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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 29 / Tuesday, February 16, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
coordination with the PCAOB more efficient.
F. Delegation to the General Counsel The Commission is clarifying a delegation of authority to the General Counsel. We have previously delegated to the General Counsel authority to approve non-expert, non-privileged, factual testimony by present or former staff members, and the production of non-privileged documents, when validly subpoenaed, and to assert governmental privileges on behalf of the Commission in litigation where the Commission appears as a party or in response to third party subpoenas.69
Our rules specify, however, that those functions are not delegated to the General Counsel with respect to proceedings in which the Chairman or the General Counsel determines that separation of functions requirements or other circumstances would make inappropriate the General Counsels exercise of such delegated functions.70
Rather, with respect to such proceedings, such functions had been delegated to the Executive Assistant to the Chairman.71 The Executive Assistant to the Chairman is a position that is no longer in use. We are therefore removing and reserving the provisions relating to description of and delegation to the Executive Assistant to the Chairman.72 We have determined, instead, to delegate such functions in those circumstances to the Secretary of the Commission.73 This delegation is similar to a prior delegation that we made to the Secretary for functions otherwise carried out by the General Counsel when the Chairman or General Counsel determines that separation of functions requirements or other circumstances would make exercise of the delegated functions by the General Counsel inappropriate.74

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G. Delegation to the Director of the Division of Examinations The Commission is eliminating certain current delegations of authority to the Director of Examinations that Examinations does not use. The Commission has previously delegated to the Director of Examinations authority to grant, deny, and revoke applications for confidential treatment filed pursuant to section 24b of the Exchange Act and 69 Article
3014g.
3014i.
71 Current Article 3014i.
72 Article 16 removed and reserved; Article 30
16 removed and reserved.
73 Article 3014i.
74 Article 3014k. In addition, we are correcting a typographical error in the rules delegating authority to the General Counsel. Article 3014b.
70 Article
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rule 24b2 thereunder; 75 to administer the provisions of section 24d of the Exchange Act; 76 to notify the Securities Investor Protection Corporation SIPC of facts concerning the activities and the operational and financial condition of any registered broker or dealer which is or appears to be a member of SIPC and which is in or approaching financial difficulty within the meaning of section 5 of the Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970, as amended; 77 to delay certain inspections of certain newly registered broker-dealers under section 15b2C
of the Exchange Act; 78 and, in certain circumstances, to grant or deny exemptions from 17 CFR 240.17a25
rule 17a25 under the Exchange Act, among other authorities.79 The Commission is also eliminating a duplicative delegation that authorizes the issuance of orders canceling registrations or pending applications of registration of certain investment advisers.80 We understand that the Director of Examinations does not exercise the above authorities, and we have determined that it is appropriate to eliminate them. In addition, we are updating the name and description of the responsibilities of the Director of Examinations in our rules to include the current name and the responsibilities related to security-based swaps.81
H. Delegation to the Director of the Office of Credit Ratings The Commission is delegating authority to the Director of the Office of Credit Ratings OCR for functions that are currently delegated to the Director of TM and others. First, we are delegating authority to grant and deny applications for confidential treatment 75 Current
Article 3018b.
Article 3018e providing for administration of provisions related to certain records obtained from foreign securities authorities.
77 15 U.S.C. 78aa et seq.; current Article 3018f.
Currently, rather than exercising this authority directly, it is Examinationss practice to notify the Division of Trading and Markets, which will then determine whether to exercise its Directors authority to notify SIPC. See Article 303d delegating similar authority to the Director of Trading and Markets.
78 Current Article 3018g.
79 Current Article 3018h.
80 Current Article 3018k2. We believe that this authority is duplicative of authority separately delegated to the Director of Examinations to authorize the issuance of orders cancelling registration or applications for registration of certain investment advisers. Article 3018i1. As discussed above, we are also delegating authority to the Director of Examinations that is similar to the authority delegated to the Director of TM
concerning security-based swaps. Article 3018m;
see also supra footnotes 1420 and accompanying text.
81 Article 19c.
76 Current
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filed under section 24b of the Exchange Act,82 and to revoke a grant of confidential treatment for any such application.83 The authority to grant and deny applications for confidential treatment and revoke a grant of confidential treatment is delegated to several members of our staff.84 Second, we are delegating authority to administer the provisions of rule 24c1
under the Exchange Act,85 which the Commission has previously delegated to other members of the staff.86 Finally, we are delegating authority to administer the provisions of section 24d of the Exchange Act,87 which the Commission has similarly delegated to other members of the staff.88 We believe it is appropriate for the Director of OCR to exercise such functions and that delegating this authority will conserve our resources and improve efficiency. In addition, we are adding a description of the responsibilities of the Director of OCR in our rules.89
I. Additional Amendments to Division and Office Descriptions and Delegations We are also amending the description for certain other divisions and offices to better reflect the current name or duties of those divisions and offices.90 In addition, we are amending a number of our division and office descriptions and delegations to remove gender-specific language from them.91
82 15

U.S.C. 78xb.
303ba.
84 See Article 301f3 delegating similar authority to the Director of CF; Article 303a19
delegating similar authority to the Director of TM;
Article 305c14 delegating similar authority to the Director of IM.
85 Article 303bb1.
86 See Article 301f14 delegating similar authority to the Director of CF; Article 303a53
delegating similar authority to the Director of TM;
Article 304a7 delegating similar authority to the Director of the Division of Enforcement; Article 305c13 delegating similar authority to the Director of IM; Article 3011d delegating similar authority to the Chief Accountant; Article 30
14m1 delegating similar authority to the General Counsel; Article 3018a delegating similar authority to the Director of Examinations.
87 15 U.S.C. 78xd.
88 See Article 301f15 delegating similar authority to the Director of CF; Article 303a54
delegating similar authority to the Director of TM;
Article 304a9 delegating similar authority to the Director of the Division of Enforcement; Article 305c14 delegating similar authority to the Director of IM; Article 3014m2 delegating similar authority to the General Counsel; Article 3017b delegating similar authority to the Director of the Office of International Affairs.
89 Article 19e.
90 Article 11; Article 13; Article 13b; Article 24a;
Article 26a; Article 27. We have also determined to eliminate the description of the Chief Management Analyst position, as this position is no longer in use. Article 17 removed and reserved.
91 Article 10; Article 11; Article 13a; Article 13b;
Article 14; Article 21; Article 21a; Article 24;
83 Article
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