[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 123 (Wednesday, June 26, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30096-30097]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-13606]


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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 July 26, 2019.

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. 3038-0052.''
     By email addressed to: [email protected]; or
     By mail addressed to: 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 (the Commission) by one of the 
following methods. The copies should refer to ``OMB Control No. 3038-
0052.''
     Through the Commission's website at https://comments.cftc.gov. Please follow the instructions for submitting 
comments through the website;
     By mail addressed to: Christopher Kirkpatrick, Secretary 
of the Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three 
Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20581; or
     By Hand Delivery/Courier to the same address as specified 
for mail.
    Please submit your comments to the Commission using only one 
method. 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 
https://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 (FOIA), 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 https://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 required under applicable laws, and may be 
accessible under the FOIA.
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    \1\ 17 CFR 145.9.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joshua Beale, Associate Director, 
Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight, Commodity Futures 
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Trading Commission, (202) 418-5446; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Core Principles and Other Requirements for Designated 
Contract Markets (OMB Control No. 3038-0052). This is a request for a 
revision of a currently approved information collection.
    Abstract: The Commission has recently amended its Regulation 1.52 
to revise the scope and potential frequency of a third-party expert's 
evaluation of self-regulatory organizations' (SRO) financial 
surveillance programs. The evaluation report requirement is a portion 
of the existing information collection of requirements for SROs under 
Commission Regulation 1.52, including designated contract markets (DCM) 
and the National Futures Association. The Commission's rulemaking will 
not alter the requirement for an SRO to engage an examinations expert 
to evaluate its supervisory program prior to the initial use of the 
supervisory program. The Commission, however, is eliminating the 
requirement that the examinations expert must review the SRO's ongoing 
application of its supervisory program during periodic reviews and the 
analysis of the supervisory program's design to detect material 
weaknesses in internal controls during both periodic reviews and the 
initial review prior to the program's initial use. The Commission also 
is revising the frequency of when an SRO must engage an examinations 
expert. Regulation 1.52 required an SRO to engage an examinations 
expert at least once every three years to perform such a review. The 
Commission amended Regulation 1.52 to require an SRO to engage an 
examinations expert whenever the Public Company Accounting Oversight 
Board (PCAOB) issues new or revised auditing standards that are 
material to the SRO's examination of member futures commission 
merchants (FCM). The amendments further require an SRO to engage an 
examinations expert at least once every five years even if the SRO 
determined that the PCAOB did not issue new or revised auditing 
standards during the previous five-year period that are material to its 
examinations of member FCMs. The changes to the examinations expert 
reviews impact the resulting expert reports information collection 
burden. The information collection is necessary to enhance the ability 
of the Commission and the designated SRO to identify problematic 
financial matters in time to avoid market disruptions when an FCM may 
fail, particularly with respect to the tie-up of customer funds that 
may result.
    The Commission, when originally proposing changes to Regulation 
1.52, invited comments on its assessment that although the costs 
associated with obtaining the third-party expert would be reduced by 
the amendment, the paperwork burden impact of the amended scope of the 
report would be minimal. The Commission received no comments and has 
adopted the final rule. However, the Commission has determined that a 
slight revision of the expected burden hours associated with the 
information collection is possible due to the changes related to the 
third-party examinations expert report.

[[Page 30097]]

Accordingly, the Commission is revising the total burden hours related 
to Regulation 1.52 included in this collection.
    The Commission previously estimated the entire burden hours for 
DCMs as SROs associated with Regulation 1.52 as 50 hours per 
respondent. The revised scope of the third-party evaluation report 
should slightly reduce personnel hours needed to coordinate obtaining 
the report, although most of the burden hours included in this 
collection are associated with other aspects of the financial 
surveillance program requirements. Therefore, the Commission is 
revising the estimate of the burden hours associated with Regulation 
1.52 to be 49 hours per respondent. Additionally, the Commission notes 
that the number of registered, active DCMs has decreased from 15 to 14.
    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 April 3, 2019 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, 84 FR 13008 (``60-Day Notice''). The Commission 
did not receive any relevant comments on the 60-Day Notice.
    Burden Statement: The Commission is revising its estimate of the 
burden for this collection.\2\ The respondent burden for this 
collection is estimated to be as follows:
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    \2\ There are three Information Collection's (ICs) that fall 
within OMB Control No. 3038-0052. The changes in the final rules 
adopted herein only pertain to IC: Enhancing Protections Afforded 
Customers and Customer Funds Held by Futures Commission Merchants 
and Derivatives Clearing Organizations and relate only to amendments 
to Regulation 1.52, which has been reduced by 1 burden hour per 
respondent. Additionally, the number of respondents has decreased 
from 15 to 14.
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    Respondents/Affected Entities: Designated Contract Markets and 
Self-regulatory Organizations.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 14.
    Estimated Average Burden Hours per Respondent: 49.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 686.
    Frequency of Collection: Various.
    The amended regulations require no new startup or operations and 
maintenance costs.

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

    Dated: June 21, 2019.
Christopher Kirkpatrick,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2019-13606 Filed 6-25-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6351-01-P