FormT-4.Suppoting Statement.Final.2025

SUPPORTING STATEMENT
FOR THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT
INFORMATION COLLECTION SUBMISSION FOR FORM T-4

A.

JUSTIFICATION
1.

Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

Section 304(c) of the Trust Indenture Act of 1939 (“Act”) permits the Securities and
Exchange Commission (“Commission”) to exempt securities from requirements of the Act if
such securities are issued under an indenture under which the securities were outstanding when
the Act was adopted in 1939 and were still outstanding on January 1, 1959. It must be shown that
compliance with a particular provision of the Act would require the consent of holders of
securities outstanding under the indenture at the time of the application or would impose an
undue burden on the issuer, having due regard to the public interest and the interest of investors.
Under Rule 4c-1 (17 CFR 260.4c-1), issuers may file a Form T-4 (17 CFR 269.4) to apply for an
exemption pursuant to Section 304(c) of the Act.
2.

Purpose and Use of the Information Collection

As noted above, Form T-4 is used by issuers to apply for an exemption pursuant to
Section 304(c) of the Act.
3.

Consideration Given to Information Technology

Form T-4 is filed electronically with the Commission on the Electronic Data Gathering,
Analysis, and Retrieval (“EDGAR”) system.
4.

Duplication of Information

Form T-4 contains information regarding the status of an issuer and its securities under
Section 304(c) of the Act. No similar information exists.
5.

Reducing the Burden on Small Entities

Form T-4 is not filed by small entities.
6.

Consequences of Not Conducting Collection

Form T-4 is filed only once and similar information is non-existent. Furthermore, fewer
collections would eliminate a basis for an exemptive order under Section 304(c) of the Act.
7.

Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances.

8.

Consultations with Persons Outside the Agency

No comments were received on this request during the 60-day comment period prior to
OMB’s review on this submission.
9.

Payment or Gift to Respondents

No payment or gift has been provided to any respondents.
10.

Confidentiality

Form T-4 is a public document.
11.

Sensitive Questions

No information of a sensitive nature, including social security numbers, will be required
under this collection of information. The information collection collects basic Personally
Identifiable Information (PII) that may include name, job title, and work address. However, the
agency has determined that the information collection does not constitute a system of record for
purposes of the Privacy Act. Information is not retrieved by a personal identifier. In accordance
with Section 208 of the E-Government Act of 2002, the agency has conducted a Privacy Impact
Assessment (PIA) of the EDGAR system, in connection with this collection of information. The
EDGAR PIA, published on February 18, 2025, is provided as a supplemental document and is
also available at https://www.sec.gov/privacy.
12.

Estimate of Respondent Reporting Burden
Estimated Reporting Burden
Information
Collection
Title

OMB Control
Number

Number of
Responses

Burden
Hours

Form T-4

3235-0107

3

3

For purposes of the Paperwork Reduction Act (“PRA”), we estimate that Form T-4 takes
approximately 5 hours per response to comply with the collection of information requirements
and is filed by approximately 3 respondents annually. We further estimate that 20% of the
collection of information burden is carried by the filer internally and that 80% of the burden of
preparation is carried by outside professionals retained by the filer to assist in the preparation of
the form. Based on our estimates, we estimate that 20% of the 5 hours per response (1 hour) is
prepared by the filer for a total annual reporting burden of 3 hours (1 hour per response x 3
responses). For administrative convenience, the presentation of the total related to the paperwork
burden hours has been rounded to the nearest whole number.

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We derived our burden hour estimates by estimating the average number of hours it
would take the filer to issue securities under an indenture to compile the necessary information
and data, prepare and review disclosure, file documents and retain records. In connection with
rule amendments to the form, we occasionally receive PRA estimates from public commenters
about incremental burdens that are used in our burden estimates. We believe that the actual
burdens will likely vary among individual companies based on the size and complexity of their
organization and the nature of their operations. The burden hours estimate is made solely for the
purpose of the PRA.
13.

Estimate of Total Annualized Cost Burden
Estimated Cost Burden
Information
Collection
Title

OMB Control
Number

Number of
Responses

Cost
Burden

Form T-4

3235-0107

3

$7,200

We estimate that 80% of the 5 hours per response (4 hours) is prepared by the filer’s
outside professionals. We estimate an hourly cost of $600 for outside professional services used
in connection with public company reporting. This estimate is based on our consultations with
registrants and professional firms who regularly assist registrants in preparing and filing
disclosure documents with the Commission. Our estimates reflect average burdens, and
therefore, some companies may experience costs in excess of our estimates and some companies
may experience costs that are lower than our estimates. We estimate the total annual cost to be
$7,200 ($600 x 4 hours x 3 responses annually). For administrative convenience, the presentation
of the total related to the paperwork cost burden has been rounded to the nearest dollar. The cost
estimate is made solely for the purpose of the PRA.
14.

Costs to Federal Government

The annual cost of reviewing and processing disclosure documents, including registration
statements, post-effective amendments, proxy statements, annual reports and other filings of
operating companies amounted to approximately $131,724,880 in fiscal year 2023, based on the
Commission’s computation of the value of staff time devoted to this activity and related
overhead.

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15.

Reason for Change in Burden
Summary of the Change in Burden Hours and Cost Burden
Annual No. of Responses

Annual Time Burden
(Hours)

Annual Burden Cost
Burden ($)

IC
Title

Previously
Approved

Requested

No
change in
No. of
responses

Previously
Approved

Requested

No
change
In
Burden

Previously
Approved

Request
Cost
burden

Increase
In
Cost
Burden

Form
T-4

3

3

0

0

0

0

$4,800

$7,200

$2,400

The increase of $2,400 in cost burden is due to an adjustment. The Commission increased
the cost burden per hour estimate from $400 per hour to $600 per hour for outside professionals.
16.

Information Collection Planned for Statistical Purposes

The information collection is not planned for statistical methods.
17.

Approval to Omit Expiration Date

We request authorization to omit the expiration date on the electronic version of the form.
Including the expiration date on the electronic version of the form will result in increased costs,
because the need to make changes to the form may not follow the application’s scheduled
version release dates. The OMB control number will be displayed.
18.

Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

There are no exceptions to certification for PRA submissions.

B.

STATISTICAL METHODS
The information collection does not employ statistical methods.

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