

[Federal Register: December 11, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 237)]
[Notices]               
[Page 71597-71598]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr11de06-77]                         

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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-54870; File No. SR-OPRA-2006-02]

 
Options Price Reporting Authority; Notice of Filing of Proposed 
Amendment to the Plan for Reporting of Consolidated Options Last Sale 
Reports and Quotation Information To Provide That Classes of Foreign 
Currency Options Newly Introduced for Trading by Any of the Parties to 
the Plan Be Treated Under the Provision ``Special Temporary Provision 
for Newly Traded FCO Securities'' During a Temporary Period Ending on 
December 31, 2007

December 5, 2006.
    Pursuant to Section 11A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(``Act'') \1\ and Rule 608 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given that 
on November 17, 2006, the Options Price Reporting Authority (``OPRA'') 
submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') an 
amendment to the Plan for Reporting of Consolidated Options Last Sale 
Reports and Quotation Information (``OPRA Plan'').\3\ The proposed OPRA 
Plan amendment would provide that classes of Foreign Currency Options 
(``FCO Securities'' or ``FCOs''), newly introduced for trading in the 
securities markets maintained by any of the parties to the OPRA Plan, 
will be treated by OPRA under the provision ``Special Temporary 
Provision for Newly Traded FCO Securities'' during a temporary period 
ending on December 31, 2007. The Commission is publishing this notice 
to solicit comments from interested persons on the proposed OPRA Plan 
amendment.
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
    \2\ 17 CFR 242.608.
    \3\ The OPRA Plan is a national market system plan approved by 
the Commission pursuant to Section 11A of the Act and Rule 608 
thereunder (formerly Rule 11Aa3-2). See Securities Exchange Act 
Release No. 17638 (March 18, 1981), 22 S.E.C. Docket 484 (March 31, 
1981). The full text of the OPRA Plan is available at http://www.opradata.com
.

    The OPRA Plan provides for the collection and dissemination of 
last sale and quotation information on options that are traded on 
the participant exchanges. The six participants to the OPRA Plan are 
the American Stock Exchange LLC, the Boston Stock Exchange, Inc., 
the Chicago Board Options Exchange, Inc., the International 
Securities Exchange, Inc. (``ISE''), the NYSE Arca, Inc., and the 
Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Inc. (``Phlx'').
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I. Description and Purpose of the Amendment

    Under the terms of the OPRA Plan, subject to the exception 
described in Section VIII(c)(iii), FCOs traded on any of the exchanges 
that are parties to the Plan are ordinarily assigned to a separate 
``FCO service'' rather than OPRA's ``basic service'' to which equity 
and index options are assigned. As a result, subject to the exception 
described below, separate fees and charges are imposed for access to 
the FCO service, and all revenues and expenses pertaining to the FCO 
service are allocated to a separate ``FCO Accounting Center'' 
established under Section VIII(c) of the OPRA Plan.
    To date, FCOs have been traded only on the Phlx. In late 2005, at 
the request of the Phlx and with the Commission's approval, OPRA 
amended Section VIII(c) of the ORPA Plan by adding a new subparagraph 
(iii) thereto, which provides that during a temporary period ending on 
December 31, 2007, new classes of FCO Securities introduced for trading 
on Phlx (such classes are defined as ``New FCO Securities'') will be 
included in OPRA's basic service and not in its FCO service.\4\ The 
effect of the amendment is to treat New FCO

[[Page 71598]]

