[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 216 (Wednesday, November 8, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56379-56381]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-27588]



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[[Page 56380]]


SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-36450; International Release No. 878; File No. SR-OPRA-
95-4]


Options Price Reporting Authority; Notice of Filing and Immediate 
Effectiveness of Amendment to OPRA Fee Schedule Establishing Certain 
Fees With Respect to OPRA's Foreign Currency Options Service That Are 
Counterparts to Existing OPRA Fees, and Reducing Certain ``Basic 
Service'' Fees

November 1, 1995.
    Pursuant to Rule 11Aa3-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(``Exchange Act'') notice is hereby given that on October 19, 1995,\1\ 
the Options Price Reporting Authority (``OPRA'') \2\ 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''), establishing certain fees 
with respect to OPRA's foreign currency options (``FCO'') service that 
are counterparts to existing OPRA fees, and reducing certain fees 
applicable to OPRA's basic service. OPRA has designated this proposal 
as establishing or changing a fee or other charge collected on behalf 
of all of the OPRA participants in connection with access to or use of 
OPRA facilities, permitting the proposal to become effective upon 
filing pursuant to Rule 11Aa3-2(c)(3)(i) under the Exchange Act. The 
Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments from 
interested persons on the amendment.

    \1\ The proposed amendment was originally filed on October 5, 
1995, but was subsequently amended to incorporate the usage-based 
fee alternatives proposed in a separate filing (SR-OPRA-95-3). The 
amendment is available for inspection and copying in the 
Commission's Public Reference Room.
    \2\ OPRA is a National Market System Plan approved by the 
Commission pursuant to Section 11A of the Exchange Act and Rule 
11Aa3-2 thereunder. Securities Exchange Act Release No. 17638 (Mar. 
18, 1981).
    The Plan provides for the collection and dissemination of last 
sale and quotation information on options that are traded on the 
five member exchanges. The five exchanges which agreed to the OPRA 
Plan are the American Stock Exchange (``AMEX''); the Chicago Board 
Options Exchange (``CBOE''); the New York Stock Exchange (``NYSE''); 
the Pacific Stock Exchange (``PSE''); and the Philadelphia Stock 
Exchange (``PHLX'').
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I. Description and Purpose of the Amendment

    The purpose of the amendment is to establish a Direct Access Charge 
and a Redistribution Fee (and, under circumstances described below, a 
Pass-Through Fee) with respect to OPRA's FCO service, and to make 
offsetting reductions in these same fees as they apply to OPRA's basic 
service at the time the new FCO fees go into effect. The amendment also 
will establish a new FCO Subscriber Indirect Access Fee, FCO Voice-
Synthesized Market Data Service Fee and FCO Dial-up Market Data Service 
Utilization Fee applicable to the FCO service; these fees will be 
established on the same basis as, but at lower rates than, the 
corresponding fees currently applicable to OPRA's basic service. In 
addition, the amendment will establish zero-based (no charge) fees for 
providers of FCO Radio Paging Services and FCO Back-up Facilities. All 
of the fees will go into effect on January 1, 1996, in accordance with 
the OPRA Plan as amended effective March 14, 1995.
    Currently, all persons who receive options last sale and quotation 
information directly from OPRA's processor must pay a Direct Access 
Charge to OPRA, and all vendors and news services that receive such 
information indirectly from a vendor must pay a Pass-Through Fee to 
OPRA equal in amount to the Direct Access Charge. In a filing still 
pending before the Commission (``Pending Filing''), OPRA is proposing a 
reduction in the amount of the Direct Access Charge, the elimination of 
the Pass-Through Fee, and the establishment of a new Redistribution 
Fee. In the present filing, these three fees have been proposed to 
apply to OPRA's FCO service in both the situation where the Pending 
Filing has been approved by January 1, 1996, as well as the situation 
where the Pending Filing has not been approved by that date. In either 
event, concurrently with the introduction of these new fees, OPRA's 
counterpart basic service fees will be reduced by an amount equal to 
the new FCO fees. OPRA's proposal will not result in an increase in 
these fees, but instead will result in a reallocation of these fees 
between OPRA's basic service and its FCO service. Therefore, on and 
after January 1, 1996, OPRA's Direct Access Charges, Redistribution 
Fees and Pass-Through Fees for its basic service and FCO service, in 
the aggregate, will be the same as the ``bundled'' fees in effect prior 
to that date.
    The amendment also will establish three new fees applicable to the 
FCO service that will be comparable to fees currently applicable to 
OPRA's basic service, but at reduced rates. These fees will be in 
addition to the comparable basic service fees. The FCO Subscriber 
Indirect Access Charge is payable by every subscriber to the FCO 
service that receives an uncontrolled data feed transmission of FCO 
market data from a vendor. This fee does not apply to a subscriber that 
receives a data feed to a single, stand-alone computer for the sole 
purpose of providing a single screen display of FCO data for the 
subscriber's internal use. The FCO Voice-Synthesized Market Data 
Service Fee is a port-based fee applicable to every vendor or 
subscriber that offers a voice synthesized FCO market data service to 
persons that are not required to be approved FCO subscribers. The FCO 
Dial-Up Market Data Service Utilization Fee is a port-based fee 
applicable to every vendor that provides a dial-up FCO market data 
service to a customer's personal computer without requiring the 
customer to be an approved FCO subscriber. As alternatives to these two 
port-based fees, usage-based fees may be elected during a pilot period 
ending December 31, 1996, and thereafter if the pilot is extended or 
made permanent.\3\

    \3\ In a separate proposal, OPRA is proposing the introduction 
of a usage-based alternative to its basic Voice-Synthesized Market 
Data Service Fee for a pilot period ending December 31, 1996, and 
the extension of its pilot for a usage-based basic Dial-Up Market 
Data Service Utilization Fee until this same date. See Securities 
Exchange Act Release No. 36402 (October 20, 1995), 60 FR 54905 
(October 26, 1995).
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    Two other fees that currently apply to OPRA's basic service are 
proposed to be established at a zero rate (no charge) for the FCO 
service; these fees are the Radio Paging Service Fee and the Back-up 
Facility Access Fee. The Radio Paging Service Fee is a device-based fee 
payable by every vendor that offers a radio paging service to persons 
not required to be approved subscribers. The Back-up Facility Access 
Fee is a monthly fee payable by persons who maintain terminals for us 
as back-up facilities during times when the terminals are not being 
used, and is in lieu of regular subscriber device charges for such 
terminals.
    Persons subject to the foregoing fees (including the zero-based 
fees) will be required to sign agreements with OPRA. Such agreements 
will be substantially similar to those currently required to be signed 
with regard to OPRA's basic service.

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 

[[Page 56381]]
Commission that such action is necessary or appropriate in the public 
interest; for the protection of investors and the 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 Exchange 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, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20549. 
Copies of the submission, all subsequent amendments, and 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 
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 offices of OPRA. All submissions should refer to file 
number SR-OPRA-95-4 and should be submitted by November 28, 1995.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Market Regulation, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\4\

    \4\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(29).
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Margaret H. McFarland,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 95-27588 Filed 11-7-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010-01-M