Form 18.SupportingStatement.12-15-2015

SUPPORTING STATEMENT
FOR THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT INFORMATION COLLECTION
SUBMISSION FOR FORM 18

A.

JUSTIFICATION
1.

Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

The Commission has exercised its authority under Sections 12(b) and 12(c) 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.

Purpose 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

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different purposes from Form 18 and thus contain information that is not necessarily
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

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

No information of a sensitive nature would be required under this collection of
information. The information collection collects basic Personally Identifiable
Information (PII) that may include name, business address, and residential address (for
sole proprietor only), telephone/cellular/facsimile number, email address, and Tax ID
Number (TIN). The information collection is covered under the System of Records
Notices (SORN), which may be found at the following link:
http://www.sec.gov/about/privacy/sorn/secsorn1.pdf. The Privacy Impact Assessment
(PIA) is provided as a supplemental document.

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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
derived our burden hour estimates by estimating the average number of hours it would
take a foreign government or political subdivision to compile the necessary information
and data, prepare and review disclosure, file documents and retain records. In connection
with rule amendments to the form, we occasionally receive PRA estimates from public
commenters about incremental burdens that are used in our burden estimates. We believe
that the actual burdens will likely vary among foreign government or political subdivision
issuers based on the size and complexity of the organization. We further estimate that the
foreign government or political subdivision issuer would prepare 100% of Form 18
requirements. For administrative convenience, the presentation of the totals related to the
paperwork burden hours have been rounded to the nearest whole number and the cost
totals have been rounded to the nearest dollar. The estimated burden hours are made
solely for the purpose of the Paperwork Reduction Act.
13.

Estimate of Total Annualized Cost Burden
There is no outside cost associated with this information collection.

14.

Costs to Federal Government

The cost to the federal government to review and process Form 18 is
approximately $1,000.
15.

Reason for Change in Burden
There is no change in burden.

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
the form. Including the expiration date on the electronic version of the form will result in
increased costs, because the need to make changes to the form may not follow the
application’s scheduled version release dates. The OMB control number will be
displayed.

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18.

Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions
Not applicable.

B.

STATISTICAL METHODS
Not applicable.