[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 135 (Friday, July 15, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-17254]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: July 15, 1994]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 34-34342; File No SR-Phlx-91-20]

 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule 
Change and Amendment No. 1 to Proposed Rule Change by Philadelphia 
Stock Exchange, Inc. Relating to Equity Floor Procedure Advice E-A-1--
Responsibility for Displaying Best Bid and Offer Prices

July 11, 1994.
    Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(``Act''), 15 U.S.C. Sec. 78s(b)(1), notice is hereby given that on 
July 15, 1991, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Inc. (``Phlyx'' of 
``Exchange'') filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission 
(``Commission'') the proposed rule change and on June 23, 1994 filed 
Amendment No. 1 to the proposed rule change as described in Items I, II 
and III below, which Items have been prepared by the self-regulatory 
organization. The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit 
comments on the proposed rule change from interested persons.

Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance of 
the Proposed Rule Change

    The Phlx proposes to adopt Phlx Equity Floor Procedure Advice 
(``EFPA'') E-A-1: Responsibility for Displaying Best Bid and Offer 
Prices Established on the Equity Floor. The Text of the proposed new 
advice is presented below:

E-A-1 Responsibility for Displaying Best Bid and Offer Prices 
Established on the Equity Floor

    (i) A Specialist shall use due diligence to ensure that the best 
available bid price and offer price on the floor in each ``primary 
stock issue'' assigned to him is properly and timely displayed for 
dissemination purposes throughout the trading day.
    (ii) A Specialist shall also use due diligence to ensure proper and 
timely display of any bid or offer price of any order on the book in a 
``secondary issue'' assigned to him for so long as such bid or offer is 
equal or superior to the consolidated best bid or offer of those 
disseminated by the national exchanges.
    (iii) For the purposes of the above paragraphs, the fine schedule 
below will apply in any instance of any exchange review which 
identifies that five percent or more of such orders have not been 
properly displayed in a timely fashion for the review period.

                              Fine Schedule                             
          [Implemented on a three year running calendar basis]          
------------------------------------------------------------------------
               E-A-1                                                    
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1st Occurrence.....................  $100.00                            
2nd Occurrence.....................  250.00                             
3rd Occurrence.....................  500.00                             
4th and Thereafter.................  Sanction is discretionary with     
                                      Business Conduct Committee.       
------------------------------------------------------------------------

II. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and 
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change

    In its filing with the Commission, the self-regulatory organization 
included statements concerning the purpose of land basis for the 
proposed rule change and discussed any comments it received on the 
proposed rule change. The test of these statements may be examined at 
the places specified in Item IV below. The self-regulatory organization 
has prepared summaries, set forth in Sections A, B, and C below, of the 
most significant aspects of such statements.

A. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and 
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change

1. Purpose
    This new equity floor procedure advice codifies the due diligence 
requirement of equity specialists imposed pursuant to SEC Rule 11Ac1-1 
to display the best bid and offer available on the floor in their 
assigned issues. The specialists' responsibility will be different for 
primary stock issues and secondary market issues.
    For stocks that are primary to this Exchange, a specialist's 
responsibility will be to ensure that the best bid and offer voiced on 
the floor of the Exchange in one of his assigned specialist issues is 
properly and timely displayed for dissemination purposes throughout the 
trading day. A primary stock issue is any issue dually listed with 
another exchange for which the Phlx has traded the majority of exchange 
volume over the previous six months or any issue listed on the Phlx 
which is not listed on any other national exchange.
    For those stocks in which the Phlx specialist makes a secondary 
market, his responsibility is to ensure proper and timely display of 
the best bid (or offer) so long as such bid (or offer) is equal or 
superior to all other bids (or offers) reflected and disseminated at 
the time by the national exchanges.
    The Exchange has provided a fine schedule to be applied when an 
Exchange review identifies five percent or more of such orders reviewed 
over a designated time period to have not been properly displayed in a 
timely manner. If at any time, however, an Exchange review reveals that 
the amount of orders not timely displayed exceeds five percent by an 
amount whereby it would be unreasonable to still consider the 
infraction as minor, the staff may bring the matter to the Business 
Conduct Committee to authorize a Statement of Charges and impose more 
severe sanctions pursuant to Exchange Rule 970.
2. Statutory Basis
    The proposed rule change is consistent with Section 6(b)(5) of the 
Act in that it is designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts 
and practices and to perfect the mechanism of a free and open market.

B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition

    The Phlx does not believe that the proposed rule change will impose 
any inappropriate burden on competition.

C. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on the Proposed 
Rule Change Received From Members, Participants or Others

    No written comments were either solicited or received.

III. Date of Effectiveness of the Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 
Commission Action

    Within 35 days of the publication of this notice in the Federal 
Register or within such other period (i) as the Commission may 
designate up to 90 days of such date if it finds such longer period to 
be appropriate and publishes its reasons for so finding or (ii) as to 
which the self-regulatory organization consents, the Commission will:
    (A) by order approve the proposed rule change, or
    (B) institute proceedings to determine whether the proposed rule 
change should be disapproved.

IV. Solicitation of Comments

    Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views and 
arguments concerning the foregoing. Persons making written submissions 
should file six copies thereof with the Secretary, Securities and 
Exchange Commission, 450 Fifth Street, NW., Washington, DC 20549. 
Copies of the submission, all subsequent amendments, all written 
statements with respect to the proposed rule change that are filed with 
the Commission, and all written communications relating to the proposed 
rule change between the Commission and any person, other than those 
that may be withheld from the public in accordance with the provisions 
of 5 U.S.C. Sec. 552, will be available for inspection and copying at 
the Commission's Public Reference Section, 450 Fifth Street, NW., 
Washington, DC 20549. Copies of such filing will also be available for 
inspection and copying at the principal office of the Phlx. All 
submissions should refer to File No. SR-Phlx-91-20 and should be 
submitted by August 5, 1994.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Market Regulation, 
pursuant to delegated authority.
Jonathan G. Katz,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 94-17254 Filed 7-14-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010-01-M