60 Day Notice

Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 172 / Thursday, September 7, 2023 / Notices
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
by November 6, 2023.
An agency may not conduct or
sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information
under the PRA unless it displays a
currently valid OMB control number.
Please direct your written comments
to: David Bottom, Acting Director/Chief
Information Officer, Securities and
Exchange Commission, c/o John
Pezzullo, 100 F Street, NE Washington,
DC 20549 or send an email to: PRA_
Mailbox@sec.gov.
Dated: August 31, 2023.
Sherry R. Haywood,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023–19248 Filed 9–6–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[SEC File No. 270–238, OMB Control No.
3235–0214]

ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1

Proposed Collection; Comment
Request; Extension: Rule 17a–7
Upon Written Request, Copies Available
From: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of FOIA Services,
100 F Street NE, Washington, DC
20549–2736.
Notice is hereby given that, pursuant
to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501–3520), the Securities
and Exchange Commission
(‘‘Commission’’) is soliciting comments
on the collections of information
summarized below. The Commission
plans to submit the existing collection
of information to the Office of
Management and Budget for extension
and approval.
Rule 17a–7 (17 CFR 270.17a–7) (the
‘‘rule’’) under the Investment Company
Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a–1 et seq.)
(the ‘‘Act’’) is entitled ‘‘Exemption of
certain purchase or sale transactions
between an investment company and
certain affiliated persons thereof.’’ It
provides an exemption from section
17(a) of the Act for purchases and sales
of securities between registered
investment companies (‘‘funds’’), that
are affiliated persons (‘‘first-tier
affiliates’’) or affiliated persons of
affiliated persons (‘‘second-tier
affiliates’’), or between a fund and a
first- or second-tier affiliate other than
another fund, when the affiliation arises

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19:19 Sep 06, 2023

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solely because of a common investment
adviser, director, or officer. Rule 17a–7
requires funds to keep various records
in connection with purchase or sale
transactions effected in reliance on the
rule. The rule requires the fund’s board
of directors to establish procedures
reasonably designed to ensure that the
rule’s conditions have been satisfied.
The board is also required to determine,
at least on a quarterly basis, that all
affiliated transactions effected during
the preceding quarter in reliance on the
rule were made in compliance with
these established procedures. If a fund
enters into a purchase or sale
transaction with an affiliated person, the
rule requires the fund to compile and
maintain written records of the
transaction.1 The Commission’s
examination staff uses these records to
evaluate for compliance with the rule.
While most funds do not commonly
engage in transactions covered by rule
17a–7, the Commission staff estimates
that nearly all funds have adopted
procedures for complying with the
rule.2 Of the approximately 2,768
currently active funds, the staff
estimates that virtually all have already
adopted procedures for compliance with
rule 17a–7. This is a one-time burden,
and the staff therefore does not estimate
an ongoing burden related to the
policies and procedures requirement of
the rule for funds.3 The staff estimates
that there are approximately 110 new
funds that register each year, and that
each of these funds adopts the relevant
policies and procedures. The staff
estimates that it takes approximately 4
hours to develop and adopt these
policies and procedures. Therefore, the
total annual burden related to
developing and adopting these policies
and procedures would be approximately
360 hours.4
Of the 2,768 existing funds, the staff
assumes that approximately 21%, (or
582) enter into transactions affected by
1 Rule 17a–7(g) requires the written record of the
affiliated transaction to include the following
information: a description of the security purchased
or sold, the identity of the person on the other side
of the transaction, the terms of the purchase or sale
transaction, and the information or materials upon
which the board determined that the purchase or
sale complied with the procedures set by the board.
2 Unless stated otherwise, these estimates are
based on conversations with the examination and
inspections staff of the Commission and fund
representatives.
3 Based on our reviews and conversations with
fund representatives, we understand that funds
rarely, if ever, need to make changes to these
policies and procedures once adopted, and
therefore we do not estimate a paperwork burden
for such updates.
4 This estimate is based on the following
calculations: (4 hours × 110 new funds = 440
hours).

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61651

rule 17a–7 each year (either by the fund
directly or through one of the fund’s
series), and that the same percentage
(21%, or 23 funds) of the estimated 110
funds that newly register each year will
also enter into these transactions, for a
total of 605 5 companies that are affected
by the recordkeeping requirements of
rule 17a–7. These funds must keep
records of each of these transactions,
and the board of directors must
quarterly determine that all relevant
transactions were made in compliance
with the company’s policies and
procedures. The rule generally imposes
a minimal burden of collecting and
storing records already generated for
other purposes.6 The staff estimates that
the burden related to making these
records and for the board to review all
transactions would be 3 hours annually
for each respondent, (2 hours spent by
compliance attorneys and 1 hour spent
by the board of directors) 7 or 1,815 total
hours each year at cost of $3,400,100.8
Based on these estimates, the staff
estimates the combined total annual
burden hours associated with rule 17a–
7 is 2,225 hours at a cost of $4,065,050.9
The staff also estimates that there are
approximately 605 respondents and
4,840 total responses.10
The estimates of average burden hours
is made solely for the purposes of the
Paperwork Reduction Act, and are not
derived from a comprehensive or even
a representative survey or study of the
costs of Commission rules. The
collection of information required by
rule 17a–7 is necessary to obtain the
benefits of the rule. Responses will not
be kept confidential. An agency may not
conduct or sponsor, and a person is not
5 This estimate is based on the following
calculation: (21% = 582/2,768); (605 = 582 + 23).
6 Commission staff believes that rule 17a–7 does
not impose any costs associated with record
preservation in addition to the costs that funds
already incur to comply with the record
preservation requirements of rule 31a–2 under the
Act. Rule 31a–2 requires companies to preserve
certain records for specified periods of time.
7 The staff estimates that funds that rely on rule
17a–7 annually enter into an average of 8 rule 17a–
7 transactions each year. The staff estimates that the
compliance attorneys of the companies spend
approximately 15 minutes per transaction on this
recordkeeping, and the board of directors spends a
total of 1 hour annually in determining that all
transactions made that year were done in
compliance with the company’s policies and
procedures. This estimate is based on the following
calculations: (2 hours × $425 = $850); ($850 +
$4,770= $5,620).
8 This estimate is based on the following
calculation: (3 hours × 605 companies = 1,815
hours); ($5,620 × 605 companies = $3,400,100).
9 This estimate is based on the following
calculation: (440 hours + 1,815 hours = 2,255 total
hours); ($664,950 + $3,400,100 = $4,065,050).
10 This estimate is based on the following
calculations: 605 funds that engage in rule 17a–7
transactions × 8 transactions per year = 64,840.

