[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 140 (Friday, July 22, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-17862]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: July 22, 1994]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-34391; File No. S7-8-90]

 

Options Price Reporting Authority; Notice of Filing and Immediate 
Effectiveness of an Amendment to the National market System Plan of 
OPRA Relating to Exemptions form OPRA's Indirect Access Fee for Certain 
Subscribers

July 15, 1994.
    Pursuant to Rule 11Aa3-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(``Act''), notice is hereby given that on June 27, 1994, the Options 
Price Reporting Authority (``OPRA'') submitted to the Securities and 
Exchange Commission (``SEC'' or ``Commission'') an amendment to the 
Plan for Reporting of Consolidated Options Last Sale Reports and 
Quotation Information (``Plan''), exempting from OPRA's Indirect Access 
Fee those subscribers who receive a data feed transmission of options 
market information from an OPRA vendor on a single stand-alone computer 
for the sole purpose of providing a single-screen display of options 
information for the subscriber's own internal use. OPRA has designated 
this proposal as concerned solely with an existing fee, permitting it 
to become effective upon filing, pursuant to Rule 11Aa3-2(c)(3)(ii) 
under the Act. The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit 
comments from interested persons on the amendment.

I. Description and Purpose of the Amendment

    The purpose of the proposed amendment is to respond to recent and 
ongoing changes in computer and communications technology that have 
resulted in an ever greater number of OPRA subscribers choosing to 
receive options information in the form of a bulk data feed 
transmission from a vendor, rather than as a vendor-controlled 
interrogation or display service. At the time the Subscriber Indirect 
Access Fee was first adopted, only a relatively few large subscribers 
received a data feed transmission, usually to serve multiple terminals 
in a network. The Subscribers Indirect Access Fee was intended to 
allocate to these subscribers OPRA's higher administrative costs 
associated with providing access to subscribers whose terminal 
population is not under vendor control. Recent changes in computer and 
communications technology have now made it cost effective for an 
increasing number of smaller OPRA subscribers to access options market 
information by means of vendor-provided, data-feed transmissions 
received on a single computer terminal. Since such single-device data-
feed subscribers do not subject OPRA to the higher costs associated 
with multiple device counts and entitlements, OPRA has determined that 
it would more fairly allocated its costs through the fees charged to 
various categories of users of options market information to exempt 
such single-device data feed subscribers from the Subscriber Indirect 
Access Fee. Such subscribers will continue to be subject to OPRA's 
basic Subscriber Fee, and the Indirect Access Fee will continue to 
apply to multiple terminal users of data feed transmissions.

II. Solicitation of Comments

    Pursuant to Rule 11Aa3-2(c)(3), the amendment is effective upon 
filing with the Commission. The Commission may summarily abrogate the 
amendment within 60 days of its filing and require refiling and 
approval of the amendment by Commission order pursuant to Rule 11Aa3-
2(c)(2), if it appears to the Commission that such action is necessary 
or appropriate in the public interest, for the protection of investors 
and maintenance of fair and orderly markets, to remove impediments to 
and perfect the mechanisms of a National Market System, or otherwise in 
furtherance of the purposes of the Act.
    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 
extension that are filed with Commission, and all written 
communications relating to the proposed extension between the 
Commission and any person, other than those withheld from the public in 
accordance with the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be available for 
inspection and copying in the Commission's Public Reference Room. 
Copies of the filing also will be available at the principal office of 
OPRA. All submissions should refer to File No. S7-8-90 and should be 
submitted by [insert date 21 days from the date of publication].
    For the Commission, by the Division of Market Regulation, pursuant 
to delegated authority, 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(29).
Margaret H. McFarland,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 94-17862 Filed 7-21-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010-01-M