Explanation of Change

MEMORANDUM
Date:

November 21, 2012

To:

Shagufta Ahmed and Nicholas Fraser, Office of Management
and Budget (OMB), Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

From:

Vincente Martinez, Whistleblower Office,
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)

Re:

Justification Statement for Non-Substantive Revisions
to CFTC Forms TCR and WB-APP

Attached are revised versions of CFTC Forms TCR and WB-APP (both OMB Control Number 30380082). Neither set of revisions is intended to be substantive. A description of each set of revisions follows.
I.


Changes to Form TCR
Questions E.1. and E.5. were combined to eliminate redundancy; both questions ask for the same
information, but for different entities. The wording of Question E.1. was also revised to conform to
the wording of CFTC Whistleblower Rule 165.6 [17 C.F.R. § 165.6].



Question E.3. has been reworded because experience has shown us that whistleblowers often misread
the question and answer it incorrectly.



Question E.6. has been revised to allow whistleblowers to explain any “Yes” answer to the previous
questions in the section.



Corresponding changes have been made to the Submission Procedures to reflect the changes above.



A reference to a new System of Records Notice for whistleblower records has been added to the
Privacy Act Statement.



Minor changes have been made throughout the form to: make statutory and rule citations consistent
with Bluebook conventions; make abbreviations uniform; and correct capitalization, grammar and
punctuation errors.

II.

Changes to Form WB-APP

The changes to Form WB-APP are more extensive. In March 2012, OMB reviewed and approved a set of
non-substantive changes to Form TCR of the following nature:


The term “the whistleblower” was replaced with “you” to make the questions clearer.



The order of certain questions was changed to bring the most important questions to the top.

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

A box to “Print Name of Attorney and Law Firm, if Applicable” was added to Section G of the form.



The Privacy Statement, Submission Procedures and Instructions for Completing Form TCR were
edited to conform to the revisions in the form itself, and to update certain information.



The form was edited to correct spelling and grammar errors.

The changes presented here to Form WB-APP are similar and meant to conform to Form TCR; namely:


The term “the whistleblower” has been replaced with “you.”



The wording of certain questions has been revised for clarity.



The order of the questions in Section F was changed to eliminate redundancy.



A “Counsel Certification” box has been added (Section I) to conform with Form TCR and to address
situations where the award claim is made through an attorney.



The Privacy Statement, Submission Procedures and Instructions for Completing Form WB-APP have
been edited to conform to the revisions in the form itself, and to update certain information.



The form has been edited to correct spelling and grammar errors.

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