[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 121 (Monday, June 26, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41389-41390]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-13527]


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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 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 burden.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before July 26, 2023.

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. 3038-0090, 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 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: Lee McFarland, Attorney Advisor, 
Market Participants Division, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 
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(202) 418-5368, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Adaptation of Regulations to Incorporate Swaps--Records of 
Transactions; Exclusion of Utility Operations Related Swaps with 
Utility Special Entities from De minimis Threshold for Swaps with 
Special Entities (OMB Control No. 3038-0090). This is a request for 
extension of a currently approved information collection.
    Abstract: Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and 
Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act, Pub. L. 111-203, 124 Stat. 
1376 (2010)) amended the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) to establish a 
comprehensive new statutory framework for swaps. These amendments 
required the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``the Commission'') 
to amend several of its regulations to implement the new framework. The 
information collection obligations imposed by the ``Adaptation of 
Regulations to Incorporate Swaps'' final regulations \2\ remain 
necessary to implement section 721 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which amended 
the definitions of futures commission merchant (``FCM'') and 
introducing broker (``IB'') to permit these intermediaries to trade 
swaps on behalf of customers. They also are necessary to implement 
section 733 of the Dodd-Frank Act which introduced swap execution 
facilities (``SEFs'') as a new trading platform for swaps. As a result 
of the enactment of sections 721 and 733, the Commission needed to 
amend certain recordkeeping regulations (Sec. Sec.  1.31, 1.33, 1.35, 
1.37, and 1.39) so that records of swap transactions are maintained 
analogously to how futures transactions are maintained.
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    \2\ Adaptation of Regulations to Incorporate Swaps, 77 FR 66288 
(Nov. 2, 2012).
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    Further, the ``Exclusion of Utility Operations-Related Swaps With 
Utility Special Entities from De Minimis Threshold for Swaps With 
Special Entities'' \3\ regulation amended the Commission's swap dealer 
definition to permit a person to exclude ``utility operations-related 
swaps'' with ``utility special entities'' in their de minimis threshold 
calculations. The regulation requires a person claiming the exclusion 
to maintain, in accordance with Commission regulation 1.31, any written 
representations that the person receives from utility special entities 
related to this exclusion.
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    \3\ Exclusion of Utility Operations-Related Swaps with Utility 
Special Entities from De Minimis Threshold for Swaps with Special 
Entities, 79 FR 57767 (Sept. 26, 2014).
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    The information collection burdens associated with these 
regulations (collectively, the ``Swap Recordkeeping Requirements'') are 
restricted to the costs associated with the recordkeeping and reporting 
requirements that these regulations impose upon affected registrants, 
registered entities, those registered entities' members, and other 
respondents covered by the final rules.
    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 14, 2023, the Commission 
published in the Federal Register notice of the proposed

[[Page 41390]]

extension of this information collection and provided 60 days for 
public comment on the proposed extension, 88 FR 23011. The Commission 
received two comments. Commenter Bill Gilbert expressed support for 
transparent reporting of swaps and data in the financial industry, and 
urges the Commission to continue to take steps to ensure data access 
for retail investors.\4\ Commenter Michael Gilbert submitted a similar 
comment also supporting enhanced swap data reporting for the benefit of 
retail investors.\5\ The Commission prioritizes improved access to 
swaps data for retail investors, and considers a renewal of this 
collection to be consistent with that priority.
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    \4\ Comment of Bill Gilbert, received April 16, 2023.
    \5\ Comment of Michael Gilbert, received April 16, 2023.
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    Burden Statement: The Commission is revising its estimate of the 
burden for this collection for futures commission merchants, retail 
foreign exchange dealers, introducing brokers, and members of 
designated contract markets and swap execution facilities. The 
respondent burden for this collection is estimated to be as follows: 
\6\
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    \6\ These estimates represent the aggregate burden for all data 
associated with the Swap Recordkeeping Requirements in the 
collection, namely Swap Recordkeeping (Regulation 1.35), Swap 
Confirmations (Regulation 1.33), and Utility Special Entities 
(Regulation 1.3). Please refer to the supporting statement for 
further explanation of burdens associated with each regulatory 
requirement.
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    Estimated Number of Respondents: 13,598.\7\
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    \7\ This number is derived from combining the estimated number 
of FCMs (60), IBs (974), RFEDs (4), DCM members (11,500), and SEF 
members (1,000) as of March 31, 2020. The Commission acknowledges 
that some entities may be double-counted in this estimate. For 
example, an FCM may be a member of a SEF.
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    Estimated Annual Burden Hours per Respondent: 148.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 2,018,728.
    Frequency of Collection: As needed.
    There are no capital costs or operating and maintenance costs 
associated with this collection.

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

    Dated: June 21, 2023.
Robert Sidman,
Deputy Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2023-13527 Filed 6-23-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6351-01-P