[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 93 (Wednesday, May 14, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 26384-26386]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-12687]


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COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION

17 CFR Parts 1, 5 and 31


Fees for Applications for Contract Market Designation, Leverage 
Commodity Registration and Registered Futures Association and Exchange 
Rule Enforcement and Financial Reviews

AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading Commission

ACTION: Final schedule of fees.

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SUMMARY: The Commission periodically adjusts fees charged for certain 
program services to assure that they accurately reflect current 
Commission costs. In this regard, the staff recently reviewed the 
Commission's actual costs of processing applications for contract 
market designation (17 CFR part 5, appendix B), audits of leverage 
transaction merchants (17 CFR part 31, appendix B) and registered 
futures association and exchange rule enforcement and financial reviews 
(17 CFR part 1, appendix B). The following fee schedule for fiscal year 
1997 reflects the average annual actual costs to the Commission of 
providing those services during fiscal years 1994, 1995 and 1996. 
Accordingly, the Commission will charge the following fees: 
Applications for contract market designation for a futures contract 
will be maintained at $8,300; contract market designation for an option 
contract will be reduced from $1,800 to $1,700; contract markets that 
simultaneously submit designation applications for a futures and an 
option on that futures contract will be reduced from a combined fee of 
$9,200 for both to $9,000 for both; and leverage commodity registration 
will be maintained at $4,500. In addition, the Commission is publishing 
the schedule of fees for registered futures association and exchange 
rule enforcement and financial reviews.


[[Page 26385]]


DATES: Effective: Contract Market Designation and Leverage Commodity 
Registration May 14, 1997.
    Registered Futures Association and Exchange Rule Enforcement and 
Financial Reviews are due July 14, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gerald P. Smith, SpecialAssistant to 
the Executive Director, Office of the ExecutiveDirector, Commodity 
Futures Trading Commission, Three LafayetteCentre, 1155 21st Street, 
NW., Washington, DC 20581, telephone number 202-418-5160.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Commission periodically reviews the 
actual costs of providing services for which fees are charged and 
adjusts these fees accordingly. In connection with its most recent 
review, the Commission has determined that fees for contract market 
designations should be adjusted. Also, this release announces the 
fiscal year 1997 schedule of fees for registered futures association 
and exchange rule enforcement and financial reviews and maintains 
leverage commodity registration fees.

Background Information

I. Computation of Fees

    The Commission has established fees for certain activities and 
functions performed by the Commission.\1\ In calculating the actual 
cost of processing applications for contract market designation, 
registering leverage commodities, and performing registered futures 
association and exchange rule enforcement and financial reviews, the 
Commission takes into account personnel costs (direct costs), and 
benefits and administrative costs (overhead costs).
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    \1\ See section 237 of the Futures Trading Act of 1982 (7 U.S.C. 
16a) and 31 U.S.C. 9701. For a broader discussion of the history of 
Commission fees, see 52 FR 46070 (Dec. 4, 1987).
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    The Commission first determines personnel costs by extracting data 
from the agency's Management Accounting Structured Code (MASC) system. 
Employees of the Commission record the time spent on each project under 
the MASC system. The Commission then adds an overhead factor that is 
made up of two components--benefits and general and administrative 
costs. Benefits, which include retirement, insurance and leave, are 
based on a government-wide standard established by the Office of 
Management and Budget in Circular A-76. General and administrative 
costs include the Commission's costs for space, equipment, utilities, 
etc. These general and administrative costs are derived by computing 
the percentage of Commission appropriations spent on these non-
personnel items. The overhead calculations fluctuate slightly due to 
changes in government-wide benefits and the percentage of Commission 
appropriations applied to non-personnel costs from year to year. The 
actual overhead factor for prior fiscal years were 95% in 1994, 92% in 
1995 and 98% in 1996.
    Once the total personnel costs for each fee item (contract market 
designation, rule enforcement review, etc.) have been determined for 
each year the overhead factor is applied and the costs for fiscal years 
1994, 1995 and 1996 are averaged. This results in a calculation of the 
average annual cost over the three-year period.

II. Applications for Contract Market Designation

    On August 23, 1983 the Commission established a fee for Contract 
Market Designation. 48 FR 38214. This fee was based upon a three-year 
moving average of the actual costs expended and the number of contracts 
reviewed during that period of time. The fee charged was reviewed again 
in fiscal year 1985 and every year thereafter to determine the fee for 
the current year. In fiscal year 1985 the overwhelming majority of 
designation applications was for futures contracts as opposed to option 
contracts. Therefore, the proposed fee covered both futures and option 
designation applications. In fiscal 1992 the Commission reviewed its 
data on the actual costs for reviewing designation applications for 
both futures and option contracts and determined that the cost of 
reviewing a futures contract designation application was much higher 
than the cost of reviewing an option contract. It also determined that, 
when designation applications for both a futures contract and an option 
on that futures contract are submitted simultaneously, the cost for 
review of the option contract designation application was even lower 
than the individual cost of reviewing the futures contract plus the 
option contract.
    The Commission staff reviewed the actual costs of processing 
applications for contract market designation for a futures contract for 
fiscal years 1994, 1995 and 1996 and found that the average cost over 
the three year period was $8,368. The review of actual cost of 
processing applications for contract market designation for an option 
contract for fiscal years 1994, 1995 and 1996 revealed that the average 
costs over the same three year period was $1,795. Accordingly, the 
Commission has determined that the fee for applications for contract 
market designation for a futures contract will be maintained at $8,300 
and the fee for applications for contract market designation as an 
option contract will be reduced to $1,700 in accordance with the 
Commission's regulations (17 CFR part 5, appendix B). In addition, the 
combined fee for contract markets simultaneously submitting designation 
applications for a futures contract and an option contract on that 
futures contract will be reduced to $9,000.
    On March 7, 1997, the Commission published final rules in the 
Federal Register, 62 FR 10434, which revised the procedures for review 
and approval of applications for Contract Market Designation. The 
effect of these rules on the assessment of fees for designation will be 
realized in future years.

