06-7999. 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 27f-1 and Form N-27F-1; SEC File No. 270-487; OMB Control No. 3235-0546.

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.

Section 27(f) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (“Act”) (15 U.S.C. 80a-27(f)) provides that “[w]ith respect to any periodic payment plan (other than a plan under which the amount of sales load deducted from any payment thereon does not exceed 9 per centum of such payment), the custodian bank for such plan shall mail to each certificate holder, within sixty days after the issuance of the certificate, a statement of charges to be deducted from the projected payments on the certificate and a notice of his right of withdrawal as specified in this section.”

Section 27(f) authorizes the Commission to “make rules specifying the method, form, and contents of the notice required by this subsection.” Rule 27f-1 (17 CFR 270.27f-1) under the Act, entitled “Notice of Right of Withdrawal Required to be Mailed to Periodic Payment Plan Certificate Holders and Exemption from Section 27(f) for Certain Periodic Payment Plan Certificates,” provides instructions for the delivery of the notice required by section 27(f).

Rule 27f-1(d) prescribes Form N-27F-1 (17 CFR 274.127f-1), which sets forth the language that custodian banks for periodic payment plans must use in informing certificate holders of their withdrawal right pursuant to section 27(f). The instructions to the form provide that the notice must be on the sender's letterhead. The Commission does not receive a copy of the Form N-27F-1 notice.

The Form N-27F-1 notice informs certificate holders of their rights in connection with the certificates they hold. Specifically, it is intended to encourage new purchasers of plan certificates to reassess the costs and benefits of their investment and to provide them with an opportunity to recover their initial investment without penalty. The disclosure assists certificate holders in making careful and fully informed decisions about whether to invest in periodic payment plan certificates.

The frequency with which each of these issuers or their representatives must file Form N-27F-1 notices varies with the number of periodic payment plans sold. Commission staff spoke with representatives of a number of firms in the industry that currently have periodic payment plan accounts. Based upon these conversations, the staff estimates that 3 issuers of periodic payment plan certificates send out an aggregate of approximately 535 notices per year. The staff further estimates that all the issuers that send Form N-27F-1 notices use outside contractors to print and distribute the notices, and incur no hourly burden. The estimate of annual burden hours is made solely for the purposes of the Paperwork Reduction Act, and is not derived from a comprehensive or even a representative survey or study of the costs of Commission rules and forms.

Complying with the collection of information requirements of Rule 27f-1 is mandatory for custodian banks of periodic payment plans for which the sales load deducted from any payment exceeds 9 percent of the payment.^[1] The information provided pursuant to Rule 27f-1 will be provided to third parties and, therefore, will not be kept confidential. The Commission is seeking OMB approval, because 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 above information should be directed to the following persons: (i) 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 or by e-mail to: [e-mail]; and (ii) R. Corey Booth, Director/Chief Information Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, c/o Shirley Martinson, 6432 General Green Way, Alexandria, Virginia 22312, or by e-mail to: [e-mail]. Comments must be submitted to OMB within 30 days of this notice.

Dated: September 11, 2006.

Jill M. Peterson,

Assistant Secretary.

Footnotes

1.  The rule also permits the issuer, its principal underwriter, its depositor, or its record-keeping agent to mail the notice if the custodian bank has delegated the mailing of the notice to any of them or if the issuer has been permitted to operate without a custodian bank by Commission order. See 17 CFR 270.27f-1.