2019-13669. 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 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, 2019.

ADDRESSES:

Comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of the information collection, including suggestions for reducing the burden, may be submitted directly to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in OMB within 30 days of this notice's publication by either of the following methods. Please identify the comments by “OMB Control No. 3038-0009.”

• By email addressed to: [e-mail]; or
• By mail addressed to: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503.

A copy of all comments submitted to OIRA should be sent to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the Commission) by one of the following methods. The copies should refer to “OMB Control No. 3038-0009.”

• Through the Commission's website at https://comments.cftc.gov. Please follow the instructions for submitting comments through the website;
• By mail addressed to: Christopher Kirkpatrick, Secretary of the Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20581; or
• By Hand Delivery/Courier to the same address as specified for mail.

Please submit your comments to the Commission using only one method. A copy of the supporting statement for the collection of information discussed herein may be obtained by visiting http://RegInfo.gov.

All comments must be submitted in English, or if not, accompanied by an English translation. Comments will be posted as received to https://www.cftc.gov. You should submit 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 (FOIA), a petition for confidential treatment of the exempt information may be submitted according to the procedures established in § 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 applicable laws, and may be accessible under the FOIA.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jonathan Lave, Associate Director, Division of Market Oversight, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, [phone]; email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Large Trader Reports (OMB Control No. 3038-0009). This is a request for extension of a currently approved information collection.

Abstract: The reporting rules covered by OMB control number 3038-0009 (“the Collection”) are structured to ensure that the Commission receives adequate information to carry out its market and financial surveillance programs. The market surveillance programs analyze market information to detect and prevent market disruptions and enforce speculative position limits. The financial surveillance programs combine market information with financial data to assess the financial risks presented by large customer positions to Commission registrants and clearing organizations.

The reporting rules are implemented by the Commission partly pursuant to the authority of sections 4a, 4c(b), 4g, and 4i of the Commodity Exchange Act (“the Act”). Section 4a of the Act permits the Commission to set, approve exchange-set, and enforce speculative position limits. Section 4c(b) of the Act gives the Commission plenary authority to regulate transactions that involve commodity options. Section 4g of the Act imposes reporting and recordkeeping obligations on registered entities and registrants (including futures commission merchants (FCMs), introducing brokers, floor brokers, or floor traders), and requires each registrant to file such reports as the Commission may require on proprietary and customer positions executed on any board of trade in the United States or elsewhere. Lastly, section 4i of the Act requires the filing of such reports as the Commission may require when positions made or obtained on designated contract markets or derivatives transaction execution facilities equal or exceed Commission-set levels.

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 9, 2019, 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, 84 FR 14097 (“60-Day Notice”). The Commission did not receive any relevant comments on the 60-Day Notice.

Burden Statement: The respondent burden for this collection is estimated to be 0.26 hour per response, on average. These estimates include the time to locate the information related to the exemptions and to file necessary exemption paperwork. There are approximately 74,418 responses annually, thus the estimated total annual burden on respondents is 19,676 hours.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 480.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 19,676 hours.

Frequency of Collection: Periodically.

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, 2019.

Christopher Kirkpatrick,

Secretary of the Commission.

Footnotes

1.  17 CFR 145.9.