[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 167 (Thursday, August 28, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51385-51386]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-20467]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-72902; File No. SR-C2-2014-018]


Self-Regulatory Organizations; C2 Options Exchange, Incorporated; 
Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change 
To Amend the Fees Schedule

August 22, 2014.
    Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(the ``Act''),\1\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given 
that on August 12, 2014, C2 Options Exchange, Incorporated (the 
``Exchange'' or ``C2'') filed with the Securities and Exchange 
Commission (the ``Commission'') the proposed rule change as described 
in Items I, II, and III below, which Items have been prepared by the 
Exchange. The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments 
on the proposed rule change from interested persons.
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
    \2\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
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I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance 
of the Proposed Rule Change

    C2 proposes to make technical amendments to the C2 rules. The text 
of the proposed rule change is available on the Exchange's Web site 
(http://www.c2exchange.com/Legal/), at the Exchange's Office of the 
Secretary, and at the Commission's Public Reference Room.

II. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and 
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change

    In its filing with the Commission, the Exchange included statements 
concerning the purpose of and basis for the proposed rule change and 
discussed any comments it received on the proposed rule change. The 
text of these statements may be examined at the places specified in 
Item IV below. The Exchange has prepared summaries, set forth in 
sections A, B, and C below, of the most significant aspects of such 
statements.

A. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and 
Statutory for, Proposed Rule Change

 1. Purpose
    The Exchange proposes to amend its Fees Schedule. First, the 
Exchange proposes to amend a sentence in its Fees Schedule that reads: 
``After three months, all fees as assessed by the Exchange are 
considered final by the Exchange.'' The purpose of this statement is to 
encourage Permit Holders to promptly review their Exchange invoices so 
that any disputed charges can be addressed in a timely manner. The 
Exchange notes that this sentence is not intended to preclude the 
Exchange from assessing fees more than three months after they were 
incurred. Indeed, the Exchange is required to enforce compliance by its 
Permit Holders and persons associated with its Permit Holders the rules 
of the Exchange, including its Fees Schedule.\3\ As such, the Exchange 
must ensure that it assesses the fees set forth in its Fees Schedule so 
long as the fee(s) were required to be paid pursuant to the C2 Fees 
Schedule in effect at the time the fees were incurred, even if the 
Exchange must assess the fees more than three months after they have 
been incurred. The Exchange believes it would be beneficial to make 
this clear in the Fees Schedule and provide further clarifying language 
regarding the finality of fees. Specifically, the Exchange seeks to 
amend this sentence to state ``Any potential billing errors relating to 
fees assessed by C2 must be brought to the attention of C2's Accounting 
Department within three months from the invoice date. All fees assessed 
shall be deemed final and non-refundable after three months from the 
invoice. The Exchange is not precluded from assessing fees more than 
three months after they were incurred if those fees were required to be 
paid pursuant to the C2 Fees Schedule in effect at the time the fees 
were incurred.'' The Exchange notes that this has always been the case, 
and the clarification is simply reflecting how the current language of 
the C2 Fees Schedule applies. The Exchange also notes that its practice 
is to assess fees in a timely manner at the time such fees are 
incurred. However, the Exchange requires the ability to assess any fee 
upon discovering an error regardless of how much time has passed since 
the fee was incurred.
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    \3\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(1).
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    The Exchange next proposes to make an amendment to the Connectivity 
Charges table. Currently, the Exchange charges Permit Holders a $500 
per month Network Access Port fee for 1-gigabit (``1 Gbps'') network 
access connectivity and $1,000 per month for 10 Gbps network 
connectivity. The Network Access Ports provide direct access to C2's 
trading system. Network Access Ports are used to receive unicast (i.e., 
orders and quotes) and multicast (i.e., market data) traffic. The 
Exchange notes that a 1 Gbps port may receive both unicast and 
multicast traffic, whereas a 10 Gbps port may only receive either 
multicast or unicast traffic. The Exchange seeks to clarify that the 
Network Access Port fee is assessed separately for unicast and 
multicast connectivity. Accordingly, if a Permit Holder has 1 Gbps 
connectivity and receives both unicast and multicast traffic through a 
single port, the Permit Holder would be charged $1,000 dollars per 
month (i.e., $500 per month for unicast connectivity and $500 per month 
for multicast connectivity). Similarly, if a Permit Holder has one 1 
Gbps Network Access Port for unicast connectivity only and another 1 
Gbps Network Access Port for multicast connectivity only, the Permit 
Holder would be charged $1,000 dollars per month (i.e. $500 per month 
for each port). As noted above, a single 10-Gbps Network Access Port 
cannot receive both unicast and multicast traffic. Accordingly, if a 
Permit Holder wants a 10 Gbps connection, in order to receive both 
traffic types the Permit Holder would need to purchase two 10 Gbps 
Network Access Ports (i.e., one to be used for multicast connectivity 
and one to be used for unicast activity) and would therefore be charged 
$2,000 per month (i.e., $1,000 per month for each port).
2. Statutory Basis
    The Exchange believes the proposed rule change is consistent with 
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the ``Act'') and the rules and 
regulations thereunder applicable to the Exchange and, in particular, 
the requirements of

