Commodity Exchange Act: Fees for review of the rule enforcement programs of contract markets and registered futures association,

[Federal Register: July 1, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 126)]

[Rules and Regulations]

[Page 44036-44037]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr01jy02-8]

COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION

17 CFR Part 1

Fees for Reviews of the Rule Enforcement Programs of Contract Markets and Registered Futures Association

AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

ACTION: Establish a new schedule of fees.

SUMMARY: The Commission charges fees to designated contract markets and the National Futures Association (NFA) to recover the costs incurred by the Commission in the operation of a program which provides a service to these entities. The fees are charged for the Commission's conduct of its program of oversight of self-regulatory rule enforcement programs (17 CFR part 1 Appendix B) (NFA and the contract markets are referred to as SROs). Newly-designated contract markets are not being assessed any fees for Fiscal 2001 because to date they have modest, if any, volume.

The calculation of the fee amounts to be charged for the upcoming year is based on an average of actual program costs incurred in the most recent three full fiscal years, as explained below. The new fee schedule is set forth in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION and information is provided on the effective date of the fees and the due date for payment.

EFFECTIVE DATES: The fees for Commission oversight of each SRO rule enforcement program must be paid by each of the named SROs in the amount specified by no later than August 30, 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Madge A. Bolinger, Acting Executive Director, Office of the Executive Director, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street, NW., Washington, DC 20581, (202) 418-5160.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. General

   This notice relates to fees for the Commission's review of the rule enforcement programs at the registered futures associations and contract markets regulated by the Commission.

2. Schedule of Fees

   Fees for the Commission's review of the rule enforcement programs at the registered futures associations and contract markets regulated by the Commission:

   Entity

   Fee amount

   Cantor Financial Futures Exchange.......................... $5,606 Chicago Board of Trade..................................... 199,253 Chicago Mercantile Exchange................................ 192,731 Kansas City Board of Trade.................................

   9,262 New York Mercantile Exchange/COMEX......................... 158,927 Minneapolis Grain Exchange.................................

   6,978 National Futures Association............................... 206,046 New York Board of Trade.................................... 92,612 Philadelphia Board of Trade................................

   0

   Total.................................................. 871,415

3. Background Information

   1. General

      The Commission recalculates the fees charged each year with the intention of recovering the costs of operating this Commission program.\1\ All costs are accounted for by the Commission's Management Accounting Structure Codes (MASC) system, which records each employee's time for each pay period. The fees are set each year based on direct program costs, plus an overhead factor.

      \1\ See Section 237 of the Futures Trading Act of 1982, 7 USC 16a and 31 USC 9701. For a broader discussion of the history of Commission fees, see 52 FR 46070 (Dec. 4, 1987).

   2. Overhead Rate

      The fees charged by the Commission to the SROs are designed to recover program costs, including direct labor costs and overhead. The overhead rate is calculated by dividing total Commission-wide direct program labor costs into the total amount of the Commission-wide overhead pool. For this purpose, direct program labor costs are the salary costs of personnel working in all Commission programs. Overhead costs consist generally of the following Commission-wide costs: indirect personnel costs (leave and benefits), rent, communications, contract services, utilities, equipment, and supplies. This formula has resulted in the following overhead rates for the most recent three years (rounded to the nearest whole percent): 105 percent for fiscal year 1999, and 105 percent for fiscal year 2000, and 117 percent for fiscal year 2001. These overhead rates are applied to the direct labor costs to calculate the costs of oversight of SRO rule enforcement programs.

   3. Conduct of SRO Rule Enforcement Reviews

      Under the formula adopted in 1993 (58 FR 42643, Aug. 11, 1993) which appears at 17 CFR part 1 appendix B, the Commission calculates the fee to recover the costs of its review of rule enforcement programs, based on a three-year average of the actual cost of performing reviews at each SRO. The cost of operation of the Commission's program of SRO oversight varies from SRO to SRO, according to the size and complexity of each SRO's program. The three-year averaging is intended to smooth out year-to-year variations in cost. Timing of reviews may affect costs--a review may span two fiscal years and reviews are not conducted at each SRO each year. Adjustments to actual costs may be made to relieve the burden on an SRO with a disproportionately large share of program costs.

      The Commission's formula provides for a reduction in the assessed fee if an SRO has a smaller percentage of United States industry contract volume than its percentage of overall Commission oversight program costs. This adjustment reduces the costs so that as a percentage of total Commission SRO oversight program costs, they are in line with the pro rata percentage for that SRO of United States industry-wide contract volume.

      The calculation made is as follows: The fee required to be paid to the Commission by each contract market is equal to the lesser of actual costs based on the three-year historical average of costs for that contract market or one-half of average costs incurred by the Commission for each contract market for the most recent three years, plus a pro rata share (based on average trading volume for the most recent three years) of the aggregate of average annual costs of all contract markets for the most recent three years. The formula for calculating the second factor is: 0.5a + 0.5 vt = current fee. In this formula, ``a'' equals the average annual costs, ``v'' equals the percentage of total volume across exchanges over the last three years, and ``t'' equals the average annual cost for all exchanges. NFA, the only registered futures association regulated by the Commission, has no contracts traded; hence its fee is based simply on costs for the most recent three fiscal years.

      This table summarizes the data used in the calculations and the resulting fee for each entity:

      [[Page 44037]]

      Three-year average Three-year Average actual percentage year 2002 costs of volume fee

      Cantor Financial Futures Exchange $10,990 0.0286 $5,606 Chicago Board of Trade........... 199,253 39.0619 199.253 Chicago Mercantile Exchange...... 192,731 40.8601 192,731 NYMEX/COMEX...................... 191,576 16.3441 158,927 New York Board of Trade.......... 161,025 3.1319 92,612 Kansas City Board of Trade....... 15,396

      .4047

      9,262 Minneapolis Grain Exchange....... 12,645

      .1696

      6,978 Philadelphia Board of Trade......

      0

      .0000

      0

      Subtotal................... 772,627 100.0000 665,369 National Futures Association..... 206,046

      N/A 206,046

      Total...................... 978,673 100.0000 871,415

      An example of how the fee is calculated for one exchange, the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, is set forth here:

      1. Actual three-year average costs equal $12,645.

      2. The alternative computation is:

         (.5)($12,645) + (.5)(.001696)($772,627) = $6,978.

      3. The fee is the lesser of a or b; in this case $6,978.

         As noted above, the alternative calculation based on contracts traded, is not applicable to the NFA because it is not a contract market and has no contracts traded. The Commission's average annual cost for conducting oversight review of the NFA rule enforcement program during fiscal years 1999 through 2001 was $206,046 (one-third of $618,139). The fee to be paid by the NFA for the current fiscal year is $206,046.

         Regulatory Flexibility Act

         The Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 USC 601, et seq., requires agencies to consider the impact of rules on small business. The fees implemented in this release affect contract markets (also referred to as exchanges) and registered futures associations. The Commission has previously determined that contract markets and registered futures associations are not ``small entities'' for purposes of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Accordingly, the Chairman on behalf of the Commission, certifies pursuant to 5 USC 605(b), that the fees implemented here will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.

         Issued in Washington, DC, on June 21, 2002, by the Commission. Jean A. Webb, Secretary of the Commission.

         [FR Doc. 02-16201Filed6-28-02; 8:45 am]

         BILLING CODE 6351-01-M