[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 232 (Wednesday, December 2, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77437-77439]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-26557]


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COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Revised 
Collection, Comment Request: ``Real Time Public Reporting''

AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'' or 
``Commission'') is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the 
revision of an information collection by the agency. Under the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (``PRA''), Federal agencies are 
required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each 
revised collection of information and to allow 60 days for public 
comment. The Commission recently adopted a final rule amending 
requirements for the real-time public reporting and dissemination of 
swap data. This notice solicits additional comments on certain 
estimated costs and burdens associated with the amended requirements.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before February 1, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by ``Real Time Public 
Reporting, OMB Control No. 3038-0070,'' by any of the following 
methods:
     The Agency's website, at http://comments.cftc.gov/. Follow 
the instructions for submitting comments through the website.
     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.
    Please submit your comments using only one method. 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Meghan Tente, Acting Deputy Director, 
Division of Market Oversight, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 
(202) 418-5785, email: [email protected], and refer to OMB Control No. 
3038-0070.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., 
Federal agencies must obtain approval from the Office of Management and 
Budget (``OMB'') for each collection of information they conduct or 
sponsor. ``Collection of Information'' is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) 
and 5 CFR 1320.3 and includes agency requests or requirements that 
members of the public submit reports, keep records, or provide 
information to a third party. Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, 44 
U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A), requires Federal agencies to provide a 60-day 
notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed information 
collection including each proposed revision or extension of an existing 
information collection, before submitting the collection to OMB for 
approval. To comply with this requirement, the CFTC is publishing 
notice of the proposed collection of information listed below. 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.
    Title: Real Time Public Reporting and Block Trades (OMB Control No. 
3038-0070). This is a request for comment on a currently approved 
information collection.
    Abstract: The collection of information is needed to ensure that 
swap data repositories publicly disseminate swap data as required by 
the Commodity Exchange Act, as amended by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street 
Reform and Consumer Protection Act (``Dodd-Frank Act''). The Dodd-Frank 
Act directed the CFTC to adopt rules providing for the real-time public

[[Page 77438]]

reporting and dissemination of swap data and rules for block trades.
    On September 17, 2020, the Commission adopted a rulemaking amending 
its part 43 regulations.\1\ In the release accompanying the Final Rule, 
the Commission included some cost and burden estimates that were not 
included in the Proposal, including changes to some of its previous 
estimates.\2\ The Commission explains these cost and burden estimates 
further below and invites comment on any new or revised estimates.
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    \1\ The Commission proposed the amendments to Part 43 in 
February 2020. Real-Time Public Reporting Requirements, 85 FR 21516 
(Apr. 17, 2020) (the ``Proposal''). The final rule was published in 
the Federal Register on November 25, 2020 (the ``Final Rule'').
    \2\ In the final rule, the Commission revised the information 
collection to reflect the adoption of amendments to part 43, 
including changes to reflect adjustments that were made to the final 
rules in response to comments on the Proposal (not relating to PRA). 
In the Proposal, the Commission omitted the aggregate reporting 
burden for proposed Sec.  43.3 and Sec.  43.4 in the preamble and 
instead provided PRA estimates for all of part 43. In the final 
rule, the Commission included PRA estimates for final Sec.  43.3 and 
Sec.  43.4 which are set forth below. In addition, in the final 
rule, the Commission revised the information collection to include 
burden estimates for one-time costs that SDRs, SEFs, DCMs, and 
reporting counterparties could incur to modify their systems to 
adopt the changes to part 43, as well as burden estimates for these 
entities to perform any annual maintenance or adjustments to 
reporting systems related to the changes. These estimates are also 
set forth below. The Commission did not include PRA estimates for 
all of part 43 in the final rule as the final rule only affects PRA 
estimates for Sec.  43.3 and Sec.  43.4. However, PRA estimates for 
all of part 43 are included in the supporting statement being filed 
with OMB in connection with the final rule.
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1. Amendments to Regulation 43.3

