Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Extension: Rule 206(4)-6

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 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) a request for extension of the previously approved collection of information discussed below.

The title for the collection of information is “Rule 206(4)-6” under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80b-1 et seq.) (“Advisers Act”) and the collection has been approved under OMB Control No. 3235-0571. The Commission adopted rule 206(4)-6 (17 CFR 275.206(4)-6), the proxy voting rule, to address an investment adviser's fiduciary obligation to clients who have given the adviser authority to vote their securities. Under the rule, an investment adviser that exercises voting authority over client securities is required to: (i) adopt and implement policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to ensure that the adviser votes securities in the best interest of clients, including procedures to address any material conflict that may arise between the interest of the adviser and the client; (ii) disclose to clients how they may obtain information on how the adviser has voted with respect to their securities; and (iii) describe to clients the adviser's proxy voting policies and procedures and, on request, furnish a copy of the policies and procedures to the requesting client. The rule is designed to assure that advisers that vote proxies for their clients vote those proxies in their clients' best interest and provide clients with information about how their proxies were voted.

Rule 206(4)-6 contains “collection of information” requirements within the meaning of the Paperwork Reduction Act. 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 control number. The collection is mandatory and responses to the disclosure requirement are not kept confidential.

The respondents are investment advisers registered with the Commission that vote proxies with respect to clients' securities. Advisory clients of these investment advisers use the information required by the rule to assess investment advisers' proxy voting policies and procedures and to monitor the advisers' performance of their proxy voting activities. The information required by Advisers Act rule 204-2, a recordkeeping rule, also is used by the Commission staff in its examination and oversight program. Without the information collected under the rules, advisory clients would not have ( printed page 46517) information they need to assess the adviser's services and monitor the adviser's handling of their accounts, and the Commission would be less efficient and effective in its programs.

The estimated number of investment advisers subject to the collection of information requirements under the rule is 15,996. It is estimated that each of these advisers is required to spend on average 10 hours annually documenting its proxy voting procedures under the requirements of the rule, for a total burden of 159,960 hours. We further estimate that on average, approximately 377 clients of each adviser would request copies of the underlying policies and procedures. We estimate that it would take these advisers 0.1 hours per client to deliver copies of the policies and procedures, for a total burden of 603,049 hours. Accordingly, we estimate that rule 206(4)-6 results in an annual aggregate burden of collection for SEC-registered investment advisers of a total of 763,009.2 hours.

Records related to an adviser's proxy voting policies and procedures and proxy voting history are separately required under the Advisers Act recordkeeping rule 204-2 (17 CFR 275.204-2). The standard retention period required for books and records under rule 204-2 is five years, in an easily accessible place, the first two years in an appropriate office of the investment adviser. OMB has previously approved the collection with this retention period.

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.

The public may view and comment on this information collection request at: https://www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAViewICR?​ref_​nbr=​202605-3235-004 or send an email comment to MBX.OMB.OIRA.SEC_desk_officer@omb.eop.gov within 30 days of the day after publication of this notice by August 24, 2026.