[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 203 (Tuesday, October 20, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66539-66541]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-23168]


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COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities: Notice of Intent To 
Revise Collection, Comment Request: Adoption of Revised Notice of 
Exemption

AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) 
abstracted below has been forward to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), of 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 burdens.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before November 18, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be submitted within 30 days of this 
notice's publication to OIRA, at https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Please find this particular information collection by 
selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' 
or by using the website's search function. Comments can be entered 
electronically by clicking on the ``comment'' button next to the 
information collection on the ``OIRA Information Collections Under 
Review'' page, or the ``View ICR--Agency Submission'' page. A copy of 
the supporting statement for the collection of information discussed 
herein may be obtained by visiting https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
    In addition to the submission of comments to https://Reginfo.gov as 
indicated above, a copy of all comments submitted to OIRA may also be 
submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the 
``Commission'' or ``CFTC'') by clicking on the ``Submit Comment'' box 
next to the descriptive entry for OMB Control No. 3038-0005, at https://comments.cftc.gov/FederalRegister/PublicInfo.aspx.
    Or by either of the following methods:
     Mail: Christopher Kirkpatrick, Secretary of the 
Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three Lafayette 
Centre, 1155 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20581.
     Hand Delivery/Courier: Same as Mail above.
    All comments must be submitted in English, or if not, accompanied 
by an English translation. Comments submitted to the Commission should 
include 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 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

[[Page 66540]]

ICR will be retained in the public comment file and will be considered 
as 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: Joshua Sterling, Director, (202) 418-
6700, [email protected]; Amanda Olear, Deputy Director, (202) 418-
5283, [email protected]; or Elizabeth Groover, Special Counsel, (202) 
418-5985, [email protected], Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary 
Oversight, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 1155 21st Street NW, 
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Washington, DC 20581.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Titles: Rules Relating to the Operations and Activities of 
Commodity Pool Operators and Commodity Trading Advisors and to Monthly 
Reporting by Futures Commission Merchants (OMB control number 3038-
0005). This is a request for extension and revision of this currently 
approved information collection.
    Abstract: In Amendments to Registration and Compliance Requirements 
for Commodity Pool Operators and Commodity Trading Advisors: 
Prohibiting Exemptions under Regulation 4.13 on Behalf of Persons 
Subject to Certain Statutory Disqualifications, 85 FR 40877 (July 8, 
2020), the Commission recently revised the notice of exemption required 
by Commission regulation 4.13(b)(1) of any person who desires to claim 
the relief from CPO registration.\2\ Separately, in Agency Information 
Activities: Notice of Intent to Revise Collection 3038-0005, Adoption 
of Revised Notice of Exemption Under Regulation 4.13(b)(1), 85 FR 47359 
(Aug. 5, 2020) (60-Day Notice), the Commission addressed the PRA 
implications of revising the notice filing required by Commission 
regulation 4.13(b)(1).\3\ The various collections of information 
required by part 4 of the Commission's regulations, including that 
notice filing, were previously approved by OMB in accordance with the 
PRA and assigned OMB control number 3038-0005. The Commission offers 
the following summary of the revision to the notice and the resulting 
estimated impact on existing burden hour estimates associated with this 
information collection.
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    \2\ Amendments to Registration and Compliance Requirements for 
Commodity Pool Operators and Commodity Trading Advisors: Prohibiting 
Exemptions under Regulation 4.13 on Behalf of Persons Subject to 
Certain Statutory Disqualifications, 85 FR 40877 (July 8, 2020) 
(Statutory Disqualifications Final Rule), amending 17 CFR 
4.13(b)(1).
    \3\ Agency Information Activities: Notice of Intent to Revise 
Collection 3038-0005, Adoption of Revised Notice of Exemption Under 
Regulation 4.13(b)(1), 85 FR 47359 (Aug. 5, 2020) (60-Day Notice).
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Revision to the Notice of Exemption

