FormT-4.suppotingstatement.2019

SUPPORTING STATEMENT
FOR THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT
INFORMATION COLLECTION SUBMISSION FOR FORM T-4

A.

JUSTIFICATION
1.

Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

Section 304(c) of the Trust Indenture Act of 1939 (“Act”) permits the Securities and
Exchange Commission (“Commission”) to exempt securities from requirements of the Act if,
such securities are issued under an indenture under which the securities were outstanding when
the Act was adopted in 1939 and were still outstanding on January 1, 1959. It must be shown
that compliance with a particular provision of the Act would require the consent of holders of
securities outstanding under the indenture at the time of the application or would impose an
undue burden on the issuer, having due regard to the public interest and the interest of investors.
2.

Purpose and Use of the Information Collection

Form T-4 is used by an issuer to apply for an exemption from the requirements under
Section 304(c) of the Trust Indenture Act of 1939.
3.

Consideration Given to Information Technology

Form T-4 is filed electronically with the Commission on the EDGAR system.
4.

Duplication of Information

Form T-4 contains information regarding the status of an issuer and its securities under
Section 304(c). No similar information exists.
5.

Reducing the Burden on Small Entities

Form T-4 is not filed by small entities.
6.

Consequences of Not Conducting Collection

Form T-4 is filed only once and similar information is non-existent. Furthermore, fewer
collections would eliminate a basis for an exemptive order under Section 304(c).
7.

Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances in connection with Form T-4.

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8.

Consultations with Persons Outside the Agency

No comments were received on this request during the 60-day comment period prior to
OMB’s review on this submission.
9.

Payment or Gift to Respondents

No payment or gift has been provided to any respondents.
10.

Confidentiality

All documents filed with the Commission are public documents.
11.

Sensitive Questions

No information of a sensitive nature, including social security numbers, will be required
under this collection of information. The information collection collects basic Personally
Identifiable Information (PII) that may include name, job title, and work address. However, the
agency has determined that the information collection does not constitute a system of record for
purposes of the Privacy Act. Information is not retrieved by a personal identifier. In accordance
with Section 208 of the E-Government Act of 2002, the agency has conducted a Privacy Impact
Assessment (PIA) of the EDGAR system, in connection with this collection of information. The
EDGAR PIA, published on January 29, 2016, is provided as a supplemental document and is also
available at https://www.sec.gov/privacy.
12.

Estimate of Respondent Reporting Burden

For purposes of the Paperwork Reduction Act (“PRA”), we estimate that Form T-4 takes
approximately 5 hours per response to comply with the collection of information requirements
and is filed by approximately 3 respondents. We derived our burden hour estimates by
estimating the average number of hours it would take the filer to issue securities under an
indenture 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 individual
companies based on the size and complexity of their organization and the nature of their
operations. We further estimate that 25% of the collection of information burden is carried by
the filer internally and that 75% of the burden of preparation is carried by outside professionals
retained by the filer to assist in the preparation of the form. Based on our estimates, we estimate
that 25% of the 5 hours per response (1 hour) is prepared by the filer for a total annual reporting
burden of 3 hours (1 hour per response x 3 responses). For administrative convenience, the
presentation of the total related to the paperwork burden hours has been rounded to the nearest
whole number. The estimated burden hours are made solely for the purpose of the Paperwork
Reduction Act.

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13.

Estimate of Total Annualized Cost Burden

We estimate that 75% of the 5 hours per response (4 hours) is prepared by the filer’s
outside counsel. We estimate an hourly cost of $400 for outside legal and accounting services
used in connection with public company reporting. This estimate is based on our consultations
with registrants and professional firms who regularly assist registrants in preparing and filing
disclosure documents with the Commission. Our estimates reflect average burdens, and
therefore, some companies may experience costs in excess of our estimates and some companies
may experience costs that are lower than our estimates. We calculated the total cost to be $4,800
($400 x 4 hours x 3 responses). For administrative convenience, the presentation of the total
related to the paperwork cost burden has been rounded to the nearest dollar. The cost estimate is
made solely for the purpose of the Paperwork Reduction Act.
14.

Costs to Federal Government

The estimated cost to the government is approximately $1,000 a year to administer
Form T-4. This estimate is solely for the purpose of the Paperwork Reduction Act and is not
derived from a comprehensive or even a representative survey or study of the cost of
Commission rules and forms.
15.

Reason for Change in Burden

There is no change in burden.
16.

Information Collection Planned for Statistical Purposes

The information collections do not employ statistical methods.
17.

Approval to Omit 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.
18.

Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

There are no exceptions to certification for Paperwork Reduction Act submissions.

B.

STATISTICAL METHODS
Form T-4 does not employ statistical methods.