Under Commission Rule 21.02, upon call
by the Commission, information related to futures or options
positions held or introduced by futures commission merchants,
members of contract markets, introducing brokers, and foreign
brokers and, for options positions, must be furnished by each
reporting market. This rule is designed to assist the Commission in
prevention of market manipulation and is promulgated pursuant to
the Commission’s rulemaking authority contained in section 8a of
the Commodity Exchange Act, 7 U.S.C. 12 a (2010). The information
is used primarily by Surveillance and Market Analysts in order to
fulfill their market surveillance function. Additionally, the data
is used to provide a basis for reports to Congress as well as
supporting various research projects and reports from Commission
economists and analysts.
A reduction in the total annual
number of responses from 400 in 2016 to 100 in 2019 has accordingly
caused the estimated annual burden hours to lessen from 700 hours
in the previous renewal to 175 hours currently. This reduction in
annual responses can be attributed to improved methods and a
considered approach surrounding the special call process, where the
CFTC prudently exercises this option based on particular,
carefully-weighed circumstances to avoid placing undue burdens on
market participants.
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.