[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 59 (Wednesday, March 26, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16078-16079]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-6124]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-57530; File No. SR-OPRA-2008-01]


Options Price Reporting Authority; Notice of Filing of Proposed 
Amendment to the Plan for Reporting of Consolidated Options Last Sale 
Reports and Quotation Information To Adopt New Form of ``Vendor 
Affiliate Agreement''

March 19, 2008.
    Pursuant to Section 11A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(``Act'') \1\ and Rule 608 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given that 
on March 3, 2008, the Options Price Reporting Authority (``OPRA'') 
submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') an 
amendment to the Plan for Reporting of Consolidated Options Last Sale 
Reports and Quotation Information (``OPRA Plan'').\3\ The proposed OPRA 
Plan amendment would adopt a new form of ``Vendor Affiliate Agreement'' 
that may be used by an affiliate of an OPRA ``Vendor'' that wants also 
to become a Vendor. OPRA's Fee Schedule would be modified to state that 
OPRA will waive its Redistribution Fee for all affiliates in a 
corporate family with which OPRA agrees to Vendor Affiliate Agreements. 
The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments from 
interested persons on the proposed OPRA Plan amendment.
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
    \2\ 17 CFR 242.608.
    \3\ The OPRA Plan is a national market system plan approved by 
the Commission pursuant to Section 11A of the Act and Rule 608 
thereunder (formerly Rule 11Aa3-2). See Securities Exchange Act 
Release No. 17638 (March 18, 1981), 22 S.E.C. Docket 484 (March 31, 
1981). The full text of the OPRA Plan is available at http://www.opradata.com.
    The OPRA Plan provides for the collection and dissemination of 
last sale and quotation information on options that are traded on 
the participant exchanges. The seven participants to the OPRA Plan 
are the American Stock Exchange LLC, the Boston Stock Exchange, 
Inc., the Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated, the 
International Securities Exchange, LLC, the NYSE Arca, Inc., the 
Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Inc., and the NASDAQ Stock Market LLC.
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I. Description and Purpose of the Amendment

    The purpose of the proposed amendment to adopt a new form of 
``Vendor Affiliate Agreement'' that may be used by an affiliate of an 
OPRA ``Vendor'' that wants to also become an OPRA ``Vendor'' and to 
specify in OPRA's Fee Schedule that OPRA will waive its 
``Redistribution Fee'' for affiliates with which OPRA agrees to Vendor 
Affiliate Agreements.
    OPRA's form of Vendor Agreement authorizes only the Vendor itself, 
and not any of its affiliates, to disseminate OPRA Data. As a matter of 
policy, OPRA has permitted Vendors to disseminate OPRA Data through 
wholly-owned subsidiaries. However, OPRA's policy has been not to 
permit Vendors to disseminate OPRA Data through other affiliates that 
have not themselves signed Vendor Agreements with OPRA. Many Vendors 
conduct business through corporate families, for a variety of reasons. 
OPRA requires each OPRA Vendor to pay a monthly ``Redistribution Fee,'' 
\4\ and OPRA has from time to time received requests to alleviate the 
financial consequence that OPRA's current policy imposes on some Vendor 
families.
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    \4\ OPRA's Redistribution Fee is currently $650/month for 
``Internet service only'' Vendors, and $1,500/month for all other 
Vendors.
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    Accordingly, OPRA is proposing to amend its Fee Schedule to provide 
that OPRA will waive its Redistribution Fee for Vendor affiliates that 
themselves become Vendors pursuant to ``Vendor Affiliate Agreements,'' 
and is proposing to adopt a new form of ``Vendor Affiliate Agreement.'' 
In effect, the form of Vendor Affiliate Agreement is a ``short form'' 
Vendor Agreement that can be signed by an additional member of a 
Vendor's corporate family. The proposed form would require the 
additional member of a corporate family to acknowledge that it is 
subject to and bound by the terms of the ``lead'' Vendor's Vendor 
Agreement just as if it had signed the Agreement itself. The proposed 
form is designed so that it can be used by affiliates of a current OPRA 
Vendor without any need for the current Vendor to sign a new Vendor 
Agreement.\5\
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    \5\ However, the current Vendor (or a new ``lead'' Vendor) would 
be required to identify its affiliate(s) that will sign Vendor 
Affiliate Agreements in its ``Description of Vendor's Service''--
Exhibit A to its Vendor Agreement--as in effect from time to time. 
The lead Vendor would also be required to describe the dissemination 
of OPRA Data by such affiliate(s) in its Exhibit A.
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    The text of the proposed amendment to the OPRA Plan and the 
proposed changes to the OPRA Fee Schedule are available at OPRA, the 
Commission's Public Reference Room, and http://opradata.com.

II. Implementation of the OPRA Plan Amendment

    OPRA will begin to use the proposed form of Vendor Affiliate 
Agreement upon its approval by the Commission pursuant to Section 11A 
of the Act \6\ and Rule 608(b)(1) thereunder.\7\
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    \6\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
    \7\ 17 CFR 242.608(b)(1).
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III. Solicitation of Comments

    Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and 
arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed OPRA 
Plan amendment is consistent with the Act. Comments may be submitted by 
any of the following methods:

Electronic Comments

     Use the Commission's Internet comment form (http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml); or
     Send an e-mail to [email protected]. Please include 
File No. SR-;OPRA-2008-01 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

     Send paper comments in triplicate to Nancy M. Morris, 
Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street, NE., 
Washington, DC 20549-1090.

All submissions should refer to File Number SR-OPRA-2008-01. This file 
number should be included on the subject line if e-mail is used. To 
help the Commission process and review your comments more efficiently, 
please use only one method. The Commission will post all comments on 
the Commission's

[[Page 16079]]

Internet Web site (http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the 
submission, all subsequent amendments, all written statements with 
respect to the proposed plan amendment that are filed with the 
Commission, and all written communications relating to the proposed 
plan amendment between the Commission and any person, other than those 
that may be 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, 100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC 
20549, on official business days between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 
p.m. Copies of such filing also will be available for inspection and 
copying at the principal office of OPRA. All comments received will be 
posted without change; the Commission does not edit personal 
identifying information from submissions. You should submit only 
information that you wish to make available publicly. All submissions 
should refer to File Number SR-OPRA-2008-01 and should be submitted on 
or before April 16, 2008.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\8\
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    \8\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(29).
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Florence E. Harmon,
Deputy Secretary.
 [FR Doc. E8-6124 Filed 3-25-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P