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61652

Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 172 / Thursday, September 7, 2023 / Notices

required to respond to, a collection of
information unless it displays a
currently valid control number.
Written comments are invited on: (a)
whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
Commission, including whether the
information shall have 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
by November 6, 2023.
An agency may not conduct or
sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information
under the PRA unless it displays a
currently valid OMB control number.
Please direct your written comments
to: David Bottom, Acting Director/Chief
Information Officer, Securities and
Exchange Commission, c/o John
Pezzullo, 100 F Street NE, Washington,
DC 20549 or send an email to: PRA_
Mailbox@sec.gov.
Dated: August 31, 2023.
Sherry R. Haywood,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023–19252 Filed 9–6–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[SEC File No. 270–184, OMB Control No.
3235–0236]

ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1

Proposed Collection; Comment
Request; Extension: Form N–54C
Upon Written Request, Copies Available
From: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of FOIA Services,
100 F Street NE, Washington, DC
20549–2736
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 (the
‘‘Commission’’) is soliciting comments
on the collection of information
summarized below. The Commission
plans to submit this existing collection
of information to the Office of
Management and Budget for extension
and approval.
Certain investment companies can
elect to be regulated as business
development companies, as defined in
section 2(a)(48) of the Investment

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Company Act of 1940 (‘‘Investment
Company Act’’), under sections 55
through 65 of the Investment Company
Act. Under section 54(a) of the
Investment Company Act,1 any
company defined in section 2(a)(48)(A)
and (B) of the Investment Company Act
may, if it meets certain enumerated
eligibility requirements, elect to be
subject to the provisions of sections 55
through 65 of the Investment Company
Act by filing with the Commission a
notification of election. Under section
54(c) of the Investment Company Act,2
any business development company
may voluntarily withdraw its election
under section 54(a) of the Investment
Company Act by filing a notice of
withdrawal of election with the
Commission. The Commission has
adopted Form N–54C as the form for the
notification of withdrawal of election to
be subject to sections 55 through 65 of
the Investment Company Act. The
purpose of Form N–54C is to notify the
Commission that the business
development company withdraws its
election to be subject to sections 55
through 65 of the Investment Company
Act.
The Commission estimates that on
average approximately seven business
development companies file
notifications on Form N–54C each year.
Each of those business development
companies need only make a single
filing of Form N–54C. The Commission
further estimates that this information
collection imposes a burden of one
hour, resulting in a total annual burden
of seven hours. Based on the estimated
wage rate, the total estimated internal
time costs to the business development
company industry of the hour burden
for complying with Form N–54C would
be approximately $2,975.3 Futher, based
on an estimated external cost burden of
$80 per filing, the total estimated annual
external cost burden to the business
development company industry for
complying with Form N–54C would be
$560.
The collection of information under
Form N–54C is mandatory. The
1 15

U.S.C. 80a–53(a).
U.S.C. 80a–53(c).
3 The industry burden is calculated by
multiplying the total annual hour burden to prepare
Form N–54C (seven) by the estimated hourly wage
rate of $425 for a compliance attorney or other
similarly situated business development company
employee. The estimated wage figure is based on
published rates for compliance attorneys from the
Securities Industry and Financial Markets
Association’s Report on Management & Professional
Earnings in the Securities Industry 2013, modified
by Commission staff to account for an 1800 hour
work-year and inflation, and multiplied by 5.35 to
account for bonuses, firm size, employee benefits
and overhead, yielding an effective hourly rate of
$2,975.
2 15

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information provided by the form is not
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 OMB control number.
Written comments are invited on: (a)
whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
Commission, including whether the
information shall have 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
by November 6, 2023.
An agency may not conduct or
sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information
under the PRA unless it displays a
currently valid OMB control number.
Please direct your written comments
to: David Bottom, Acting Director/Chief
Information Officer, Securities and
Exchange Commission, c/o John
Pezzullo, 100 F Street NE, Washington,
DC 20549 or send an email to: PRA_
Mailbox@sec.gov.
Dated: August 31, 2023.
Sherry R. Haywood,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023–19249 Filed 9–6–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[Release No. 34–98267; File No. SR–
NASDAQ–2023–016]

Self-Regulatory Organizations; The
Nasdaq Stock Market LLC; Notice of
Designation of a Longer Period for
Commission Action on a Proposed
Rule Change To List and Trade Shares
of the iShares Bitcoin Trust Under
Nasdaq Rule 5711(d), CommodityBased Trust Shares
August 31, 2023.

On June 29, 2023, The Nasdaq Stock
Market LLC (‘‘Nasdaq’’ or ‘‘Exchange’’)
filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘‘Commission’’), pursuant
to section 19(b)(1) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 (‘‘Act’’) 1 and Rule
19b–4 thereunder,2 a proposed rule
1 15
2 17

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U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
CFR 240.19b–4.

07SEN1