[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 189 (Tuesday, September 30, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56351-56352]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-24748]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Upon Written Request, Copies Available From: Securities and 
Exchange Commission, Office of Filings and Information Services, 450 
Fifth Street, NW., Washington, DC 20549.

Extension

Rule 23c-1 [17 CFR 270.23c-1], SEC File No. 270-253, OMB Control No. 
3235-0260.

    Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), the Securities and Exchange 
Commission (the ``Commission'') has submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget a request for extension of the previously 
approved collection of information discussed below.
    Rule 23c-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, among other 
things, permits a closed-end fund to repurchase its securities for cash 
if in addition to the other requirements set

[[Page 56352]]

forth in the rule: (i) Payment of the purchase price is accompanied or 
preceded by a written confirmation of the purchase; (ii) the asset 
coverage per unit of the security to be purchased is disclosed to the 
seller or his agent; and (iii) if the security is a stock, the fund 
has, within the preceding six months, informed stockholders of its 
intention to purchase stock. The Commission staff estimates that 
approximately 19 closed-end funds rely on rule 23c-1 annually to 
undertake approximately 132 repurchases of their securities. The 
Commission staff estimates that, on average, a fund spends 
approximately 2.5 hours on complying with the paperwork requirements 
listed above each time it undertakes a security repurchase under the 
rule. The total annual burden of the rule's paperwork requirements thus 
is estimated to be 330 hours.
    In addition, the fund must file with the Commission, during the 
first ten days of the calendar month following any month in which a 
purchase permitted by rule 23c-1 occurs, two copies of a report of 
purchases made during the month, together with a copy of any written 
solicitation to purchase securities given by or on behalf of the fund 
to 10 or more persons. The burden associated with filing Form N-23C-1, 
the form for this report, has been addressed in the submission for that 
Form.
    The estimate of average burden hours is made solely for the 
purposes of the Paperwork Reduction Act, and is not derived from a 
comprehensive or even a representative survey or study of the costs of 
Commission rules and forms.
    Complying with the collection of information requirements of the 
rule is mandatory. The filings that the rule requires to be made with 
the Commission are available to the public. An agency may not conduct 
or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of 
information unless it displays a currently valid control number.
    Please direct general comments regarding the above information to 
the following persons: (i) Desk Officer for the Securities and Exchange 
Commission, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of 
Management and Budget, Room 10102, New Executive Office Building, 
Washington, DC 20503; and (ii) Mr. Kenneth A. Fogash, Acting Associate 
Executive Director/CIO, Office of Information Technology, Securities 
and Exchange Commission, 450 Fifth Street, NW., Washington, DC 20549. 
Comments must be submitted to OMB within 30 days of this notice.

    Dated: September 23, 2003.
Margaret H. McFarland,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 03-24748 Filed 9-29-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010-01-P