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 (“PRA”) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is soliciting comments on the existing collection of information provided for in connection with a National Market System (NMS) Plan filed with the Commission under Rule 613 (17 CFR 242.613), under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 ( printed page 46200) U.S.C. 78a et seq.). The Commission plans to submit this existing collection of information to the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) for extension and approval.

Rule 613 of Regulation NMS (17 CFR part 242) required national securities exchanges and national securities associations (collectively, the “Participants”) to jointly submit to the Commission a national market system (“NMS”) plan to govern the creation, implementation, and maintenance of a consolidated audit trail (“CAT”) and Central Repository for the collection of information for NMS securities. On February 27, 2015, the Participants submitted the CAT NMS Plan to the Commission.^[1] On April 27, 2016, the Commission published a notice soliciting comments from the public (“CAT NMS Plan Notice”).^[2] On November 15, 2016, the Commission approved the CAT NMS Plan (“CAT NMS Plan Order”), including the information collections proposed in the CAT NMS Plan Notice, and certain additional information collections.^[3]

Since 2017 the Commission has approved several amendments to the CAT NMS Plan and issued exemptive relief from its requirements. Some of these amendments and/or exemptive relief orders have resulted in data being removed from the CAT. For instance, the Commission has issued exemptive relief from and approved amendments to the CAT NMS Plan to enable the SROs to remove customer and account-level information from the CAT.^[4] The Commission has also issued exemptive relief from and approved amendments to the CAT NMS Plan to enable the SROs to shorten the retention period for the data collected by the CAT.^[5]

This Notice addresses both the ongoing information collection requirements noted above, the remaining information collection requirements contained in the CAT NMS Plan Notice, and certain additional information collections of the CAT NMS Plan Order, which includes an assessment of the projected impact of any Material Systems Change on the Maximum Error Rate, prior to the implementation of such Material Systems Change from the Participants.^[6]

The CAT NMS Plan, which governs the CAT, improves the quality of the data available to regulators in four areas that affect the ultimate effectiveness of core regulatory efforts—completeness, accuracy, accessibility and timeliness.^[7] The improvements in these data qualities substantially improve regulators' ability to perform analysis and reconstruction of market events, and market analysis and research to inform policy decisions, as well as perform regulatory activities, in particular market surveillance, examinations, investigations, and other enforcement functions.

The Commission estimates that 1,199 respondents ^[8] will require an aggregate total of approximately 4,122,488 hours per year to comply with the collection of information. The Commission further estimates that the aggregate cost to comply with the collection of information will be approximately $384,727,051 per year.

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.

Written comments are invited on: (a) whether this proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the SEC, including whether the information will have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the SEC's estimate of the burden imposed by the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and the assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated, electronic collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

Please direct your written comments on this 60-Day Collection Notice to Austin Gerig, Director/Chief Data Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, c/o Tanya Ruttenberg via email to PaperworkReductionAct@sec.gov by September 21, 2026.