III. Leverage Commodity Registration

    No new applications for leverage commodity registration were 
received by the Commission in fiscal years 1994, 1995 or 1996. 
Accordingly, the Commission will maintain the present fee of $4,500 for 
leverage commodity registration.

IV. Registered Futures Association and Exchange Rule Enforcement and 
Financial Reviews

    Under the formula adopted in 1993 (58 FR 42643, August 11, 1993, 
which appears in 17 CFR part 1, appendix B), the Commission calculates 
the rule enforcement and financial review fees based on its actual 
costs, as well as actual exchange trading volume. The formula for 
calculating the rule enforcement and financial review fee is 0.5a+0.5vt 
= current fee. In the formula, ``a'' equals the average annual costs, 
``v'' equals the percentage of total volume across exchanges over the 
last three years and ``t'' equals the average annual cost for all 
exchanges.
    To determine the fee, first the staff calculates actual costs for 
the last three fiscal years. The average annual costs for that time 
period for rule enforcement reviews and financial reviews for each 
exchange are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          FY 1994-1996  
                                                         average annual 
                       Exchange                         costs for review
                                                            services    
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chicago Board of Trade................................       $264,818.49
Chicago Mercantile Exchange...........................        230,131.08
New York Mercantile/COMEX Exchange....................        216,924.81
Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange......................         91,248.09
New York Cotton/New York Futures Exchange.............         86,629.94
Kansas City Board of Trade............................         17,754.39

[[Page 26386]]

                                                                        
Minneapolis Grain Exchange............................         29,728.52
Philadelphia Board of Trade...........................          2,893.69
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    Total.............................................        940,159.01
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    Second, the staff calculates the trading volume for the past three 
fiscal years to determine the cumulative volume for each exchange and 
its percentage of total volume across all exchanges during that same 
period. The trading volume figures for that period are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              Percentage
                                               FY 1994-1996    of total 
                  Exchange                      cumulative      volume  
                                                volume (of    across all
                                                contracts)     exchanges
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chicago Board of Trade......................     657,641,820     43.5642
Chicago Mercantile Exchange.................     561,261,279     37.1797
New York Mercantile/COMEX Exchange..........     228,952,651     15.1665
Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange............      35,326,602      2.3401
New York Cotton/New York Futures Exchange...      17,810,325      1.1798
Kansas City Board of Trade..................       5,665,084      0.3753
Minneapolis Grain Exchange..................       2,810,771      0.1862
Philadelphia Board of Trade.................         123,281      0.0082
                                             ---------------------------
    Total...................................   1,509,591,813      100.00
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    Finally, the staff calculates the current fees by applying the 
appropriate exchange data to the formula. The following is an example 
of how the rule enforcement and financial review fees for exchanges are 
calculated.

    Example: The Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGE) average annual 
cost is $29,728.52 and its percentage of total volume over the last 
three years is 0.1862. The annual average total cost for all 
exchanges during that same time period is $940,159.01. As a result, 
the MGE fee for fiscal 1997 is:

(.5)($29,728.52)+(.5) (.001862)($940,159.01) = current fee or 
$14,864.26+$856.85=$15,721.11

    As stated in 1993 when the formula was adopted, if the calculated 
fee using this formula is higher than actual costs, the exchange pays 
actual costs. If the calculated fee using the formula is less than 
actual costs then the exchange pays the calculated fee. No exchange 
will pay more than actual costs. Also, if an exchange has no volume 
over the three-year period it pays a flat 50% of actual costs.
    The National Futures Association (NFA) is a registered futures 
association which is responsible for regulating the practices of its 
members. In its oversight role, the Commission performs rule 
enforcement and financial reviews of the NFA. The Commission's average 
annual cost for reviewing the National Futures Association during 
fiscal years 1994 through 1996 is $308,107.27. The National Futures 
Association will continue to be charged 100% of its actual costs.
    Based upon this formula the fees for all of the exchanges and the 
NFA for fiscal 1997 are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       Exchange                            FY 1997 fee  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chicago Board of Trade................................       $264,818.49
Chicago Mercantile Exchange...........................        230,161.08
New York Mercantile/COMEX Exchange....................        178,257.22
Coffee Sugar and Cocoa Exchange.......................         56,393.14
New York Cotton/New York Futures Exchange.............         48,744.34
Kansas City Board of Trade............................         10,604.16
Minneapolis Grain Exchange............................         15,721.11
Philadelphia Board of Trade...........................          1,484.42
NFA...................................................        308,107.27
                                                       -----------------
    Total.............................................      1,114,291.23
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V. Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The Regulatory Flexibility Act (``RFA''), 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq., 
requires agencies to consider the impact of rules on small businesses. 
The fees implemented in this release affect contract markets (also 
referred to as ``exchanges'') and registered futures associations. The 
Commission has previously determined that contract markets are not 
``small entities'' for purposes of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 
U.S.C. 601 et seq., 47 FR 18618 (April 30, 1982). Registered futures 
associations also are not considered ``small entities'' by the 
Commission. Therefore, the requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility 
Act do not apply to contract markets or registered futures 
associations. Accordingly, the Chairperson, on behalf of the 
Commission, certifies that the fees implemented herein do not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
* * * * *
    Issued in Washington, DC on May 8, 1997, by the Commission.
Jean A. Webb,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 97-12687 Filed 5-13-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6351-01-P