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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 17 / Thursday, January 28, 2021 / Notices Commission, including whether the information shall have practical utility;
b the accuracy of the Commissions estimates of the burden of the proposed collection of information; c ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information on respondents; and d ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions submitted in writing within 60 days of this publication.
The Commission may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid control number. No person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information subject to the PRA that does not display a valid Office of Management and Budget OMB control number.
Please direct your written comments to: Dave Bottom, Director/Chief Information Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, c/o Cynthia Roscoe, 100 F St. NE, Washington, DC
20549 or send an email to: PRA_
Mailbox@sec.gov.
Dated: January 22, 2021.
J. Matthew DeLesDernier, Assistant Secretary.
BILLING CODE 801101P

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
Release No. 3490973; File No. SRBOX
202102

Self-Regulatory Organizations; BOX
Exchange LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To Adopt Temporary IM
20201 Temporary Extension for Representatives To Function as Principals January 22, 2021.

Pursuant to Section 19b1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Act or Exchange Act 1 and Rule 19b4
thereunder,2 notice is hereby given that on January 12, 2021, the BOX Exchange LLC BOX or the Exchange filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission SEC or Commission the proposed rule change as described in Items I and II below, which Items have been prepared by the Exchange.
The Commission is publishing this 2 17

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CFR 240.19b4.

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I. Self-Regulatory Organizations Statement of the Terms of Substance of the Proposed Rule Change The Exchange proposes to adopt temporary IM20201 Temporary Extension for Representatives to Function as Principals. The text of the proposed rule change is available from the principal office of the Exchange, at the Commissions Public Reference Room and also on the Exchanges internet website at http
boxoptions.com.
II. Self-Regulatory Organizations Statement of the Purpose of, and Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change In its filing with the Commission, the Exchange included statements concerning the purpose of, and basis for, the proposed rule change and discussed any comments it received on the proposed rule change. The text of those statements may be examined at the places specified in Item IV below. The Exchange has prepared summaries, set forth in sections A, B, and C below, of the most significant parts of such statements.
A. Self-Regulatory Organizations Statement of the Purpose of, and Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change
FR Doc. 202101816 Filed 12721; 8:45 am
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notice to solicit comments on the proposed rule change from interested persons.

1. Purpose The purpose of the proposed rule change is to adopt temporary IM2020
1 Temporary Extension for Representatives to Function as Principals. The proposed rule change would extend the 120-day period that certain individuals on the Exchange can function as a Principal without having successfully passed an applicable qualification examination through April 30, 2021,3 and would apply only to those individuals who were designated to function as a principal prior to January 1, 2021. This proposed rule change is based on a filing recently submitted by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. FINRA 4
3 If BOX wishes to provide additional temporary relief from the rule requirements identified in this proposed rule change beyond April 30, 2021, BOX
will submit a separate rule filing to further extend the temporary extension of time.
4 See Exchange Act Release No. 90617 December 9, 2020, 85 FR 81258 December 15, 2020 SR
FINRA2020043 the FINRA Filing. The Exchange notes that the FINRA Filing also provides temporary relief to individuals registered with FINRA as Operations Professionals under FINRA
Rule 1220. The Exchange does not have a registration category for Operations Professionals
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and is intended to harmonize the Exchanges registration rules with those of FINRA so as to promote uniform standards across the securities industry.
The COVID19 pandemic is an unpredictable, exogenous event that has resulted in unavoidable disruptions to the securities industry and impacted Participant firms, regulators, investors and other stakeholders. In response to COVID19, earlier this year FINRA
began providing temporary relief by way of frequently asked questions FAQs 5 to address disruptions to the administration of FINRA qualification examinations caused by the pandemic that have significantly limited the ability of individuals to sit for examinations due to Prometric test center capacity issues.6
FINRA published the first FAQ on March 20, 2020, providing that individuals who were designated to function as principals under FINRA
Rule 1210.04 7 prior to February 2, 2020, would be given until May 31, 2020, to pass the appropriate principal qualification examination.8 On May 19, and therefore, the Exchange is not proposing to adopt that aspect of the FINRA Filing.
5 See https www.finra.org/rules-guidance/keytopics/covid-19/faqqe.
6 At the outset of the COVID19 pandemic, all FINRA qualification examinations were administered at test centers operated by Prometric.
Based on the health and welfare concerns resulting from COVID19, in March Prometric closed all of its test centers in the United States and Canada and began to slowly reopen some of them at limited capacity in May. Currently, Prometric has resumed testing in many of its United States and Canada test centers, at either full or limited occupancy, based on local and government mandates.
7 BOX Rule 2020d is similar to FINRA Rule 1210.04. The Exchange notes there are several differences between its rule text and FINRAs rule.
FINRAs rule provides that registered persons under the rule must have at least 18 months of experience functioning as a representative within a five-year period immediately preceding their designation as principal, and the person must have fulfilled all applicable prerequisite registration, fee and examination requirements prior to their designation as principal. The Exchanges rule does not have similar qualifying prerequisites. Unlike the Exchanges rule text, FINRAs rule also provides that the requirements of the rule apply to any principal category, and persons registered as an Order Processing Assistant Representative, or a Foreign Associate are not eligible to be designated as a principal under the rule. Lastly, FINRAs rule also accounts for situations in which a person registered as a principal can function in another principal category for a period of 120
calendar days prior to passing an appropriate qualification examination. The Exchange believes these differences are minor in substance and do not materially impact this proposal. Specifically, the Exchange simply seeks to adopt similar relief in regards to its examination requirements for representatives functioning as principals, due to the COVID19 pandemic.
8 FINRA Rule 1210.04 Requirements for Registered Persons Functioning as Principals for a Limited Period allows a member firm to designate certain individuals to function in a principal
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