[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 116 (Thursday, June 17, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32560-32561]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-15347]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Upon Written Request, Copies Available From: Securities and 
Exchange Commission, Office of Filings and Information Services, 
Washington, DC 20549.
    Extension:

Rule 11Ac1-1.........................................  SEC File No. 270-404........  OMB Control No. 3235-0461.
Rule 12d2-1..........................................  SEC File No. 270-98.........  OMB Control No. 3235-0081.
Rule 12d2-2..........................................  SEC File No. 270-86.........  OMB Control No. 3235-0080.
 

    Notice is hereby given that pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act 
of 1995 (44 USC 3501 et seq.) the Securities and Exchange Commission 
(``Commission'') is soliciting comments on the collections of 
information summarized below. The Commission plans to submit these 
existing collections of information to the Office of Management and 
Budget for extension and approval.
    Rule 11Ac1-1, Dissemination of Quotations, contains two related 
collections of information necessary to disseminate market markers' 
published quotations to buy and sell securities to the public. The 
first collection of information is found in Rule 11Ac1-1(c), 17 CFR 
240.11Ac1-1(c). This reporting requirement obligates each ``responsible 
broker or dealer,'' as defined under the rule, to communicate to its 
exchange or association its best bids, best offers, and quotation sizes 
for any subject security, as defined under the rule. The second 
collection of information is found in Rule 11Ac1-1(b), 17 CFR 
240.11Ac1-1(b). This reporting requirement obligates each exchange and 
association to make available to quotation vendors for dissemination to 
the public the best bid, best offer, and aggregate quotation size for 
each subject security.\1\ Brokers, dealers, other market participants, 
and members of the public rely on published quotation information to 
determine the best price and market for execution of customer orders.
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    \1\ A third requirement under the Rule 11Ac1-1, as amended at 17 
CFR 11Ac1-1(c)(5), gives electronic communications networks 
(``ECNs'') the option of reporting to an exchange or association for 
public dissemination, on behalf of their OTC market maker or 
exchange specialist customers, the best priced orders and the full 
size for such orders entered by market makers, to satisfy such 
market makers' reporting obligation under Rule 11Ac1-1(c). Because 
this reporting requirement is an alternative method of meeting the 
market makers' reporting obligation, and because it is directed to 
nine or fewer persons (ECNs), this collection of information is not 
subject to OMB review under the Paperwork Reduction Act.
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    It is anticipated that 721 respondents, consisting of 180 exchange 
specialists and 541 OTC market makers, will make 246,788,000 total 
annual responses pursuant to Rule 11Ac1-1, resulting in an annual 
aggregate burden of approximately 205,356 hours.
    Rule 12d2-1 provides the procedures by which a national securities 
exchange may suspend from trading a security that is listed and 
registered on the exchange. Under Rule 12d2-1, an exchange is permitted 
to suspend from trading a listed security in accordance with its rules, 
and must promptly notify the Commission of any such suspension, along 
with the effective date and the reasons for the suspension.
    Any such suspension may be continued until such time as the 
Commission may determine that the suspension is designed to evade the 
provisions of Section 12(d) of the Act and Rule 12d2-1 thereunder.\2\ 
During the continuance of such suspension under Rule 12d2-1, the 
Exchange is required to notify the Commission promptly of any change in 
the reasons for the suspension. Upon the restoration to trading of any 
security suspended under Rule 12d2-1, the exchange must notify the 
Commission promptly of the effective date of such restoration.
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    \2\ Rule 12d2-2 prescribes the circumstances under which a 
security may be delisted, and sets forth the procedures for taking 
such action.
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    Notices of suspension of trading serve a number of purposes. First, 
they inform the Commission that an exchange has suspended from trading 
a listed security or reintroduced into trading a previously suspended 
security. They also provide the Commission with information necessary 
for it to verify that the suspension has been effected in accordance 
with the rules of the exchange, and to determine whether the exchange 
has evaded the requirements of Section 12(d) of the Act and Rule 12d2-2 
thereunder by improperly employing a trading suspension. Without Rule 
12d2-1, the Commission would be unable to fulfill these statutory 
responsibilities.
    There are eight national securities exchanges which are subject to 
Rule 12d2-1. The burden of complying with the rule is not evenly 
distributed among the exchanges, however, since there are many more 
securities listed on the New York Stock Exchange and American Stock 
Exchange than on the other six

