Pursuant to Section 11A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Act”) ^[1] and Rule 608 thereunder,^[2] notice is hereby given that on May 31, 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”).^[3] The proposed amendment would revise OPRA's definition of the term “Nonprofessional.” The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments from interested persons on the proposed OPRA Plan amendment.

I. Description and Purpose of the Plan Amendment

The purpose of the proposed amendment is to revise OPRA's definition of the term “Nonprofessional.”

A person may become an OPRA “Subscriber” in one of two ways.^[4] The first way is that the person may sign a “Professional Subscriber Agreement” directly with OPRA. In this case, the person pays fees directly to OPRA on the basis of the number of the person's “devices” and/or “UserIDs.”

The second way is that the person may enter into a “Subscriber Agreement,” not directly with OPRA, but with an OPRA “Vendor”—an entity that has entered into a “Vendor Agreement” with OPRA authorizing the entity to redistribute OPRA Data to third persons. In this case, OPRA collects fees from the Vendor with respect to the receipt of the OPRA Data by the person entering into the Subscriber Agreement. If the person qualifies as a “Nonprofessional Subscriber,” OPRA caps the fee that it charges the Vendor, and the fees that the person is required to pay to the Vendor may be less than they would be if the person is classified as a “Professional Subscriber.” ^[5]

OPRA's current definition of the term “Nonprofessional” is set out in an “Addendum for Nonprofessionals” that is attached to its Electronic Form of Subscriber Agreement and its Hardcopy Form of Subscriber Agreement. These two forms, in turn, are Attachments B-1 and B-2 to OPRA's form of Vendor Agreement.^[6]

One element of OPRA's current definition of the term “Nonprofessional” specifies that to qualify as a “Nonprofessional” a person must not be “a securities broker-dealer, investment advisor, futures commission merchant, commodities introducing broker or commodity trading advisor, member of a securities exchange or association or futures contract market, or an owner, partner, or associated person of any of the foregoing.” ^[7] For persons employed by securities broker-dealers, OPRA has interpreted the term “associated person” in this language with reference to the definition of the term “associated person of a broker or dealer” in Section 3(a)(18) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Act”).^[8] That definition includes within its scope “any employee” of a broker or dealer, and accordingly employees of broker/dealers have not been eligible to be Nonprofessionals.

Two inconsistencies created by this language have been brought to OPRA's attention. First, OPRA's language on this point is different from the counterpart language in the definition of “Nonprofessional” used by the Consolidated Tape Association (“CTA”) and the “Joint Self-Regulatory Organization Plan Governing the Collection, Consolidation, and Dissemination of Quotation and Transaction Information for Nasdaq-Listed Securities Traded on Exchanges on an Unlisted Trading Privilege Basis” (“Nasdaq/UTP Plan”). CTA and the Nasdaq/UTP Plan define the term “Nonprofessional” substantially identically, and by reference to whether the person seeking to qualify as a Nonprofessional is required to register in some capacity, not by reference to whether the person is an associated person of an entity or person that is required to register in some capacity.^[9] Second, because the definition of the term “associated person” is defined differently in the commodity futures industry, a person who is employed by a commodity futures merchant (subject to regulation under the Commodity Exchange Act) may be able to qualify as a Nonprofessional under the language of the current OPRA definition even though a person who is employed by a securities broker to perform identical functions cannot.^[10]

In order to eliminate these inconsistencies, OPRA proposes to replace paragraphs 1(c) and 1(d) of each Addendum for Nonprofessionals with a new paragraph 1(c) that tracks the counterpart language used by CTA and the UTP/Nasdaq Plan. In essence the revised language will allow a person who is not himself or herself registered in some capacity with the Commission or the CFTC, but who is employed by an entity that is so registered, to qualify as a “Nonprofessional” for purposes of the person's personal, non-business-related, investment activities. OPRA believes that the changes that it is proposing in its definition of the term “Nonprofessional” will add clarity to the definition and more closely align the language of the definition with the definitions used by CTA and the UTP/Nasdaq Plan.

OPRA believes that, in the vast majority of cases, its definition of the term “Nonprofessional” and those of CTA and the UTP/Nasdaq Plan have always classified Subscribers as Professionals or Nonprofessionals consistently. OPRA believes that revising its definition in the manner described in this filing will reduce the small subset of cases in which its definition and those of CTA and the UTP/Nasdaq Plan generate different results.

The text of the proposed amendment to the OPRA Plan is available at OPRA, the Commission's Public Reference Room, opradata.com, and on the Commission's Web site at www.sec.gov.

II. Implementation of the OPRA Plan Amendment

OPRA is proposing to begin to permit Vendors to use revised versions of its Electronic Form of Subscriber Agreement and its Hardcopy Form of Subscriber Agreement as soon as this filing has been approved by the Commission in accordance with paragraph (b)(1) of Rule 608 of Regulation NMS under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. OPRA will send notice to Vendors advising them of the change and informing them that, if they believe that they have Subscribers who can be classified as Nonprofessionals under the revised definition, they may reclassify them after the Subscribers have agreed to a new Subscriber Agreement that includes a revised Addendum for Nonprofessionals. The change in the definition will not require Vendors to take any action with respect to their existing populations of Nonprofessionals, since all persons who qualify as Nonprofessionals under OPRA's current definition will continue to qualify under the revised definition.

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 ( printed page 37722) Act. Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:

Electronic Comments

• Use the Commission's Internet comment form (www.sec.gov/​rules/​sro.shtml); or
• Send an email torule-comments@sec.gov. Please include File No. SR-OPRA-2012-03 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-2012-03. 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 ( 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 a.m. and 3 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-2012-03 and should be submitted on or before July 13, 2012.