03-30499. Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Upon Written Request, Copies Available From: Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of Filings and Information Services, Washington, DC 20549.

Extension: Rule 11Ac1-1; SEC File No. 270-404; OMB Control No. 3235-0461.

Notice is hereby given that pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) a request for extension of the previously approved collection of information discussed below.

Rule 11Ac1-1, Dissemination of Quotations, contains two related collections of information necessary to disseminate market makers' published quotations to buy and sell securities to the public. The first collection of information is found in Rule 11Ac1-1(c) 17 CFR 11Ac1-1(c). This reporting requirement obligates each “responsible broker or dealer,” as defined under the rule, to communicate to its exchange or association its best bids, best offers, and quotation sizes for any subject security, as defined under the rule. The second collection of information is found in Rule 11Ac1-1(b) 17 CFR 11Ac1-1(b). This reporting requirement obligates each exchange and association to make available to quotation vendors for dissemination to the public the best bid, best offer, and aggregate quotation size for each subject security.^[1] Brokers, dealers, other market participants, and members of the public rely on published quotation information to determine the best price and market for execution of customer orders.

It is anticipated that 721 respondents, consisting of 180 exchange specialists and 541 OTC market makers, will make 246,788,005 total annual responses pursuant to Rule 11Ac1-1, resulting in an annual aggregate burden of approximately 205,486 hours.

Rule 11Ac1-1 does not impose a retention period for any recordkeeping requirements. Compliance with the rule is mandatory and the information collected is made available to the public. Please note that 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.

General comments regarding the estimated burden hours should be directed to the following persons: (i) The Desk Officer for the Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Room 10102, New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20503; and (ii) Kenneth A. Fogash, Acting Associate Executive Director/CIO, Office of Information Technology, Securities and Exchange Commission, 450 Fifth Street, NW., Washington, DC 20549. Comments must be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget within 30 days of this notice.

Dated: December 2, 2003.

Margaret H. McFarland,

Deputy Secretary.

Footnotes

1.  A third requirement under Rule 11Ac1-1, as amended at 17 CFR 11Ac1-1(c)(5), gives electronic communications networks (“ECNs”) the option of reporting to an exchange or association for public dissemination, on behalf of their OTC market maker or exchange specialist customers, the best priced orders and the full size for such orders entered by market makers, to satisfy such market makers' reporting obligation under Rule 11Ac1-1(c). Because this reporting requirement is an alternative method of meeting the market makers' reporting obligation, and because it is directed to nine or fewer persons (ECNs), this collection of information is not subject to OMB review under the Paperwork Reduction Act.