Form 18.SupportingStatement.2012

SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR FORM 18

A.

JUSTIFICATION
1.

Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

The Commission has exercised its authority under Section 12(b) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 to establish Form 18, a registration statement that can be used by a
foreign government or political subdivision to list securities on a U.S. exchange. Form
18 elicits the disclosure of material information concerning, among other things, a
description of the securities being listed, external and internal debt, receipts and
expenditures, foreign exchange reserves, imports and exports, and balance of payments.
A copy of the issuer’s latest annual budget is required to be filed as well
2.

Purposes and Use of the Information Collection

The principal function of Commission forms and rules under the securities laws
disclosure provisions is to make information required to be filed with the Commission
permits verification of compliance with securities law requirements and assures the
public availability and dissemination of such information. Private contractors reproduce
much of the filed information, and provide it to private parties; and many other persons
obtain information directly from the Commission’s public files. Thus, information on
Form 18 can be, and is, used by security holders, investors, brokers, dealers, investment
banking firms and others. In addition, all investors benefit indirectly from submissions
on Form 18, as direct users effect transactions in securities on the basis of current
information about the issuer’s business and operations included in such filings, thereby
causing the market prices of the securities to reflect such information.
3.

Consideration Given to Information Technology

Form 18 is filed electronically on the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and
Retrieval (EDGAR) system.
4.

Duplication of Information

Form 18 permits foreign government issuers to avoid unnecessary duplication and
relies on foreign disclosure laws by allowing incorporation by reference to their annual
budgets. Annual budgets, for several reasons are not substitutes for Form 18. First, the
annual budgets, unlike filings on Form 18, are not deemed to be filed with the
Commission for purposes of liability for misleading statements under Section 18 of the
Exchange Act. Second, annual budgets may not be available to all persons in the U.S.
potentially interested in purchasing securities of the issuer. Third, annual budgets serve
different purposes from Form 18 and thus contain information that is not necessarily

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meaningful for investor decisions in the secondary market. Finally, Form 18 is necessary
to ensure the disclosure of certain key information.
5.

Reducing the Burden on Small Entities
Not applicable.

6.

Consequences of Not Conducting Collection

Form 18 is required to be filed once. Thereafter, Form 18-K is required to be filed
on an annual basis after the completion of the issuer’s fiscal year. Any less frequent filing
would render performance comparisons meaningless, and deprive investors of the
information protection of the Exchange Act.
7.

Special Circumstances
Not applicable.

8.

Consultations with Persons Outside the Agency

Before being adopted, Form 18 was proposed for public comment. No comments
were received on this request during the 60-day comment period prior to OMB’s review.
9.

Payment or Gift to Respondents
Not applicable.

10.

Confidentiality
Form 18 is a public document.

11.

Sensitive Questions
Not applicable.

12.

Estimate of Respondent Reporting Burden

Form 18 takes approximately 8 hours to prepare and is filed by approximately 5
respondents per year for annual reporting burden of 40 hours (8 hours x 5 responses). We
believe that the foreign government issuer would prepare Form 18. The estimate of
burden hours is made solely for the purpose of the Paperwork Reduction Act. It is not
derived from a comprehensive or even a representative survey or study of the cost of
Commission rules and forms.

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13.

Estimate of Total Annualized Cost Burden
Not applicable.

14.

Costs to Federal Government

Regarding costs to the federal government, during the last fiscal year, the
Commission’s operational cost of reviewing and processing filings on Form 18 was
approximately $340.00
15.

Reason for Change in Burden
Not applicable.

16.

Information Collection Planned for Statistical Purposes
Not applicable.

17.

Approval to Omit OMB Expiration Date

We request authorization to omit the expiration date on the electronic version of
this form for design and scheduling reasons. The OMB control number will be displayed.
18.

Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions
Not applicable.

B.

STATISTICAL METHODS
Not applicable.