Interactive Data (Names Rule) Supporting Statement

OMB CONTROL NUMBER: 3235-0642
SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR PROPOSD AMENDMENTS TO RULE 35d-1
Investment Company Interactive Data
This supporting statement is part of a submission under the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995 (“PRA”), 44 U.S.C. §3501, et seq.
A.

JUSTIFICATION
1. NECESSITY FOR THE INFORMATION COLLECTION
Certain funds have current requirements to submit to the Commission information

included in their registration statements, or information included in or amended by any posteffective amendments to such registration statements, in response to certain form items in
structured data language (“Investment Company Interactive Data”). This collection of
information relates to regulations and forms under the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”)
[15 U.S.C. 77a et seq.] . This collection of information relates to regulations and forms under the
Investment Company Act of 1940 (“Investment Company Act”) [15 U.S.C. 80a-1 et seq.] that set
forth disclosure requirements for funds and other issuers.
On May 25, 2022 the Commission proposed certain new amendments to the “names
rule,” rule 35d-1 of the Investment Company Act. 1 The Commission also proposed to amend
Form N-2, 2 Form N-8B-2, 3 and Form S-6, 4 under the Securities Act to require certain new

1

Investment Company Names, Investment Company Act Release No. 34593 (May 25, 2022) (the “2022 Names
Rule Proposal”).

2

17 CFR 274.11a-1.

3

17 CFR 274.12

4

17 CFR 239.16.

structured data reporting requirements for funds. 5 Specifically, the proposed amendments would
include new structured data requirements that would require funds to tag the information that the
proposal would require funds to include in their registration statements about their fund name
using Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language or “Inline XBRL.”
The amendments affect “collection of information” requirements within the meaning of
the PRA. 6
2. PURPOSE AND USE OF THE INFORMATION COLLECTION
The purpose of the proposed new information collections is to make information
regarding fund names easier for investors to analyze and to help automate regulatory filings and
business information processing, and to improve consistency across all types of funds with
respect to the accessibility of fund name information they provide to the market. Requiring
registrants to use Inline XBRL to tag disclosures will improve the data’s usefulness, timeliness,
and quality, benefiting investors and other market participants, and to decrease, over time, the
cost of preparing the data for submission to the Commission.

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The proposed amendments would also amend rules 485 and 497 under the Securities Act and rule 11 and 405 of
Regulation S-T. The amendments we proposed to rule 485 and 497 are conforming amendments that have no
associated PRA burden. In addition to proposed amendments to Forms N-2, S-6, and N-8B-2, the 2022 Names
Rule Proposal included proposed amendments to Form N-1A. While the new names-related information that
open-end funds would be required to disclose under our proposed amendments to Form N-1A also would be
required to be tagged using Inline XBRL, the proposed amendments to Form N-1A would create no additional
PRA burden. Our proposal would amend Item 4 of Form N-1A; Form N-1A registrants are already required to
submit the information that they provide in response to Item 4 using Inline XBRL. Therefore, the burdens
associated with tagging Item 4 disclosure are already accounted for under the current Investment Company
Interactive Data collection of information
This supporting statement relates only to the proposed amendments to Forms N-1A, N-2, N-8B-2, and Form S6, as well as Regulation S-T. The proposed amendments would only affect investments companies that file on
Forms N-1A, N-2, N-8B-2, and Form S-6, and that under the proposal would be required to use Inline XBRL to
tag specified disclosures.

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3. CONSIDERATION GIVEN TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
The proposed collection of information requirements would be set forth in the respective
forms and related rules. The information that would be required by these provisions would
continue to be filed electronically with the Commission using the Commission’s Electronic Data
Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (EDGAR) system.
4. DUPLICATION
The Commission periodically evaluates rule-based reporting and recordkeeping
requirements for duplication and reevaluates them whenever it proposes a rule or a form, or a
change in either. The Investment Company Interactive Data requirements generally are not
duplicated elsewhere.
5. EFFECT ON SMALL ENTITIES
The Commission reviews all rules periodically, as required by the Regulatory Flexibility
Act, to identify methods to minimize recordkeeping or reporting requirements affecting small
businesses. The burden on small entities to prepare and then submit Investment Company
Interactive Data may be proportionally greater than for larger registrants. This burden may
include the cost of software designed to prepare information in interactive data format and hiring
a consultant or filing agent to prepare and file the information in interactive data format. The
Commission believes, however, that imposing different requirements on smaller funds would not
be consistent with investor protection and the purposes of the Investment Company Interactive
Data requirements.

