interest and
protection of investors.
Rule 7d-1 (17 CFR 270.7d-1) under the Act, which was adopted in
1954, specifies the conditions under which a Canadian management
investment company (``Canadian fund'') may request an order from the
Commission permitting it to register under the Act. Although rule 7d-1
by its terms applies only to Canadian funds, other foreign funds
generally have agreed to comply with the requirements of rule 7d-1 as a
prerequisite to receiving an order permitting those foreign funds'
registration under the Act.
The rule requires a Canadian fund that wishes to register to file
an application with the Commission that contains various undertakings
and agreements by the fund. The requirement of the Canadian fund to
file an application is a collection of information under the Paperwork
Reduction Act. Certain of the undertakings and agreements, in turn,
impose the following additional information collection requirements:
(1) The fund must file agreements between the fund and its
directors, officers, and service providers requiring them to comply
with the fund's charter and bylaws, the Act, and certain other
obligations relating to the undertakings and agreements in the
application;
(2) The fund and each of its directors, officers, and investment
advisers that is not a U.S. resident, must file an irrevocable
designation of the fund's custodian in the United States as agent for
service of process;
(3) The fund's charter and bylaws must provide that (a) the fund
will comply with certain provisions of the Act applicable to all funds,
(b) the fund will maintain originals or copies of its books and records
in the United States, and (c) the fund's contracts with its custodian,
investment adviser, and principal underwriter, will contain certain
terms, including a requirement that the adviser maintain originals or
copies of pertinent records in the United States;
(4) The fund's contracts with service providers will require that
the provider perform the contract in accordance with the Act, the
Securities Act of 1933 (15 U.S.C. 77a), and the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78a), as applicable; and
(5) The fund must file, and periodically revise, a list of persons
affiliated with the fund or its adviser or underwriter.
As noted above, under section 7(d) of the Act the Commission may
issue an order permitting a foreign fund's registration only if the
Commission finds that ``by reason of special circumstances or
arrangements, it is both legally and practically feasible effectively
to enforce the provisions of the (Act).'' The information collection
requirements are necessary to assure that the substantive provisions of
the Act may be enforced as a matter of contract right in the United
States or Canada by the fund's shareholders or by the Commission.
Rule 7d-1 also contains certain information collection requirements
that are associated with other provisions of the Act. These
requirements are applicable to all registered funds and are outside the
scope of this request.
The Commission believes that one foreign fund is registered under
rule 7d-1 and currently active. Apart from requirements under the Act
applicable to all registered funds, rule 7d-1 imposes ongoing burdens
to maintain records in the United States, and to update, as necessary,
certain fund agreements, designations of the fund's custodian as
service agent, and the fund's list of affiliated persons. The
Commission staff estimates that each year under the rule, the active
registrant and its directors, officers, and service providers engage in
the following collections of information and associated burden hours:
For the fund and its investment adviser to maintain records in the
United States: \1\
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\1\ The rule requires an applicant and its investment adviser to
maintain records in the United States (which, without the
requirement, might be maintained in Canada or another foreign
jurisdiction), which facilitates routine inspections and any special
investigations of the fund by Commission staff. The registrant and
its investment adviser, however, already maintain the registrant's
records in the United States and in no other jurisdiction.
Therefore, maintenance of the registrant's records in the United
States does not impose an additional burden beyond that imposed by
other provisions of the Act. Those provisions are applicable to all
registered funds and the compliance burden of those provisions is
outside the scope of this request.
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0 hours: 0 minutes of compliance clerk time.
For the fund to update its list of affiliated persons:
2 hours: 2 hours of support staff time.
For new officers, directors, and service providers to
enter into and file agreements requiring them to comply with the fund's
charter and bylaws, the Act, and certain other obligations:
0.5 hours: 7.5 minutes of director time; 2.5 minutes of officer time;
20 minutes of support staff time.
For new officers, directors, and investment advisers who
are not residents of the United States to file irrevocable designation
of the fund's custodian as agent for process of service:
0.25 hours: 5 minutes of director time; 10 minutes of support staff
time.
