[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 125 (Friday, June 28, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53967-53969]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-14250]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities Under OMB Review

AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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 29, 2024.

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. 3038-0095, 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, prescreen,

[[Page 53968]]

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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ 17 CFR 145.9.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jason Smith, Assistant Chief Counsel, 
Division of Market Oversight, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 
(202) 418-5698; email: [email protected], and refer to OMB Control No. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3038-0095.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Large Trader Reporting for Physical Commodity Swaps (OMB 
Control No. 3038-0095). This is a request for extension of a currently 
approved information collection.
    Abstract: Part 20 of the Commission's regulations (``Reporting 
Rules'') requires clearing organizations and any persons that are 
``reporting entities'' to file swaps position data with the Commission. 
The Reporting Rules require each clearing organization to submit 
clearing member reports to the Commission. The Reporting Rules also 
require each reporting entity to submit position reports to the 
Commission that indicate the reporting entity's principal and 
counterparty positions in cleared and uncleared physical commodity 
swaps. Reporting entities are persons that are either ``clearing 
members'' or ``swap dealers'' that are otherwise not clearing members. 
For purposes of part 20, reporting parties are required to submit data 
on positions on a futures equivalent basis so as to allow the 
Commission to assess a trader's market impact across differently 
structured but linked derivatives instruments and markets. This renewal 
updates the total requested burden based on available reported data.
    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 March 18, 2024, 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, 89 FR 19298 (``60-Day Notice''). The Commission 
received three relevant comment letters on the 60-Day Notice,\2\ which 
are discussed below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ The following entities submitted a relevant comment letter: 
The Futures Industry Association, Inc. (``FIA'') collectively with 
the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (``ISDA'') 
(collectively, ``FIA-ISDA''), BP Energy Company (``BPEC''), and The 
Commercial Energy Working Group (the ``Working Group'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    First, the commenters argued that the Commission should sunset the 
Reporting Rules. BPEC and the Working Group asserted that swap data 
repositories (``SDRs'') collect and submit data to the Commission that 
duplicates data derived by the Reporting Rules.\3\ FIA-ISDA stated that 
SDRs collect open commodity swap position data from reporting parties, 
and asserted that because SDRs submit open swaps data in the same 
format, the Commission should be able to aggregate the open swap 
positions of all swap market participants in a way that allows the 
Commission to surveil trading in the physical commodity swap and 
swaptions markets.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ BPEC at 2; Working Group at 1.
    \4\ FIA-ISDA at 3.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Under the Reporting Rules' sunset provision, the Commission may 
``sunset'' the reporting rules upon the issuance of an order containing 
a Commission finding that SDRs are processing positional data in a way 
that enables effective surveillance of trading in paired swaps and 
swaptions and paired swap and swaption markets.\5\ The Commission has 
not, however, issued an order with such a finding. At the time of 
adoption, the Commission determined that the Reporting Rules are 
necessary notwithstanding the possibility that SDRs could later be used 
to generate positional data.\6\ The Commission has continued to 
recognize that large trader reporting is critical to the Commission's 
mission.\7\ Moreover, the Commission notes that there are differences 
in data reported pursuant to the Reporting Rules and the SDR commodity 
open swaps reports, including, as one example, the reporting in futures 
contracts equivalents under the Reporting Rules. In addition, commodity 
products reporting is not currently standardized in all aspects across 
SDRs.\8\ Nonetheless, the Commission will continue to evaluate the 
Reporting Rules and the Commission may address the sunset comments at a 
later date. If the Commission were to seek to sunset the Reporting 
Rules, such sunset would occur through Commission action by way of an 
order as contemplated by Commission regulation 20.9, and not through 
the present PRA renewal.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \5\ See 17 CFR 20.9(a).
    \6\ Large Trader Reporting for Physical Commodity Swaps, 76 FR 
43851 at 43858.
    \7\ See, e.g., In the Matter of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (Sept. 
27, 2016) (noting that large trader reporting ``is critical to the 
mission of the Commission for numerous reasons, including 
surveillance of the markets to detect disruptions to market 
integrity, enforcement and calculating statistics that the 
Commission publishes to enhance market transparency'').
    \8\ See Swap Data Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements, 
Final Rule, 85 FR 75503, 75540 (Nov. 2020).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In addition, FIA-ISDA commented on the burden part 20 imposes on 
market participants and the Commission. FIA-ISDA asserted that the 
Commission's estimated average burden per respondent of 14.33 hours 
underestimates the burden because the Swaps LTR Guidebook ``takes many 
hours'' to understand and ``[i]dentifying in-scope swaps, calculating 
futures equivalent quantities, programing IT systems, verifying the 
accuracy of data inputs and outputs, and submitting and correcting 
reports takes each reporting party hundreds of manhours.'' \9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \9\ FIA-ISDA at 3 n.13; see also BPEC at 4 (asserting that ``LTR 
reporting is a significant burden on industry'' without providing 
quantitative data on reporting burden).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    For the reasons described below, the Commission has determined to 
retain the burden hour estimates described in the 60-Day Notice. The 
Commission's burden estimates were calculated during the 2011 
rulemaking that issued the Large Trader Reporting Rules and were 
subject to comment.\10\ The estimate of 14.33 hours per respondent is 
an annual average, and these burden estimates (and the accompanying 
cost-benefit analysis during the original rulemaking) accounted for 
upfront costs.\11\ Moreover, these burden estimates have been reviewed 
and updated through PRA renewals at various points since 2011. The 
commenters have not provided specific hours estimates regarding the 
burden associated with reporting under the rule. In the absence of 
specific data showing how the Commission's burden estimates should be 
changed, and in light of cost having been included in the Commission's 
prior upfront cost analyses, the Commission has determined to retain 
its existing burden hour estimates. Although the Commission is not 
revising it burden estimates here, it will continue to evaluate its 
burden estimates and may revise them in the future, as appropriate.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \10\ Large Trader Reporting for Physical Commodity Swaps, 76 FR 
43851 at 43860 (Both FIA and the Working Group submitted comments 
during that rulemaking process).
    \11\ Id.at 43854, 43859-60.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Burden Statement: The Commission is revising its estimate of the 
burden for this collection. The respondent burden

[[Page 53969]]

for this collection is estimated to be as follows:
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 3,654.
    Estimated Total Annual Number of Responses (Reporting and 
Recordkeeping): 33,325.
    Estimated Average Burden Hours per Respondent: 14.33.
    Estimated Average Annual Burden Hours per Response: 1.57.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 52,366.
    Frequency of Collection: Daily; On Occasion.
    The Commission estimates that the annualized capital and start-up 
and operational and maintenance costs associated with this collection 
total is $33,895,705.
    Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.

    Dated: June 25, 2024.
Robert Sidman,
Deputy Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2024-14250 Filed 6-27-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6351-01-P