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6. CONSEQUENCES OF NOT CONDUCTING COLLECTION
The proposed names rule disclosures and structured data requirements are designed to
help investors make informed investment decisions. Failure to conduct these collections of
information would reduce the information available to investors to make these decisions. The
amendments are intended to improve disclosure about a fund’s name.
7. INCONSISTENCIES WITH GUIDESLINES IN 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2)
This collection is not inconsistent with 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).
8. CONSULTATIONS OUTSIDE THE AGENCY
The Commission and the staff of the Division of Investment Management participate in
an ongoing dialogue with representatives of the investment company industry through public
conferences, meetings, and informal exchanges. These various forums provide the Commission
and staff with a means of ascertaining and acting upon paperwork burdens confronting the
industry. In addition, the Commission has requested public comment on the proposed
amendments, including the collection of information requirements resulting from the proposed
amendments. Before adopting these amendments, the Commission will receive and evaluate
public comments on the proposed amendments and their associated collection of information
requirements.
9. PAYMENT OR GIFT
No payment or gift has been provided to any respondents.
10. CONFIDENTIALITY
No assurance of confidentiality was provided.

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11. SENSITIVE QUESTIONS
No information of a sensitive nature, including social security numbers, will be required
under the following collections of information. The information collections that are currently
included in the Investment Company Interactive Data collection of information (although not the
proposed amendments that would affect this collection of information) include basic Personally
Identifiable Information (“PII”) that may include a name and job title. However, the agency has
determined that the information collections do not constitute a system of records 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 these collections of information.
The EDGAR PIA, published on February 5, 2020, is provided as a supplemental document and is
also available at https://www.sec.gov/privacy.
12. BURDEN OF INFORMATION COLLECTION
The following estimates of average burden hours and costs are made solely for purposes
of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 7 and are not derived from a comprehensive or even
representative survey or study of the cost of Commission rules and forms. Compliance with the
Investment Company Interactive Data requirements is mandatory. Responses to the disclosure
requirements will not be kept confidential.
Funds filing registration statements on Form N-2 already submit certain information
using Inline XBRL format. Based on filing data as of December 30, 2020, we estimate that 626
funds filing registration statements on these forms would be subject to the proposed interactive

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44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.

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data amendments. UITs filing initial registration statements on Form N-8B-2 and post-effective
amendments on Form S-6 are not currently subject to requirements to submit information in
structured form. Because these UITs have not previously been subject to Inline XBRL
requirements, we assume that these funds would experience additional burdens related to onetime costs associated with becoming familiarized with Inline XBRL reporting. These costs
would include, for example, the acquisition of new software or the services of consultants, and
the training of staff. Based on filing data as of December 30, 2020, we estimate that 785 filings
would be subject to these proposed amendments. Compliance with the interactive data
requirements is mandatory, and the responses will not be kept confidential.
In our most recent Paperwork Reduction Act submission for Investment Company
Interactive Data, we estimated a total aggregate annual hour burden of 252,684 hours, and a total
aggregate annual external cost burden of $15, 350,750. The table below summarizes our PRA
initial and ongoing annual burden estimates associated with the proposed amendments to Form
N-1A, Form N-2, Form N-8B-2, and Form S-6, as well as Regulation S-T.

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PRA Table 1. Burden Estimates for Initial and Ongoing Investment Company Interactive Data
Internal
initial
burden
hours
Names rule information
for current XBRL filers3

1 hour

1

Wage rate2
$356
(blended rate for
compliance attorney and
senior programmer)

hour4

× 626 funds6

Number of funds
Names rule information
for new XBRL filers7

Internal annual
burden hours1

9 hours

4

$356
(blended rate for
compliance attorney and
senior programmer)

hours8

Internal time
costs

Annual external
cost burden

$356

$505

× 626 funds

× 626 funds

$1,424

$9009

Number of filings

× 785 filings10

× 785 filings

x 785 filings

Total new aggregate
annual burden

3,766 hours11

$1,340,69612

$737,800 13

TOTAL ESTIMATED BURDENS INCLUDING AMENDMENTS
Current aggregate annual
burden estimates