[[Page 32561]]

exchanges.\3\ However, for purposes of estimating the overall burden, 
the staff has assumed that the number of responses would be evenly 
distributed among the exchanges. The Commission estimates a total 
annual burden of 48 hours to comply with Rule 12d2-1. This estimate is 
based on eight respondents with 12 responses per year for a total of 96 
responses requiring on average one-half hour per response.
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    \3\ In fact, some exchanges do not file any trading suspension 
reports in a given year.
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    Based on information acquired in an informal survey of the 
exchanges and the staff's experience in administering related rules, 
the Commission staff estimates that the respondents' cost of compliance 
with Rule 12d2-1 may range from less than $25 to as much as $100 per 
response. The staff has computed the average related cost per response 
to be approximately $29, representing one-half reporting hour. The 
estimated total annual related cost of responding to the requirements 
of Rule 12d2-1 is approximately $2,748, i.e., eight exchanges filing 12 
responses at $29 each.
    Rule 12d2-2, Removal from Listing and Registration, 17 CFR 
240.12d2-2, and Form 25, 17 CFR 249.25, were adopted in 1935 and 1952, 
respectively, pursuant to sections 12 and 23 of the Act. Rule 12d2-2 
sets forth the conditions and procedures under which a security may be 
delisted. Rule 12d2-2 also requires, under certain circumstances, that 
an exchange file with the Commission a Form 25 to remove a security 
from listing and registration on the exchange and to serve as 
notification of such delisting. Form 25 provides the Commission with 
the name of the affected security and issuer, the effective date of the 
delisting, and the date and type of event predicating the delisting.
    Delisting notices and applications for delisting serve a number of 
purposes. First, the reports and notices required under paragraphs (a) 
and (b) of Rule 12d2-2 (which do not require Commission action) inform 
the Commission that a security previously traded on an exchange is no 
longer traded there. In addition, the applications for delisting 
required under paragraphs (c) and (d) of the Rule (which require 
Commission approval) provide the Commission with the information 
necessary for it to determine that a delisting has been promulgated in 
accordance with the rules of the exchange, and to determine whether the 
delisting is subject to any terms or conditions necessary for the 
protection of investors. Further, notice of a delisting application 
submitted by an issuer pursuant to subparagraph (d) of Rule 12d2-2 is 
made available to members of the public who may wish to comment or 
submit information to the Commission regarding such application. 
Without Rule 12d2-2 and Form 25, as applicable, the Commission would be 
unable to fulfill these statutory responsibilities.
    There are eight national securities exchanges which are subject to 
Rule 12d2-2 and Form 25. Additionally, any issuer whose security is 
listed on a national securities exchange which seeks to remove such 
security from listing and registration on that exchange would be 
subject to the requirements of subparagraph (d) of Rule 12d2-2. Since 
the reporting hour burdens incurred in responding to the various 
requirements of Rule 12d2-2 and Form 25 are not uniform (it generally 
takes an exchange less time to complete Form 25, when required by 
subparagraph (a) of Rule 12d2-2, than it does to prepare an application 
under subparagraph (c) thereof, for example), the Commission staff has, 
for purposes of its estimation of overall burden, averaged the various 
reporting burdens and then weighted reporting hours by respondent 
group, ascribing proportionately smaller burdens (and related costs) to 
the exchanges, which prepare and file both Forms 25 and applications 
under Rule 12d2-2 in the routine course of business, while ascribing 
greater individual burdens (and related costs) to affected issuers, who 
are subject only to the application requirements of subparagraph (d) of 
Rule 12d2-2 (and not Form 25), though issuers becoming so subject would 
likely only be obligated to respond once.\4\ Finally, although the 
burdens of complying with Rule 12d2-2 and Form 25 are not evenly 
distributed among the exchanges, since there are many more securities 
listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange 
than on the other national securities exchanges, the staff has assumed, 
solely for the purpose of making these estimates, that the number of 
responses would be evenly distributed among the exchanges.
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    \4\ An issuer is only obliged to file an application under Rule 
12d2-2 when it is voluntarily seeking to withdraw its securities 
from listing and registration on an exchange. Teh most common 
situation in which this occurs in when an issuer has listed its 
securities on multiple exchanges and then, in an effort to reduce 
costs and/or market fragmentation attributable to such multiple 
listing, elects to confine listing of securities to the exchange it 
deems to be the primary marketplace.
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    Based on information acquired in an informal survey of the 
exchanges and issuers obligated to respond, and based further on the 
staff's experience in administering related rules, the Commission staff 
estimates that in complying with Rule 12d2-2 and Form 25 all exchanges 
would incur an aggregate reporting hour burden of 350 hours. The 
Commission estimates the costs associated with these burden hours to be 
$20,300 in the aggregate. For issuers obligated to respond to Rule 
12d2-2, the staff estimates it receives approximately 50 responses 
annually from issuers wishing to remove their securities from listing 
and registration on exchanges. Assuming an average of two reporting 
hours per response, the Commission estimates an aggregate annual 
reporting hour burden for those issuers of 100 burden hours, and a 
related aggregate cost of approximately $8,300.
    Written comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the agency, including whether the information will 
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of 
the burden of the collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; and (d) 
ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
respondents, including thorough the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology. Consideration will 
be given to comments and suggestions submitted in writing within 60 
days of this publication.
    Please direct your written comments to Michael E. Bartell, 
Associate Executive Director, Office of Information Technology, 
Securities and Exchange Commission, 450 5th Street, NW Washington, DC 
20549.

    Dated: June 8, 1999.
Margaret H. McFarland,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 99-15347 Filed 6-16-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010-01-M