[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 209 (Monday, October 29, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54326-54327]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-23539]


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COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities Under OMB Review

AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), 
this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) 
abstracted below has been forwarded to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describes the nature of 
the information collection and its expected costs and burden.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before November 28, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect 
of the information collection, including suggestions for reducing the 
burden, may be submitted directly to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in OMB within 30 days of this notice's 
publication by either of the following methods. Please identify the 
comments by ``OMB Control No. 3038-0085.''
     By email addressed to: [email protected] or
     By mail addressed to: The Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention Desk 
Officer for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 725 17th Street 
NW, Washington, DC 20503.
    A copy of all comments submitted to OIRA should be sent to the 
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission) by either of the 
following methods. The copies should refer to ``OMB Control No. 3038-
0085.''
     By mail addressed to: Christopher Kirkpatrick, Secretary 
of the Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three 
Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20581;
     By Hand Delivery/Courier to the same address; or
     Through the Commission's website at http://comments.cftc.gov. Please follow the instructions for submitting 
comments through the website.
    A copy of the supporting statement for the collection of 
information discussed herein may be obtained by visiting http://RegInfo.gov.
    All comments must be submitted in English, or if not, accompanied 
by an English translation. Comments will be posted as received to 
http://www.cftc.gov. You should submit only information that you wish 
to make available publicly. If you wish the Commission to consider 
information that you believe is exempt from disclosure under the 
Freedom of Information Act, a petition for confidential treatment of 
the exempt information may be submitted according to the procedures 
established in Sec.  145.9 of the Commission's regulations.\1\ The 
Commission reserves the right, but shall have no obligation, to review, 
pre-screen, filter, redact, refuse or remove any or all of your 
submission from http://www.cftc.gov that it may deem to be 
inappropriate for publication, such as obscene language. All 
submissions that have been redacted or removed that contain comments on 
the merits of the ICR will be retained in the public comment file and 
will be considered as

[[Page 54327]]

required under the Administrative Procedure Act and other applicable 
laws, and may be accessible under the Freedom of Information Act.
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    \1\ 17 CFR 145.9.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melissa D'Arcy, Special Counsel, 
Division of Clearing and Risk, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 
(202) 418-5086; email: [email protected], and refer to OMB Control No. 
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3038-0085.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Rule 50.50 End-User Notification of Non-Cleared Swap (OMB 
Control No. 3038-0085). This is a request for an extension and revision 
of a currently approved information collection.
    Abstract: The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection 
Act (Dodd-Frank Act) amended Section 2(h)(1) of the Commodity Exchange 
Act (CEA) to provide that it shall be unlawful for any person to engage 
in a swap unless that person submits such swap for clearing to a 
derivatives clearing organization if the swap is required to be 
cleared. However, Section 2(h)(7) of the CEA, as added by the Dodd-
Frank Act, also provides that a swap otherwise subject to the clearing 
requirement is eligible for an elective exception from clearing if one 
party to the swap is not a financial entity, is using swaps to hedge or 
mitigate commercial risk, and notifies the Commission, in a manner set 
forth by the Commission, how it generally meets its financial 
obligations associated with entering into non-cleared swaps (End-User 
Exception).
    The Commission adopted Commission regulation 39.6 to specify 
requirements for electing the End-User Exception, including the 
reporting of certain information to a registered swap data repository 
(SDR) or the Commission. Following the publication of Commission 
regulation 39.6, the Commission recodified it as Commission regulation 
50.50 (17 CFR 50.50). The information reported and collected under 
Commission regulation 50.50 is necessary as part of the overall package 
of swap-related information that must generally be submitted by 
reporting counterparties to SDRs under the Dodd-Frank Act. The 
Commission uses this information to assess and monitor the market 
participants electing the End-User Exception to the swap clearing 
requirement in order to prevent evasion of the clearing requirement.
    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 OMB control number. On August 13, 2018, the Commission 
published in the Federal Register notice of the proposed extension of 
this information collection and provided 60 days for public comment on 
the proposed extension, 83 FR 39991 (60-Day Notice). The Commission 
received one comment on the 60-Day Notice.
    In a comment letter submitted in response to the 60-Day Notice, the 
American Bankers Association (ABA) urged the Commission to amend 
Commission regulation 50.50 with respect to the frequency of the 
reporting requirement.\2\ Currently, end-users electing the exception 
are required to report information to the Commission annually, if not 
more frequently. The ABA requested that the Commission issue a notice 
of proposed rulemaking to consider revising the reporting requirement 
in Commission regulation 50.50(b)(2) to permit end-users to report this 
information less frequently than annually, in certain cases. The ABA's 
request for an amendment to the rule text in Commission regulation 
50.50 is outside the scope of the request for an extension of the 
subject collection. The ABA did not submit any comments to the 
Commission related to the burdens associated with this information 
collection, such as the estimated number of respondents or the 
estimated average burden hours per respondent. Accordingly, the 
Commission continues to believe that the burden estimates published in 
the 60-Day Notice are appropriate.
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    \2\ ABA's comment letter submitted in response to the 60-Day 
Notice, Oct. 12, 2018, available at: https://comments.cftc.gov/PublicComments/ViewComment.aspx?id=61830&SearchText=.
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    Burden Statement: The respondent burden for this collection is 
estimated to be as follows:
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,815.
    Estimated Average Burden Hours per Respondent: 0.58.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,053.\3\
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    \3\ 1815 x .58 hr = 1,052.7, and when rounded up to the next 
whole number equals 1,053 (the estimated total annual burden hours).
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    Frequency of Collection: On occasion; annually.
    There are no capital costs or operating and maintenance costs 
associated with this collection.

    Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.

    Dated: October 24, 2018.
Robert Sidman,
Deputy Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2018-23539 Filed 10-26-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6351-01-P