Based on the estimates above, the Commission estimates that the
total annual burden of the rule's paperwork requirements is 2.75
hours.\2\ We estimate that directors perform 0.21 hours of these burden
hours at a total cost of $945,\3\ officers perform 0.04 of these burden
hours at a total cost of 16.72,\4\ and support staff perform 2.5 of
these burden hours at a total cost of $147.50.\5\ Thus, the Commission
[[Page 38856]]
estimates the aggregate annual cost of the burden hours associated with
rule 7d-1 is $1109.\6\
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\2\ This estimate is based on the following calculation: (0 + 2
+ 0.5 + 0.25) = 2.75 hours.
\3\ The director estimates are based on the following
calculations: (7.5 minutes + 5 minutes)/60 minutes per hour = 0.21
hours; and 0.21 hours x $4500/hour = $945. The per hour cost
estimate is based on estimated hourly compensation for each board
member of $500 and an average board size of 9 members.
\4\ The officer estimates are based on the following
calculations: 2.5 minutes/60 minutes per hour = 0.04 hours; 0.04
hours x $418/hour = $16.72. The per hour cost estimate is based on
the figure for chief compliance officers found in SIFMA's Management
& Professional Earnings in the Securities Industry 2009, modified by
Commission staff to account for an 1800-hour work-year and
multiplied by 5.35 to account for bonuses, firm size, employee
benefits and overhead.
\5\ The support staff estimates are based on the following
calculations: 2 hours + 20 minutes + 10 minutes = 2.5 hours; and 2.5
hours x $59/hour = $147.50. The per hour cost estimate is based on
the figure for compliance clerks found in SIFMA's Management &
Professional Earnings in the Securities Industry 2009, modified by
Commission staff to account for an 1800-hour work-year and
multiplied by 2.93 to account for bonuses, firm size, employee
benefits and overhead.
\6\ This estimate is based on the following calculation:
$1109.22 = $945 + $16.72 + 147.50.
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If a fund were to file an application under the rule, the
Commission estimates that the rule would impose initial information
collection burdens (for filing an application, preparing the specified
charter, bylaw, and contract provisions, designations of agents for
service of process, and an initial list of affiliated persons, and
establishing a means of keeping records in the United States) of
approximately 90 hours for the fund and its associated persons. The
Commission is not including these hours in its calculation of the
annual burden because no foreign fund has applied under rule 7d-1 to
register under the Act in the last three years.
As noted above, after registration, a Canadian fund may file a
supplemental application seeking special relief designed for the fund's
particular circumstances. Rule 7d-1 does not mandate these
applications. The active registrant has not filed a substantive
supplemental application in the past three years. Therefore, the
Commission has not allocated any burden hours for these applications.
The estimates of burden hours are made solely for the purposes of
the Paperwork Reduction Act. The estimates are not derived from a
comprehensive or even a representative survey or study of Commission
rules and forms.
If a Canadian or other foreign fund in the future applied to
register under the Act under rule 7d-1, the fund initially might have
capital and start-up costs (not including hourly burdens) of an
estimated $17,280 to comply with the rule's initial information
collection requirements. These costs include legal and processing-
related fees for preparing the required documentation (such as the
application, charter, bylaw, and contract provisions), designations for
service of process, and the list of affiliated persons. Other related
costs would include fees for establishing arrangements with a custodian
or other agent for maintaining records in the United States, copying
and transportation costs for records, and the costs of purchasing or
leasing computer equipment, software, or other record storage equipment
for records maintained in electronic or photographic form.
The Commission expects that a fund and its sponsors would incur
these costs immediately, and that the annualized cost of the
expenditures would be $17,280 in the first year. Some expenditures
might involve capital improvements, such as computer equipment, having
expected useful lives for which annualized figures beyond the first
year would be meaningful. These annualized figures are not provided,
however, because, in most cases, the expenses would be incurred
immediately rather than on an annual basis. The Commission is not
including these costs in its calculation of the annualized capital/
start-up costs because no fund has applied under rule 7d-1 to register
under the Act pursuant to rule 7d-1 in the last three years.
We request written comment on: (a) Whether the collections of
information are 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 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 Charles Boucher, Director/
CIO, Securities and Exchange Commission, C/O Shirley Martinson, 6432
General Green Way, Alexandria, VA, 22312; or send an e-mail to: [email protected].
Dated: June 29, 2010.
Florence E. Harmon,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2010-16309 Filed 7-2-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010-01-P