03-19729. Proposed Collection; Comment Request

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

Extension:

Rule 11a-2; SEC File No. 270-267; OMB Control No. 3235-0272.

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”) is soliciting comments on the collection of information summarized below. The Commission plans to submit to the Office of Management and Budget a request for an extension of the previously approved collection of information discussed below.

The title for the collection of information is “Rule 11a-2 Under the Investment Company Act of 1940: Offers of Exchange by Certain Registered Separate Accounts or Others the Terms of Which Do Not Require Prior Commission Approval.”

Rule 11a-2 [17 CFR 270.11a-2] permits certain registered insurance company separate accounts, subject to certain conditions, to make exchange offers without prior approval by the Commission of the terms of those offers. Rule 11a-2 requires disclosure, in certain registration statements filed pursuant to the 1933 Act, of any administrative fee or sales load imposed in connection with an exchange offer.

There are currently 711 registrants governed by Rule 11a-2. The Commission includes the estimated burden of complying with the information collection required by Rule 11a-2 in the total number of burden hours estimated for completing the relevant registration statements and reports the burden of Rule 11a-2 in the separate PRA submissions for those registration statements (see the separate PRA submissions for Form N-3 [17 CFR 274.11b], Form N-4 [17 CFR 274.11c] and Form N-6 [17 CFR 274.11d]). The Commission is requesting a burden of one hour for Rule 11a-2 for administrative purposes.

The estimate of average 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 or forms. With regard to Rule 11a-2, the Commission includes the estimate of burden hours in the total number of burden hours estimated for completing the relevant registration statements and reported on the separate PRA submissions for those statements (see the separate PRA submissions for Form N-3, Form N-4 and Form N-6).

The information collection requirements imposed by Rule 11a-2 are mandatory. Responses to the collection of information will not be kept confidential. 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.

Written comments are invited on: (a) Whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including whether the information has practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Commission's estimate of the burden of the collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions submitted in writing within 60 days of this publication.

Please direct your written comments to Kenneth A. Fogash, Acting Associate Executive Director/CIO, Office of Information Technology, Securities and Exchange Commission, 450 5th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20549.

Dated: July 24, 2003.

Margaret H. McFarland,

Deputy Secretary.