Commodity Futures Trading Commission October 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``Commission'') is amending its Rules of Practice and Rules Relating to Reparation Proceedings, respectively, to standardize service and filing by electronic means. The amendments also revise rules regarding formatting requirements of reparations documents filed with the Proceedings Clerk.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) is granting an exemption to firms designated by the Tokyo Financial Exchange, Inc. (TFX) from the application of certain of the Commission's foreign futures and option regulations based upon substituted compliance with certain comparable regulatory and self- regulatory requirements of a foreign regulatory authority consistent with conditions specified by the Commission, as set forth herein. This Order is issued pursuant to Commission Regulation 30.10, which permits persons to file a petition with the Commission for exemption from the application of certain of the Regulations set forth in Part 30 and authorizes the Commission to grant such an exemption if such action would not be otherwise contrary to the public interest or to the purposes of the provision from which exemption is sought.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission) is amending its rule which governs the maximum amount of civil monetary penalties, to adjust for inflation. This rule sets forth the maximum, inflation-adjusted dollar amount for civil monetary penalties (CMPs) assessable for violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (Act) and Commission rules and orders thereunder. The rule, as amended, implements the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996. The rules also reflect the higher penalties enacted this year by Congress for violations of the Act prohibiting manipulation and attempted manipulation.

This interpretation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``Commission'') is issued to clarify the appropriate treatment under the commodity broker provisions of the Bankruptcy Code and Part 190 of the Commission's Regulations of claims arising from contracts (``cleared-only contracts'') that, although not executed or traded on a Designated Contract Market or a Derivatives Transaction Execution Facility, are subsequently submitted for clearing through a Futures Commission Merchant (``FCM'') to a Derivatives Clearing Organization (``DCO'').