The Commission recently amended
Regulation 1.35(a) to change and clarify several of the existing
recordkeeping requirements that apply to certain registrants and
market participants. Records of Commodity Interest and Related Cash
or Forward Transactions, 80 FR 80247 (Dec. 24, 2015). Both the
prior version of the rule and the current version require certain
registrants and market participants to keep various types of
records associated with commodity interest transactions and related
cash or forward transactions. The records required by Regulation
1.35(a), as well as the requirements specifying the form and manner
in which such records must be kept, are an important component of
the Commission’s efforts to ensure fair, orderly and efficient
markets, and to detect and deter abusive, fraudulent and
manipulative acts and practices that can harm market integrity and
customers. The Commission uses the information required by the rule
in connection with market surveillance and enforcement activities.
The respondents include firms that are registered with the
Commission (Futures Commission Merchants, Introducing Brokers,
Retail Foreign Exchange Dealers, Floor Brokers, Floor Traders, and
certain Commodity Pool Operators and Commodity Trading Advisors),
as well as those market participants that are not registered with
the Commission but are members of a designated contract market or
of a swap execution facility.
The amendment to Regulation
1.35 makes the following changes to the rule: (1) excludes members
of designated contract markets (“DCMs”) and members of swap
execution facilities (“SEFs”) that are not registered or required
to register with the Commission (“Unregistered Members”) from the
requirement to keep written communications that lead to the
execution of a commodity interest transaction and related cash or
forward transactions; (2) excludes Unregistered Members from the
requirement to maintain records in a particular form and manner;
(3) excludes Unregistered Members from the requirement to retain
text messages; (4) excludes commodity trading advisors that are
members of a DCM or of a SEF from the requirement to record oral
communications that lead to the execution of a transaction; and (5)
clarifies the form and manner requirements that apply to required
records. With the exception of the clarification of the form and
manner requirements (which neither increases nor decreases the
exiting recordkeeping burdens), these changes decrease the
recordkeeping burdens imposed by Regulation 1.35(a). Thus, the
Commission is amending collection 3038-0090 to reflect a decrease
in the burden of respondents resulting from the amendment to
Regulation 1.35(a). Also, the burden hour costs for Adaptation of
Regulations to Incorporate Swaps-Record of Transactions reflected
have been reduced by $9,889,750 to $201,073,950, as reflected in
the attached supporting statement. There are no startup or
operational costs for this collection, which were previously
incorrectly entered in ROCIS.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
1.35 PRA Supporting Statement 3-28-17.doc
60-Day Notice 12-24-15.pdf
Exclusion of Utility Operations-Related Swaps with Utility Special Entities from De Minimis Threshold for Swaps with Special Entities