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Federal Register / Vol. 91, No. 175 / Friday, September 11, 2026 / Notices

commission-orders-noticesinformation).
For further information about this
Release, you may contact David
Dimitrious, Senior Special Counsel;
Jennifer Colihan, Special Counsel;
Eugene Hsia, Special Counsel; Michou
Nguyen, Special Counsel; and Alba
Baze, Attorney-Adviser, Office of
Market Supervision, Division of Trading
and Markets, at (202) 551–5550,
Securities and Exchange Commission,
100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549.
For the Commission, by the Division of
Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated
authority.8
Sherry R. Haywood,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2026–18539 Filed 9–10–26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
[OMB Control No. 3235–0531]

lotter on DSK8BHNXB4PROD with NOTICES1

Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request; Extension:
Rule 0–1 Under the Investment
Company Act of 1940, Definition of
Terms Used in This Part
Upon Written Request, Copies Available
From: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of FOIA Services,
100 F Street NE, Washington, DC
20549–2736
Notice is hereby given that, pursuant
to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. § 3501 et seq.), the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC or
‘‘Commission’’) is submitting to the
Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) this request for extension of the
proposed collection of information
described below.
The Investment Company Act of 1940
(the ‘‘Investment Company Act’’) 1
establishes a comprehensive framework
for regulating the organization and
operation of investment companies
(‘‘funds’’). A principal objective of the
Investment Company Act is to protect
fund investors by addressing the
conflicts of interest that exist between
funds and their investment advisers and
other affiliated persons. The Investment
Company Act places significant
responsibility on the fund board of
directors in overseeing the operations of
the fund and policing the relevant
conflicts of interest.2 Rule 0–1 (17 CFR
8 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(75).
1 15 U.S.C. 80a et seq.
2 For example, fund directors must approve
investment advisory and distribution contracts. See
15 U.S.C. 80a–15(a), (b), and (c).

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270.0–1), as amended, provides
definitions for the terms used by the
Commission in the rules and regulations
it has adopted pursuant to the
Investment Company Act. The rule also
contains a number of rules of
construction for terms that are defined
either in the Investment Company Act
itself or elsewhere in the Commission’s
rules and regulations. Finally, rule 0–1
defines terms that serve as conditions to
the availability of certain of the
Commission’s exemptive rules. More
specifically, the term ‘‘independent
legal counsel,’’ as defined in paragraph
(a)(6) of rule 0–1, sets out conditions
that funds must meet in order to rely on
any of ten exemptive rules (‘‘exemptive
rules’’) under the Investment Company
Act.3
If the board’s counsel has represented
the fund’s investment adviser, principal
underwriter, administrator (collectively,
‘‘management organizations’’) or their
‘‘control persons’’ 4 during the past two
years, rule 0–1 requires that the board’s
independent directors make a
determination about the adequacy of the
counsel’s independence. A majority of
the board’s independent directors are
required to reasonably determine, in the
exercise of their judgment, that the
counsel’s prior or current representation
of the management organizations or
their control persons was sufficiently
limited to conclude that it is unlikely to
adversely affect the counsel’s
professional judgment and legal
representation.5 Rule 0–1 also requires
that a record for the basis of this
determination is made in the minutes of
the directors’ meeting. In addition, the
independent directors must have
obtained an undertaking from the
counsel to provide them with the
information necessary to make their
determination and to update promptly
that information when the person begins
to represent a management organization
or control person, or when he or she
materially increases his or her
representation.6 Generally, the
independent directors must re-evaluate
3 See 17 CFR 270.0–1(a)(7). The relevant
exemptive rules are: rule 10f–3 (17 CFR 270.10f–3),
rule 12b–1 (17 CFR 270.12b–1), rule 15a–4(b)(2) (17
CFR 270.15a–4(b)(2)), rule 17a–7 (17 CFR 270.17a–
7), rule 17a–8 (17 CFR 270.17a–8), rule 17d–1(d)(7)
(17 CFR 270.17d–1(d)(7)), rule 17e–1(c) (17 CFR
270.17e–1(c)), rule 17g–1 (17 CFR 270.17g–1), rule
18f–3 (17 CFR 270.18f–3), and rule 23c–3 (17 CFR
270.23c–3).
4 A ‘‘control person’’ is any person—other than a
fund—directly or indirectly controlling, controlled
by, or under common control, with any of the
fund’s management organizations. See 17 CFR
270.01(a)(6)(iv)(B).
5 17 CFR 270.0–1(a)(6)(i)(A).
6 17 CFR 270.0–1(a)(6)(i)(B).

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their determination no less frequently
than annually.
Under rule 0–1, if a majority of a
fund’s independent directors makes a
determination that the counsel’s
representation of fund management
organizations (or any of their control
persons) is or was so limited that it will
not adversely affect the counsel’s ability
to provide impartial advice to the
independent directors, the basis for that
determination must be recorded in the
board’s meeting minutes. The records
maintained under the rule are not
submitted to the Commission, but may
be reviewed by the Commission staff
upon request to ensure compliance with
the rule. Compliance with rule 0–1 is
required to obtain or retain benefits.
We estimate that approximately 920
funds would need to make the required
determination in order for their counsel
to meet the definition of independent
legal counsel under rule 0–1. Based on
conversations with fund representatives
and the Commission’s experience with
the use of rule 0–1, we estimate that the
recordkeeping burden of compliance
with rule 0–1 is approximately 1 hour
per respondent. This time is spent, for
example, preparing the materials and
minutes. Accordingly, we calculate the
total estimated annual internal burden
of complying with rule 0–1 to be
approximately 920 hours. The total
annual external cost is estimated to be
$0.
An agency may not conduct or
sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information
unless it displays a currently valid OMB
Control Number.
The public may view and comment
on this information collection request
at: https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/
PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202606-3235-020
or email comment to
MBX.OMB.OIRA.SEC_desk_officer@
omb.eop.gov within 30 days of the day
after publication of this notice, by
October 13, 2026.
Dated: September 8, 2026.
Sherry R. Haywood,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2026–18532 Filed 9–10–26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P

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