    On June 4, 2020, the Commission revised Commission regulation 
4.13(b)(1) by adding a representation to the notice already required to 
be electronically filed with the Commission by persons claiming an 
exemption from CPO registration thereunder.\4\ With that amendment, the 
Commission is requiring persons filing a notice of exemption thereunder 
to also represent that neither the person nor any of its principals has 
in its background a statutory disqualification listed in section 8a(2) 
of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA or Act) that would require 
disclosure, if the person sought registration. Subject to one limited 
exception, the amended regulation provides that a person who has, or 
whose principals have, in their backgrounds a statutory 
disqualification under CEA section 8a(2) will generally be prohibited 
from claiming an exemption from CPO registration under Commission 
regulation 4.13. The Commission intended this amendment to eliminate 
the inconsistent treatment of exempt CPOs as compared to registered 
CPOs (and the principals thereof), whereby certain persons could avoid 
the CEA's basic conduct requirements established for all persons 
registering as intermediaries with the Commission by claiming an 
exemption from CPO registration instead. Ultimately, the Commission's 
stated purpose in adopting this amendment was to improve the customer 
protection and general investor confidence experienced by exempt pool 
participants.
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    \4\ Statutory Disqualifications Final Rule, 85 FR at 40890.
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    The Commission noted in the Statutory Disqualifications Final Rule 
that the amendment in its proposed form had not implicated an 
additional or existing collection of information, and thus, the 
proposed regulation was not considered in the PRA context.\5\ Because 
the Statutory Disqualifications Final Rule resulted in a representation 
being added to the existing notice filing in Commission regulation 
4.13(b), the Commission determined that this amendment constitutes the 
modification of an existing information collection; as such, the PRA 
implications of the revised notice filing were considered separately in 
the 60-Day Notice.\6\
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    \5\ Statutory Disqualifications Final Rule, 85 FR at 40887.
    \6\ 60-Day Notice, 85 FR at 47360-61.
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    By adding this representation to the notice of exemption from CPO 
registration required by Commission regulation 4.13(b)(1), the 
Commission recognizes that the existing information collection burden 
for that notice, currently estimated at 0.1 hours, is expected to 
increase. The Commission estimates that this amendment would add a 
total of 0.2 burden hours to the information collection burdens 
currently estimated for the notice of exemption under Commission 
regulation 4.13(b)(1), for an aggregate total of 0.3 burden hours. 
Additionally, the Commission estimates that currently, approximately 
8,600 respondents would claim an exemption via the notice filing in 
Commission regulation 4.13(b)(1).

Comments

    In the 60-Day Notice, the Commission provided 60 days for public 
comment on the extension and revision of the currently approved 
information collection under OMB control number 3038-0005, including 
its estimates, restated above, regarding the impact of the revised 
notice filing on the burdens associated with Commission regulation 
4.13(b)(1) and the number of expected respondents under that 
regulation. The Commission did not receive any comments that addressed 
any of its estimates or any other aspect of the information collection.
    Burden Statement: As explained above, the Commission believes that 
the addition of a representation to the notice of exemption required by 
Commission regulation 4.13(b)(1) will increase the information 
collection burden associated with that notice under OMB control number 
3038-0005.
     OMB control number 3038-0005:
    The Commission estimates that as a result of revising the notice of 
exemption under Commission regulation 4.13(b)(1), the burden of the 
collection of information under OMB control number 3038-0005 \7\ would 
be as follows:
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    \7\ OMB control number 3038-0005 currently covers two separate 
Information Collections (``IC''): (1) Part-4 Commodity Pool 
Operators and Commodity Trading Advisors IC, and (2) Commodity Pool 
Operator Annual Report IC. The estimates in this notice reflect 
changes specifically made by the Statutory Disqualifications Final 
Rule to the Part-4 Commodity Pool Operators and Commodity Trading 
Advisors IC, for which the current active information collection 
estimates of 43,397 respondents and 354,333 burden hours were 
approved by OMB on March 6, 2020 (ICR Reference No. 201912-3038-
001). The aggregate burden for OMB control number 3038-0005 may be 
further impacted by a separate rulemaking, Amendments to Compliance 
Requirements for Commodity Pool Operators on Form CPO-PQR, published 
in the Federal Register, 85 FR 26378 (May 4, 2020). Neither the 
Statutory Disqualification Final Rule nor the Form CPO-PQR 
rulemaking impact the estimates of the Commodity Pool Operator 
Annual Report IC, which remain the same.

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[[Page 66541]]

    Respondents/Affected Entities: (1) All persons filing a notice of 
exemption as required by Commission regulation 4.13(b)(1) for the 
purpose of claiming relief from CPO registration, and (2) all 
principals of such persons.
    Estimated number of respondents: 8,600.
    Estimated number of exempt pools/reports per respondent: 3.
    Estimated total annual burden on respondents: 8,600 hours.\8\
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    \8\ The burden hour per response is 0.3 burden hour for an 
aggregate total of 0.9 burden hour for all three responses per 
respondent. This estimate has been rounded up to 1 burden hour for 
all three responses per respondent.
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    Frequency of collection: 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 15, 2020.
Robert Sidman,
Deputy Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2020-23168 Filed 10-19-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6351-01-P