+ 252,684
hours

+ $15,449,450

Revised aggregate annual
burden estimates

256,368 hours

$16,088,550

Notes:
1. Includes initial burden estimates annualized over a 3-year period.
2. The estimated wage figure is based on published rates for the professionals described in this chart, modified to account for an 1800hour work-year and inflation. The estimates for the proposed burdens were multiplied by 5.35 to account for bonuses, firm size, employee
benefits, and overhead. See Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s Report on Management & Professional Earnings in
the Securities Industry 2013.
3. This estimate represents the average burden for a filer on Form N-2 that is currently subject to interactive data requirements.
4. Includes initial burden estimates annualized over a three-year period, plus 0.67 hour of ongoing annual burden hours. The estimate of
1 hour is based on the following calculation: ((1 initial hour /3) + 0.67 hour of additional ongoing burden hours) = 1 hour.
5. We estimate an incremental external cost for filers on Form N-2, as they already submit certain information using Inline XBRL.
6. Based on filing data as of December 30, 2020, we estimate 626 funds, including business development companies, filing on Form N-2.
7. This estimate represents the average burden for a filer on Form N-8B-2 and Form S-6 that is not currently subject to interactive data
requirements.
8. Includes initial burden estimates annualized over a three-year period, plus 1 hour of ongoing annual burden hours. The estimate of 10
hours is based on the following calculation: ((27 initial hours /3) + 1 hour of additional ongoing burden hours) = 10 hours.
9. We estimate an external cost for filers on Form N-8B-2 and Form S-6 of $900 to reflect one-time compliance and initial set-up costs.
Because these filers have not been previously been subject to Inline XBRL requirements, we estimate that these funds would experience
additional burdens related to one time-costs associated with becoming familiar with Inline XBRL reporting. These costs would include, for
example, the acquisition of new software or the services of consultants, or the training of staff.
10. The Commission estimates 49 non-separate account and non-ETF UITs registered with the Commission. However, we believe using the
number of filings instead of registrants would form a more accurate estimate of annual burdens. We estimate 1,047 filings based on the
average number of filings made on Form S-6 from 2018 to 2020. We therefore estimate that there are approximately 785 filings for funds
that have names that would be covered by the proposed rule amendments, or 75% of the filings for UITs covered by the rule amendments
(1,047 filings x 75% = 785 filings). The currently-approved estimate of responses for the Investment Company Interactive Data information
collection is 19,817 responses. We increase this estimate to 20,602 to reflect the additional estimated 785 filings.
11. 3,766 hours = (626 funds x 1 hour = 626 hours) + (785 filings x 4 hours = 3,140 hours).
12. $1,340,696 internal time cost = (626 funds x $356 = $222,856) + (785 filings x $1,424 = $1,117,840).
13. $737,800 annual external cost = (626 funds x $50 = $31,300) + (785 filings x $900 = $706,500).

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13.

COST TO RESPONDENTS
Cost burden is the cost of goods and services purchased to comply with the Investment

Company Interactive Data requirements, such as for software or the services of consultants or
filing agents. The cost burden does not include the cost of the hour burden discussed in Item 12
above.
As summarized in Table 1 above, in our most recent Paperwork Reduction Act
submission for Investment Company Interactive Data, Commission staff estimated about
$15,350,750 in external cost burden per year. We estimate that the annual cost of outside
services associated with these proposed amendments to the Names Rule is $737,800, and
therefore the revised external cost burden would be $16,088,550. 8
14.

COSTS TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
The annual cost of reviewing and processing disclosure documents, including new

registration statements, post-effective amendments, proxy statements, shareholder reports, and
other filings of investment companies amounted to approximately $30 million in fiscal year
2021, based on the Commission’s computation of the value of staff time devoted to this activity
and related overhead.
15.

CHANGE IN BURDEN
The estimated hourly burden and external cost associated with Investment Company

Interactive Data has increased as follows:

8

This estimate is based on the following calculation: $737,800 annual external cost = (626 funds x $50) +
(7,856 filings x $900).

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Table 2: Comparison of Current and Revised Burden Hours and External Cost for Investment
Company Interactive Data
Annual Time Burden (hours)

Investment
Company
Interactive
Data

External Cost Burden (dollars)

Currently
Approved

Revised
Estimate

Change

Currently
Approved

Revised Estimate

Change

252,684

256,368

3,684

$15,449,450

$16,088,550

$639,100

The changes in annual burden hours and external cost burden are due to our proposed
amendments requiring a description of a fund’s name and requiring funds to tag this disclosure
using Inline XBRL.
16.

INFORMATION COLLECTION PLANNED FOR STATISTICAL PURPOSES
The information collections do not employ statistical methods.

17.

APPROVAL TO OMIT OMB EXPIRATION DATE
The Commission is not seeking approval to omit the expiration date for OMB approval.

18.

EXCEPTIONS TO CERTIFICATION FOR PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT
SUBMISSIONS
The Commission is not seeking an exception to the certification statement.

B.

STATISTICAL METHODS
The collection of information will not employ statistical methods.

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