    In the Proposal, the Commission omitted the aggregate reporting 
burden for proposed Sec.  43.3 (as well as Sec.  43.4) and instead 
provided PRA estimates for all of part 43. The Final Rule included the 
estimated aggregate reporting burden for Sec.  43.3 as follows:
    Estimated number of respondents: 1,729 SEFs, DCMs, and reporting 
counterparties.
    Estimated number of reports per respondent: 2,998.
    Average number of hours per report: 0.067.
    Estimated gross annual reporting burden: 725,696.
    Existing Sec.  43.3 requires reporting counterparties to send swap 
reports to swap data repositories (``SDRs'') as soon as technologically 
practicable after execution. The Commission did not include any burden 
estimates in the Proposal related to the modification or maintenance of 
systems in order to be in compliance with the proposed amendments to 
Sec.  43.3.\3\ However, for the Final Rule, the Commission recognized 
certain entities would incur start-up costs to modify their reporting 
systems and operational costs to maintain them going forward to adopt 
the changes to Sec.  43.3 \4\ in the Final Rule, as explained below.
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    \3\ The supporting statement for part 43 submtted for the 
Proposal only showed negative incremental changes in Attachment A 
(e.g., showed a negative adjustment of 30,300 responses and negative 
2,030.10 burden hours).
    \4\ The Commission did not include any burden estimates in the 
final rule related to the modification or maintenance of systems in 
order to be in compliance with the amendments to Sec.  43.4. To 
avoid double-counting, the Commission included the costs associated 
with updates to Sec.  43.4 in the estimates for Sec.  43.3, as they 
would be captured in the costs of updating systems based on the list 
of swap data elements in part 43. As noted above, the Commission is 
soliciting comments on the revised burden estimates for part 43 that 
are being adopted in the final rule.
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    In the Final Rule, the Commission estimated the cost for a 
reporting entity, including designated contracts markets (``DCMs''), 
derivatives clearing organizations (``DCOs''), major swap participants 
(``MSPs''), swap dealers (``SDs''), non-SD/MSP/DCO counterparties, and 
swap execution facilities (``SEFs''), to modify their systems and 
maintain those modifications going forward to adopt the Final Rule 
could range from $24,000 to $74,000 per entity. There are an estimated 
1,732 reporting entities, for a total estimated cost of $84,868,000.\5\ 
As described in the final rule, the estimated cost range is based on a 
number of assumptions that cover tasks required to design, test, and 
implement an updated data system based on the new swap data elements 
contained in part 43.
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    \5\ Based on the Commission's eight years of experience in 
administering the existing-real time reporting regulation, the 
Commission believes that the costs to reporting entities to 
implement the final rule will be on the lower end of the range, 
closer to $24,000 than to $74,000.
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    In the Final Rule, the Commission further estimated that the cost 
for an SDR to modify their systems, including their data reporting, 
ingestion, and validation systems, and maintain those modifications 
going forward may range from $144,000 to $510,000 per SDR. There are 
currently three SDRs, for an estimated total cost of $981,000.\6\
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    \6\ As described in the Final Rule, the estimated cost ranges 
are based on a number of assumptions that cover the set of tasks 
required for the SDR to design, test, and implement an updated data 
system based on the new swap data elements contained in part 43.
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2. Amendments to Regulation 43.4

    In the Final Rule, the Commission estimated that the amendments 
would reduce the number of mirror swaps SDRs would need to publicly 
disseminate by 100 reports per each SDR, for an aggregate burden hour 
reduction of 20.10 hours. In addition, the Commission estimated that 
the aggregate reporting burden total for Sec.  43.4, as adjusted for 
the reduction in reporting by SDRs of mirror swaps, is as follows:
    Estimated number of respondents: 3.
    Estimated number of reports per respondent: 1,499,900.
    Average number of hours per report: 0.009.
    Estimated gross annual reporting burden: 40,497.
    The Commission did not include any burden estimates in the Proposal 
related to the modification or maintenance of systems in order to be in 
compliance with the proposed amendments to Sec.  43.4. To avoid double-
counting, the Commission included the costs associated with updates to 
Sec.  43.4 in the estimates for Sec.  43.3 discussed above, as they 
would be captured in the costs of updating systems based on the list of 
swap data elements in part 43.
    The Commission is soliciting comments on the above burden estimates 
for part 43, including the estimated costs related to the modification 
or maintenance of systems in order to be in compliance with the 
amendments to Sec.  43.3 that are being adopted in the Final Rule, in 
this separate 60-day notice being published in the Federal Register.
    With respect to the collection of information, the Commission 
invites comments on:
     Whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the 
Commission, including whether the information will have a practical 
use;
     The accuracy of the Commission's estimate of the burden of 
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
     Ways to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of 
the information to be collected; and
     Ways to minimize the burden of collection of information 
on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate 
electronic, or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting 
electronic submission of responses.
    You should submit only information that you wish to make available 
publicly. If you wish the CFTC 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

[[Page 77439]]

according to the procedures established in Sec.  145.9 of the CFTC's 
regulations.\7\
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    \7\ 17 CFR 145.9.
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    The CFTC 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 Information Collection Request 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 FOIA.
    Burden Statement: Provisions of CFTC Regulations 43.3, 43.4, and 
43.6 result in information collection requirements within the meaning 
of the PRA. With respect to the ongoing reporting and recordkeeping 
burdens associated with swaps, the CFTC believes that SDs, MSPs, SEFs, 
DCMs, DCOs, and non-SD/MSP/DCO counterparties incur an annual time-
burden of 771,831 hours. This time-burden represents a proportion of 
the burden respondents incur to operate and maintain their swap data 
recordkeeping and reporting systems.
    Respondents/Affected Entities: SDs, MSPs, and other counterparties 
to a swap transaction (i.e., non-SD/MSP/DCO counterparties).
    Estimated number of respondents: 1,732.
    Estimated average burden hours per respondent: 445.
    Estimated total annual burden hours on respondents: 771,831 hours.
    Frequency of collection: Ongoing.
    Capital or Operating and Maintenance Costs: $85,849,000.\8\
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    \8\ In the Proposal, the Commission omitted the aggregate 
reporting burden for proposed Sec.  43.3 and Sec.  43.4 in the 
preamble and instead provided PRA estimates for all of part 43. In 
the final rule, the Commission included PRA estimates for final 
Sec.  43.3 and Sec.  43.4 because these are the only sections of 
part 43 affected by the final rulemaking. Attachment A to the 
supporting statement for the Proposal only showed the changes in the 
burden estimates for Sec.  43.3 and Sec.  43.4 for the Proposal. For 
the Final Rule, the Commission revised Attachment A to the 
supporting statement that was filed with OMB to include aggregate 
burden estimates for all requirements in the collection. The 
estimates in the supporting statements for the Final Rule are 
consistent with the estimates shown in the Burden Statement above 
(e.g., the supporting statement for the Final Rule reflects that 
there are 1,732 respondents and that the total annual number of 
burden hours across all respondents is 771,831.)

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

    Dated: November 27, 2020.
Robert Sidman,
Deputy Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2020-26557 Filed 12-1-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6351-01-P