The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is proposing to extend the current collection of information under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 related to investment companies. According to rule 0-1 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, which was amended in 2001, funds relying on specific exemptions must have independent legal counsel whose independence is verified by the fund's independent directors. The SEC estimates that around 1,010 funds need to spend approximately 0.75 hours annually to meet these requirements, with an overall compliance cost of about $175,523. The SEC invites public comments on whether this information collection is necessary and how it can be improved or made less burdensome.
Simple Explanation
The SEC wants to make sure that some special money groups, called funds, have honest lawyers who are checked by their bosses. They're thinking about what this checking might cost and if there's a better way to do it, so they're asking people to give ideas.