[[Page 51386]]

Section 6(b) of the Act.\4\ Specifically, the Exchange believes the 
proposed rule change is consistent with the Section 6(b)(5) \5\ 
requirements that the rules of an exchange be designed to prevent 
fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices, to promote just and 
equitable principles of trade, to foster cooperation and coordination 
with persons engaged in regulating, clearing, settling, processing 
information with respect to, and facilitating transactions in 
securities, to remove impediments to and perfect the mechanism of a 
free and open market and a national market system, and, in general, to 
protect investors and the public interest. Additionally, the Exchange 
believes the proposed rule change is consistent with the Section 
6(b)(5) \6\ requirement that the rules of an exchange not be designed 
to permit unfair discrimination between customers, issuers, brokers, or 
dealers. The Exchange also believes the proposed rule change is 
consistent with Section 6(b)(4) of the Act,\7\ which provides that 
Exchange rules may provide for the equitable allocation of reasonable 
dues, fees, and other charges among its Permit Holders.
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    \4\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
    \5\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
    \6\ Id.
    \7\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4).
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    In particular, the Exchange believes that the proposed 
clarifications to the Fees Schedule will make the Fees Schedule easier 
to read and alleviate potential confusion. The alleviation of potential 
confusion will remove impediments to and perfect the mechanism of a 
free and open market and a national market system, and, in general, 
protect investors and the public interest. Specifically, the Exchange 
believes its amendments to the statement ``After three months, all fees 
as assessed by the Exchange are considered final by the Exchange'' 
provides further clarification as to the finality of assessed fees and 
prevents potential confusion as to whether or not the Exchange may 
assess fees more than three months after they were incurred.
    The Exchange also believes that the proposed change to specify that 
separate Network Access Fees are assessed for unicast and multicast 
connectivity also alleviates potential confusion regarding how the 
Network Access Fee is assessed, thereby removing impediments to and 
perfecting the mechanism of a free and open market and a national 
market system, and, in general, protect investors and the public 
interest. The Exchange believes the proposed rule change is reasonable 
because the amount assessed for unicast connectivity and multicast 
connectivity to Permit Holders using a 1 Gbps Network Access Port is 
the same. Additionally, the Exchange believes this change is equitable 
and not unfairly discriminatory because it will apply to all TPHs who 
use a 1-Gbps Network Access Port equally. The Exchange notes that 
whether a Permit Holder receives unicast and multicast connectivity via 
a single 1-Gbps Network Access Port, two separate 1-Gbps Network Access 
Ports or two separate 10-Gbps Network Access Ports, in each instance, 
the Permit Holder would be charged for each type of access regardless 
of how many physical ports they use.

B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on Burden on 
Competition

    The Exchange does not believe that the proposed rule change will 
impose any burden on competition that is not necessary or appropriate 
in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. The proposed changes to 
alleviate confusion are not intended for competitive reasons and only 
apply to C2.

C. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on the Proposed 
Rule Change Received From Members, Participants or Others

    The Exchange neither solicited nor received comments on the 
proposed rule change.

III. Date of Effectiveness of the Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 
Commission Action

    The foregoing rule change has become effective pursuant to Section 
19(b)(3)(A) of the Act \8\ and paragraph (f) of Rule 19b-4 \9\ 
thereunder. At any time within 60 days of the filing of the proposed 
rule change, the Commission summarily may temporarily suspend such rule 
change if it appears to the Commission that such action is necessary or 
appropriate in the public interest, for the protection of investors, or 
otherwise in furtherance of the purposes of the Act. If the Commission 
takes such action, the Commission will institute proceedings to 
determine whether the proposed rule change should be approved or 
disapproved.
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    \8\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
    \9\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4(f).
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    Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views and 
arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed rule 
change 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 Number SR-C2-2014-018 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-C2-2014-018. 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 rule change that are 
filed with the Commission, and all written communications relating to 
the proposed rule change 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 the Exchange. 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-C2-2014-018 and should be 
submitted on or before September 18, 2014.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\10\
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    \10\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).
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Kevin M. O'Neill,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014-20467 Filed 8-27-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P