[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 75 (Tuesday, April 20, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20568-20570]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-9014]
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COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection Activities Under OMB Review
AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
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ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501
et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Request
(ICR) abstracted below has been forwarded to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describes the nature
of the information collection and its expected costs and burden; it
includes the actual data collection instruments [if any].
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before May 20, 2010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR A COPY CONTACT: Andrea Musalem at CFTC,
(202) 418-5167; FAX: (202) 418-5547; e-mail: [email protected] and
refer to OMB Control No. 3038-0023.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Proposed Questionnaire to Regulation 30.10 Relief Recipients
(OMB Control No. 3038-0023). This is a request for approval of a new
information collection.
Abstract
I. Background
CFTC Regulation 30.10 allows persons located and doing business
outside the U.S., who are subject to a comparable regulatory framework
in the country in which they are located, to seek an exemption from the
application of certain of the Part 30 regulations. Regulation 30.10
expressly states that, upon petition, the Commission may exempt any
person from any requirement of the Part 30 regulations. If the
Commission grants an exemption, persons located and doing business
outside the U.S. may solicit or accept orders directly from U.S.
customers for foreign futures or options transactions without
registering under the Act as FCMs.
A petition for exemption pursuant to Regulation 30.10 is typically
filed on behalf of persons located and doing business outside the U.S.
that seek access to U.S. customers by (1) a governmental agency
responsible for implementing and enforcing the foreign regulatory
program, or (2) a self-regulatory organization (SRO) of which such
persons are members. A petitioner who seeks an exemption pursuant to
Regulation 30.10, based on substituted compliance with a non-U.S.
regulatory framework that is comparable to the Act and rules
thereunder, must set forth with particularity the comparable
regulations applicable in the jurisdiction in which that person is
located. In essence, a petitioner under Regulation 30.10 must present,
with particularity, the factual basis for a finding of comparability
and the reasons why the policies and purposes of the Commission's
regulatory program are met, notwithstanding any differences of degree
or kind in the petitioner's regulatory program.
Appendix A to Part 30 (Appendix A) articulates standards to be used
by staff in assessing whether a foreign regulatory system is
comparable.\1\ These standards involve inquiry into the following
areas: (1) Registration, authorization or other form of licensing,
fitness review or qualification of persons through which customer
orders are solicited and accepted; (2) minimum financial requirements
for those persons that accept customer funds; (3) protection of
customer funds from misapplication; (4) recordkeeping and reporting
requirements; (5) minimum sales practice standards, including
disclosure of the risks of futures and options transactions and, in
particular, the risk of transactions undertaken outside the
jurisdiction of domestic law; (6) compliance; and (7) information-
sharing.
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\1\ ``Interpretative Statement With Respect to the Commission's
Exemptive Authority Under Sec. 30.10 of its Rules,'' l7 CFR part
30, Appendix A.
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II. The Proposed Questionnaire
Currently, there are 13 foreign entities \2\ (two regulators and 11
futures exchanges) that have a Regulation 30.10 exemption some of which
date back to the late eighties, early nineties. Consequently, the
Commission's Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight (DCIO)
would like to embark upon a program whereby each year, DCIO sends out a
questionnaire to exemption recipients inquiring as to material and
other relevant changes that impacted our could impact the fundamentals
for which exemptive relief was granted in the first place.
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\2\ The 13 foreign entities are represented by the following
jurisdictions: The United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Germany,
Canada, France, Spain, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan.
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The proposed 2010 Questionnaire will ask the following questions:
The following questions relate to material changes that have occurred
since the original filing of the 30.10 petition. Please answer the
following questions in detail.
1. Have there been any material changes with regards to the
identity or organization of the original Petitioner (i.e. change in
control, change in name, change in structure, etc.)?
2. Has there been a change in the role of the government, the
regulator, or the self-regulatory organization(s) which has or could
potentially impact their supervision of and their enforcement powers
over the exchange and its members?
3. Has there been any material change in the legal framework which
impacted or could impact any of the following:
a. Registration, authorization or other form of licensing, fitness
review or qualification of persons through which customer orders are
solicited and accepted;
b. Minimum financial requirements for those persons that accept
customer funds;
c. Protection of customer funds from misapplication;
d. Recordkeeping and reporting requirements;
e. Minimum sales practice standards, including disclosure of risks
of futures and options transactions and, in particular, the risk of
transactions undertaken outside the jurisdiction of domestic law; and
f. Compliance (i.e. any change in oversight structure which
impacted or could impact the governmental authority or the self-
regulatory organization's ability to audit Part 30 firms for compliance
with, or take action against persons that violate the requirements of
the Part 30 program).
4. What changes, if any, have occurred in insolvency laws as they
affect futures customers? If there have been changes to insolvency
laws, have the changes occurred within the past two to three years? To
what extent do you view any recently proposed changes to insolvency
laws as resulting from the 2008-09 financial crisis?
5. Security futures products have both an equity component and a
futures component. Consequently, in what accounts are security futures
products held (i.e. the equity account, the futures account, or a
combined account)? Are security futures products subject to separate
disclosure and margin requirements than those required for plain
vanilla futures products?
6. Please provide an updated list of all firms with relief under
the Regulation 30.10 exemption.
7. Since the granting of the original exemption, please affirm
whether 30.10 firms have been subject to arbitration and/or
disciplinary proceedings arising from transactions with U.S. customers.
To the best extent possible, please provide the number of times and a
brief description of such proceedings.
8. Please provide the name and contact information for individuals
to whom follow up questions might be directed.
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
[[Page 20570]]
control number. The OMB control numbers for the CFTC's regulations were
published on December 30, 1981. See 46 FR 63035 (Dec. 30, 1981). The
Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting
comments on this collection of information was published on February
10, 2010 (75 FR 6637).
Burden statement: The respondent burden for this collection is
estimated to average one hour per response. These estimates include the
time needed to review instructions; develop, acquire, install, and
utilize technology and systems for the purposes of collecting,
validating, and verifying information, processing and maintaining
information and disclosing and providing information; adjust the
existing ways to comply with any previously applicable instructions and
requirements; train personnel to be able to respond to a collection of
information; and transmit or otherwise disclose the information.
Respondents/Affected Entities: 13.
Estimated number of responses: 13.
Estimated total annual burden on respondents: 169 hours.
Frequency of collection: Annually.
Send comments regarding the burden estimated or any other aspect of
the information collection, including suggestions for reducing the
burden, to the addresses listed below. Please refer to OMB Control No.
3038-0023 in any correspondence.
Andrea Musalem, Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight, U.S.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 1155 21st Street, NW.,
Washington, DC 20581; and
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and
Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for CFTC, 725 17th Street, Washington,
DC 20503.
Dated: April 14, 2010.
David Stawick,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2010-9014 Filed 4-19-10; 8:45 am]
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