[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 141 (Monday, July 25, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44159-44160]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-15780]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[SEC File No. 270-464, OMB Control No. 3235-0527]


Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Extension: Rule 7d-2

Upon Written Request, Copies Available From: Securities and Exchange 
Commission, Office of FOIA Services, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 
20549-2736

    Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), the Securities and Exchange 
Commission (the ``Commission'') is soliciting comments on the 
collection of information summarized below. The Commission plans to 
submit this existing collection of information to the Office of 
Management and Budget for extension and approval.
    In Canada, as in the United States, individuals can invest a 
portion of their earnings in tax-deferred retirement savings accounts 
(``Canadian retirement accounts''). These accounts, which operate in a 
manner similar to individual retirement accounts in the United States, 
encourage retirement savings by permitting savings on a tax-deferred 
basis. Individuals who establish Canadian retirement accounts while 
living and working in Canada and who later move to the United States 
(``Canadian-U.S. Participants'' or ``participants'') often continue to 
hold their retirement assets in their Canadian retirement accounts 
rather than prematurely withdrawing (or ``cashing out'') those assets, 
which would result in immediate taxation in Canada.
    Once in the United States, however, these participants historically 
have been unable to manage their Canadian retirement account 
investments. Most investment companies (``funds'') that are ``qualified 
companies'' for Canadian retirement accounts are not registered under 
the U.S. securities laws. Securities of those unregistered funds, 
therefore, generally cannot be publicly offered and sold in the United 
States without violating the registration requirement of the Investment 
Company Act of 1940 (``Investment Company Act'').\1\ As a result of 
this registration requirement, Canadian-U.S. Participants previously 
were not able to purchase or exchange securities for their Canadian 
retirement accounts as needed to meet their changing investment goals 
or income needs.
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 80a. In addition, the offering and selling of 
securities that are not registered pursuant to the Securities Act of 
1933 (``Securities Act'') is generally prohibited by U.S. securities 
laws. 15 U.S.C. 77.
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    The Commission issued a rulemaking in 2000 that enabled Canadian-
U.S. Participants to manage the assets in their Canadian retirement 
accounts by providing relief from the U.S. registration requirements 
for offers of securities of foreign issuers to Canadian-U.S. 
Participants and sales to Canadian retirement accounts.\2\ Rule 7d-2 
under the Investment Company Act \3\ permits foreign funds to offer 
securities to Canadian-U.S. Participants and sell securities to 
Canadian retirement accounts without registering as

[[Page 44160]]

investment companies under the Investment Company Act.
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    \2\ See Offer and Sale of Securities to Canadian Tax-Deferred 
Retirement Savings Accounts, Release Nos. 33-7860, 34-42905, IC-
24491 (June 7, 2000) [65 FR 37672 (June 15, 2000)]. This rulemaking 
also included new rule 237 under the Securities Act, permitting 
securities of foreign issuers to be offered to Canadian-U.S. 
Participants and sold to Canadian retirement accounts without being 
registered under the Securities Act. 17 CFR 230.237.
    \3\ 17 CFR 270.7d-2.
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    Rule 7d-2 contains a ``collection of information'' requirement 
within the meaning of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.\4\ Rule 7d-2 
requires written offering materials for securities offered or sold in 
reliance on that rule to disclose prominently that those securities and 
the fund issuing those securities are not registered with the 
Commission, and that those securities and the fund issuing those 
securities are exempt from registration under U.S. securities laws. 
Rule 7d-2 does not require any documents to be filed with the 
Commission.
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    \4\ 44 U.S.C. 3501-3502.
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    Rule 7d-2 requires written offering documents for securities 
offered or sold in reliance on the rule to disclose prominently that 
the securities are not registered with the Commission and may not be 
offered or sold in the United States unless registered or exempt from 
registration under the U.S. securities laws, and also to disclose 
prominently that the fund that issued the securities is not registered 
with the Commission. The burden under the rule associated with adding 
this disclosure to written offering documents is minimal and is non-
recurring. The foreign issuer, underwriter, or broker-dealer can 
redraft an existing prospectus or other written offering material to 
add this disclosure statement, or may draft a sticker or supplement 
containing this disclosure to be added to existing offering materials. 
In either case, based on discussions with representatives of the 
Canadian fund industry, the staff estimates that it would take an 
average of 10 minutes per document to draft the requisite disclosure 
statement.
    The staff estimates that there are 4,312 publicly offered Canadian 
funds that potentially would rely on the rule to offer securities to 
participants and sell securities to their Canadian retirement accounts 
without registering under the Investment Company Act.\5\ The staff 
estimates that all of these funds have previously relied upon the rule 
and have already made the one-time change to their offering documents 
required to rely on the rule. The staff estimates that 216 (5 percent) 
additional Canadian funds would newly rely on the rule each year to 
offer securities to Canadian-U.S. Participants and sell securities to 
their Canadian retirement accounts, thus incurring the paperwork burden 
required under the rule. The staff estimates that each of those funds, 
on average, distributes 3 different written offering documents 
concerning those securities, for a total of 648 offering documents. The 
staff therefore estimates that 216 respondents would make 648 responses 
by adding the new disclosure statement to 648 written offering 
documents. The staff therefore estimates that the annual burden 
associated with the rule 7d-2 disclosure requirement would be 108 hours 
(648 offering documents x 10 minutes per document). The total annual 
cost of these burden hours is estimated to be $49,140 (108 hours x $455 
per hour of attorney time).\6\
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    \5\ Investment Company Institute, 2021 Investment Company Fact 
Book (2021) at 276, tbl. 66, available at https://www.ici.org/system/files/2021-05/2021_factbook.pdf. Since the last renewal, we 
understand that the Investment Company Institute has changed its 
methodology to enhance the accuracy of how it estimates the number 
of Canadian funds. The estimate used for this renewal reflects this 
change in methodology and the number of estimated Canadian funds has 
increased from the last renewal.
    \6\ The Commission's estimate concerning the wage rate for 
attorney time is based on salary information for the securities 
industry compiled by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets 
Association (``SIFMA''). The $455 per hour figure for an Attorney is 
based on SIFMA's Management & Professional Earnings in the 
Securities Industry 2013, updated for 2022, modified by Commission 
staff to account for an 1800-hour work-year and inflation, and 
multiplied by 5.35 to account for bonuses, firm size, employee 
benefits and overhead. As discussed in footnote 5, since the last 
renewal, we understand that the Investment Company Institute has 
changed its methodology to enhance the accuracy of how it estimates 
the number of Canadian funds. The estimate used for this renewal 
reflects this change in methodology and the hourly burden has 
increased from the last renewal.
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    These burden hour estimates are based upon the Commission staff's 
experience and discussions with the fund industry. The estimates of 
average burden hours are made solely for the purposes of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act. These estimates are not derived from a comprehensive or 
even a representative survey or study of the costs of Commission rules.
    Compliance with the collection of information requirements of the 
rule is mandatory and is necessary to comply with the requirements of 
the rule in general. 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 control number.
    Written comments are invited on: (a) whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the Commission, including whether the information 
shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Commission's 
estimate of the burden of the collection of information; (c) ways to 
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; 
and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
respondents, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology. Consideration will 
be given to comments and suggestions submitted by September 23, 2022.
    An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required 
to respond to, a collection of information under the PRA unless it 
displays a currently valid OMB control number.
    Please direct your written comments to: David Bottom, Acting 
Director/Chief Information Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, 
c/o John Pezzullo, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549 or send an 
email to: [email protected] .

    Dated: July 19, 2022.
J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-15780 Filed 7-22-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P