[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 159 (Monday, August 18, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48780-48782]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-19480]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-72824; File No. SR-OPRA-2014-03]


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 Amend OPRA's Definition of the 
Term ``Nonprofessional''

August 12, 2014.
    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 11, 2014, 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 
amendment revises definition of the term ``Nonprofessional.'' 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 twelve participants to 
the OPRA Plan are BATS Exchange, Inc., BOX Options Exchange, LLC, 
Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated, C2 Options Exchange, 
Incorporated, International Securities Exchange, LLC, Miami 
International Securities Exchange, LLC, NASDAQ OMX BX, Inc., NASDAQ 
OMX PHLX LLC, NASDAQ Stock Market LLC, NYSE MKT LLC, NYSE Arca, 
Inc., and the Topaz Exchange, LLC (d/b/a ISE Gemini).
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I. Description and Purpose of the Plan Amendment

    The purpose of the proposed amendment is to revise OPRA's 
definition of the term ``Nonprofessional.''

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    A person may become an OPRA ``Subscriber'' in one of two ways.\4\ 
The first way is that the person may sign a ``Professional Subscriber 
Agreement'' directly with OPRA. In this case, the person pays fees 
directly to OPRA on the basis of the number of the person's ``devices'' 
and/or ``UserIDs.''
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    \4\ OPRA defines a ``Subscriber,'' in general, as an entity or 
person that receives OPRA Data for the person's own use.
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    The second way is that the person may enter into a ``Subscriber 
Agreement,'' not directly with OPRA, but with an OPRA ``Vendor''--an 
entity that has entered into a ``Vendor Agreement'' with OPRA 
authorizing the entity to redistribute OPRA Data to third persons. In 
this case, OPRA collects fees from the Vendor with respect to the 
receipt of the OPRA Data by the person entering into the Subscriber 
Agreement. If the person qualifies as a ``Nonprofessional Subscriber,'' 
OPRA caps the fee that it charges the Vendor, and the fees that the 
person is required to pay to the Vendor may be less than they would be 
if the person is classified as a ``Professional Subscriber.'' \5\
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    \5\ OPRA's Fee Schedule provides that a Vendor may determine the 
fee that it pays with respect to its distribution of current OPRA 
data to a Nonprofessional Subscriber in one of two ways: Either the 
Vendor may pay OPRA's flat monthly Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee 
(currently $1.25/month), or the Vendor may count the Nonprofessional 
Subscriber's queries for OPRA data and pay Usage-based Vendor Fees 
based on the actual usage of OPRA data by the Nonprofessional 
Subscriber, subject to a cap that OPRA has always set at the amount 
of the flat Nonprofessional Subscriber Fee.
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    OPRA's definition of the term ``Nonprofessional'' is set out in an 
``Addendum for Nonprofessionals'' that is attached to its Electronic 
Form of Subscriber Agreement and its Hardcopy Form of Subscriber 
Agreement. These two forms, in turn, are Attachments B-1 and B-2 to 
OPRA's form of Vendor Agreement.\6\
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    \6\ These forms are posted on OPRA's Web site, www.opradata.com. 
OPRA most recently amended its Electronic Form of Subscriber 
Agreement and its Hardcopy Form of Subscriber Agreement in File No. 
SR-OPRA-2012-03; Release No. 34-67589 (August 2, 2012).
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    Paragraph (c) of OPRA's current definition of the term 
``Nonprofessional'' specifies that to qualify as a ``Nonprofessional'' 
a person must not be: ``(i) Registered or qualified with the Securities 
and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, 
any state securities agency, any securities exchange/association, or 
any commodities/futures contract market/association, (ii) engaged as an 
``investment adviser,'' as that term is defined in the Investment 
Advisers Act of 1940 (whether or not registered or qualified under that 
Act); or (iii) employed by a bank or other organization exempt from 
registration under Federal and/or state securities laws to perform 
functions that would require you to be so registered or qualified if 
you were to perform such functions for an organization not so exempt.'' 
A narrow literal reading of this language could lead to the conclusion 
that a person who works outside of the United States as (for example) a 
securities broker could qualify as a ``Nonprofessional,'' because the 
person is not literally described by clauses (i), (ii) or (iii) of 
Paragraph (c).
    OPRA is not aware of any instances in which an OPRA Vendor has 
determined that Subscribers who work outside the United States qualify 
to be Nonprofessional Subscribers on the basis of reading the 
definition of the term ``Nonprofessional'' in this manner.\7\ However, 
OPRA believes that it is appropriate to modify the language to prevent 
this reading. OPRA proposes to accomplish this, essentially, by adding 
a phrase at the beginning of Paragraph (c) to say that the current 
language is applicable to persons who work in the United States and 
adding a sentence to Paragraph (c) to say that ``For a natural person 
who works outside of the United States, a `Professional' is a natural 
person who performs the same functions as someone who would be 
considered a `Professional' in the United States.'' OPRA believes that 
the changes that it is proposing in its definition of the term 
``Nonprofessional'' will add clarity to the definition and make clear 
that it is intended to generate equivalent results both inside and 
outside the United States.
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    \7\ OPRA is aware that the definition of the term 
``Nonprofessional Subscriber'' used by the Consolidated Tape 
Association (``CTA''), which is substantively identical to OPRA's 
definition in almost all respects, prevents a similar literal 
reading of its definition.
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    The text of the proposed amendment to the OPRA Plan is available at 
OPRA, the Commission's Public Reference Room, http://opradata.com, and 
on the Commission's Web site at www.sec.gov.

II. Implementation of the OPRA Plan Amendment

    OPRA is proposing to post revised versions of its Electronic Form 
of Subscriber Agreement and its Hardcopy Form of Subscriber Agreement 
on its Web site, and to require Vendors to use the revised versions on 
a going-forward basis, as soon as this filing has been approved by the 
Commission in accordance with paragraph (b)(1) of Rule 608 of 
Regulation NMS under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. If OPRA 
becomes aware that a Vendor has been misclassifying Subscribers who 
work outside the United States as Nonprofessional Subscribers on the 
basis of a literal reading of the current language of the Addendum for 
Nonprofessionals, OPRA will bring the matter to the attention of the 
Vendor and require the Vendor to use the revised Subscriber Agreements 
and to reclassify the affected Subscribers.

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 email to [email protected]. Please include 
File No. SR-OPRA-2014-03 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

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

All submissions should refer to File Number SR-OPRA-2014-03. This file 
number should be included on the subject line if email 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 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 Web site 
viewing and printing in the Commission's Public Reference Room, 100 F 
Street NE., Washington, DC 20549, on official business days between the 
hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 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

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information that you wish to make available publicly. All submissions 
should refer to File Number SR-OPRA-2014-03 and should be submitted on 
or before September 8, 2014.

    By the Commission.
Kevin M. O'Neill,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014-19480 Filed 8-15-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P