Securities as if they were equity options and not FCO Securities, with 
the result that during the period when subparagraph (c)(iii) of Section 
VIII is in effect, access to market information pertaining to New FCO 
Securities is not subject to the separate fees and charges that apply 
to OPRA's FCO service, and revenues and expenses pertaining to market 
information pertaining to New FCO Securities are not allocated to 
OPRA's FCO accounting center, but instead are allocated to its basic 
accounting center.
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    \4\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 52901 (December 6, 
2005), 70 FR 74061 (December 14, 2005).
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    The ISE recently advised OPRA that it intends to commence trading 
in certain classes of FCOs, and it represented that none of the FCOs it 
intends to trade will be fungible with classes of FCOs traded on the 
Phlx. Since by its terms Section VIII(c)(iii) of the OPRA Plan 
currently applies only to new classes of FCOs that are listed on the 
Phlx, in response to the ISE's request, OPRA now proposes to amend that 
Section to make it apply to all classes of FCOs newly listed by any 
exchange that is a party to the OPRA Plan while that Section remains in 
effect. This will assure that all classes of newly listed FCOs will be 
treated the same by being included in OPRA's basic service, rather than 
in its FCO service regardless of the exchange on which those classes 
are traded.
    The text of the proposed amendment to the OPRA Plan is set forth 
below. Text additions are in italics; deletions are bracketed.
* * * * *

VIII. Financial Matters

    (a)-(b) No Change.
    (c) FCO Accounting Center Costs and Revenues
    (i)-(ii) No Change.
    (iii) Special Temporary Provision for Newly Traded FCO Securities.
    This paragraph (c)(iii) applies only to FCO Securities that are 
introduced for trading in the securities markets maintained by any of 
the parties to the Plan [on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (``PHLX'')] 
during the period while this paragraph is in effect. FCO Securities 
introduced for trading by any of the parties [PHLX] during this period 
are referred to as ``New FCO Securities.''
    Notwithstanding anything in the Plan to the contrary, effective 
during a temporary period ending on December 31, 2007, or on such 
earlier date as may be established by the party or parties trading New 
FCO Securities, written notice of which shall be given to the other 
parties (``period of effectiveness''), access to information and 
facilities pertaining to New FCO Securities shall not be subject to the 
separate fees and charges that would otherwise apply to such access 
pertaining to FCO Securities, but instead shall be subject to those 
fees and charges that apply to Eligible Securities other than FCO 
Options and Index Options. During the period of effectiveness, revenues 
derived from New FCO Securities shall be allocated to OPRA's basic 
accounting center and shall be further allocated among the parties as 
described in section VIII(a)(iv), and trades in New FCO Securities 
shall be treated as trades in Eligible Securities other than FCO 
Options and Index Options and not as trades in FCO Securities. At the 
close of business on the last day of the period of effectiveness, this 
section VIII(c)(iii) shall automatically terminate and cease to be of 
any further effect.
* * * * *

II. Implementation of the OPRA Plan Amendment

    The proposed amendment will be effective upon its approval by the 
Commission pursuant to Section 11A of the Act \5\ and Rule 608 
thereunder.\6\
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    \5\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
    \6\ 17 CFR 242.608.
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III. Solicitation of Comments

    Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and 
arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed OPRA 
Plan amendment is consistent with the Act. Comments may be submitted by 
any of the following methods:

Electronic Comments

     Use the Commission's Internet comment form (http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml.
); or     Send an e-mail to rule-comments@sec.gov. Please include 

File No. SR-OPRA-2006-02 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

     Send paper comments in triplicate to Nancy M. Morris, 
Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street, NE., 
Washington, DC 20549-1090.

All submissions should refer to File Number SR-OPRA-2006-02. This file 
number should be included on the subject line if e-mail is used. To 
help the Commission process and review your comments more efficiently, 
please use only one method. The Commission will post all comments on 
the Commission's Internet Web site (http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml
). Copies of the submission, all subsequent amendments, all 

written statements with respect to the proposed plan amendment that are 
filed with the Commission, and all written communications relating to 
the proposed plan amendment between the Commission and any person, 
other than those that may be withheld from the public in accordance 
with the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be available for inspection 
and copying in the Commission's Public Reference Room. Copies of such 
filing also will be available for inspection and copying at the 
principal office of OPRA. All comments received will be posted without 
change; the Commission does not edit personal identifying information 
from submissions. You should submit only information that you wish to 
make available publicly. All submissions should refer to File Number 
SR-OPRA-2006-02 and should be submitted on or before January 2, 2007.
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    \7\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(29).

    For the Commission, by the Division of Market Regulation, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\7\
Florence E. Harmon,
Deputy Secretary.
 [FR Doc. E6-20964 Filed 12-8-06; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
