Pursuant to Section 11A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Act”) and Rule 608 thereunder, notice is hereby given that on August 27, 2012, 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”). The proposed amendment would make a clarifying change to Section 3.1 of the OPRA Plan. The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments from interested persons on the proposed OPRA Plan amendment.
15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
17 CFR 242.608.
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 ten participants to the OPRA Plan are BATS Exchange, Inc., BOX Options Exchange, LLC, Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated, C2 Options Exchange, Incorporated, International Securities Exchange, LLC, NASDAQ OMX BX, Inc., NASDAQ OMX PHLX LLC, NASDAQ Stock Market LLC, NYSE MKT LLC, and NYSE Arca, Inc.
I. Description and Purpose of the Plan Amendment
The purpose of the Amendment is to eliminate an ambiguity in the way in which the current OPRA Plan describes Exhibit A to the Plan, which consists of a list of the national securities exchanges that are Members of OPRA. Section 3.1 of the Plan describes Exhibit A as a list of the “initial” Members of OPRA, suggesting that the list includes only those exchanges that were Members when OPRA was restructured as a limited liability company on January 1, 2010. By contrast, the definition of “Member” in Section 1.1 of the Plan correctly states that “Exhibit A * * * may be amended to include any other national securities exchange that becomes a Member pursuant to the provisions of Section 3.2.” To eliminate this ambiguity it is proposed to eliminate the word “initial” from both the heading and text of Section 3.1, so that as amended that Section is clear that Exhibit A lists all current Members of OPRA from time to time, and not just the “initial” Members.
Seven national securities exchanges were Members of OPRA on January 1, 2010. Since then, two of those seven exchanges have changed their names, and three additional exchanges have become Members of OPRA.
The text of the proposed amendment to the OPRA Plan is available at OPRA, the Commission's Public Reference Room, http://opradata.com,, and on the Commission's Web site at www.sec.gov.
II. Implementation of the OPRA Plan Amendment
Pursuant to paragraph (b)(3)(ii) of Rule 608 of Regulation NMS under the Act OPRA designated the proposed OPRA Plan amendment as concerned solely with the administration of the OPRA Plan, thereby qualifying for effectiveness upon filing.
The Commission may summarily abrogate the amendment within sixty days of its filing and require refiling and approval of the amendment by Commission order pursuant to Rule 608(b)(2) under the Act if it appears to the Commission that such action is necessary or appropriate in the public interest, for the protection of investors, or the maintenance of fair and orderly markets, to remove impediments to, and perfect the mechanisms of, a national market system, or otherwise in furtherance of the purposes of the Act.
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 email to rule-comments@sec.gov. Please include File No. SR-OPRA-2012-05 on the subject line.
Paper Comments
- Send paper comments in triplicate to Elizabeth M. Murphy, Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE., Washington, DC 20549-1090.
All submissions should refer to File Number SR-OPRA-2012-05. This file number should be included on the subject line if email 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 Web site viewing and printing in the Commission's Public Reference Room, 100 F Street NE., Washington, DC 20549, on official business days between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. 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-2012-05 and should be submitted on or before October 3, 2012.
For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated authority.
Kevin M. O'Neill,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2012-22394 Filed 9-11-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P