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 November 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. 3038-0102.”

• By email addressed to: OIRAsubmissions@omb.eop.gov; or
• By mail addressed to: The 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 (“Commission”) by any of the following methods. The copies should refer to “OMB Control No. 3038-0102.”

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

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 http://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, 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. 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 http://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 the Administrative Procedure Act and other applicable laws, and may be accessible under the Freedom of Information Act.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Melissa D'Arcy, Special Counsel, Division of Clearing and Risk, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20581; (202) 418-5086; email: mdarcy@cftc.gov, and refer to “OMB Control No. 3038-0102.”

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: “Clearing Exemption for Certain Swaps Entered into by Cooperatives,” (OMB Control No. 3038-0102). This is a request for an extension of a currently approved information collection.

Abstract: Section 2(h)(1)(A) of the Commodity Exchange Act requires certain entities to submit for clearing certain swaps if they are required to be cleared by the Commission. Commission regulation 50.51 permits certain cooperatives to elect not to clear certain swaps that otherwise would be required to be cleared, provided that they meet certain conditions. The rule further requires the reporting of certain information if the exemption for cooperatives is elected. This collection pertains to information the Commission needs to monitor use of the cooperative exemption and assess market risk in connection therewith. 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 August 22, 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 43796 (“60-Day Notice”). The Commission received no substantive comments in response to the 60-Day Notice. Accordingly, the Commission continues to believe that the burden estimates published in the 60-Day Notice are appropriate.

Burden Statement: The respondent burden for this collection is estimated to be as follows:

Respondents/Affected Entities: Parties electing the cooperative exemption under Commission regulation 50.51.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 25.

Estimated Average Burden Hours per Respondent: 1 hour.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 25 hours.

Frequency of Collection: On occasion; annually.

There are no capital costs or operating and maintenance costs associated with this collection.

(Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.)