Commodity Futures Trading Commission June 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On April 15, 2010, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'' or the ``Commission'') published for public comment in the Federal Register \1\ a proposal to exempt the trading and clearing of certain contracts called ``options'' and other contracts called ``security futures'' on each of ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares (``Gold Products'') and ETFS Physical Silver Shares (``Silver Products'') (collectively, ``Gold and Silver Products''), which would be traded on national securities exchanges (as to options) and designated contract markets registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (``SEC'') as limited purpose national securities exchanges (as to security futures), and in either case cleared through the Options Clearing Corporation (``OCC'') in its capacity as a registered securities clearing agency, from the provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act (``CEA'') \2\ and the regulations thereunder, to the extent necessary to permit them to be so traded and cleared. Authority for this exemption is found in Section 4(c) of the CEA.\3\ The Commission also requested comment on whether it should amend all orders issued exempting the trading and clearing of options on gold and silver share-based products from CEA provisions and Commission regulations thereunder, to impose market and large trader reporting requirements under Commission regulations to the trading and clearing of the options

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) is granting an exemption to firms designated by Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Berhad (Bursa Derivatives), a subsidiary of Bursa Malaysia Berhad (Bursa Malaysia), from the application of certain of the Commission's foreign futures and options 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 Joint CFTC-SEC Advisory Committee on Emerging Regulatory Issues is providing notice that it will hold a public meeting on Tuesday, June 22, 2010, in the Auditorium, Room L-002, at the SEC's main offices, 100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC. The meeting will begin at 1 p.m. (EST) and will be open to the public. The Committee meeting will be webcast on the SEC's Web site at https:// www.sec.gov. Persons needing special accommodations to take part because of a disability should notify a contact person listed below. The public is invited to submit written statements to the Committee.

Hard Eight Futures, LLC (``HEF'') has petitioned the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``Commission'' or ``CFTC'') for exemptive relief, pursuant to Section 4(c) of the Commodity Exchange Act (``Act'' or ``CEA''),\1\ to permit U.S. eligible contract participants (``ECPs''),\2\ subject to certain conditions, to trade foreign non- narrow-based security index futures contracts where the foreign exchange has not obtained a staff no-action letter with respect to the offer and sale of such futures contracts to U.S. persons. The conditions proposed in HEF's petition are: (i) Relief is only available for futures on broad-based security indexes; (ii) the securities comprising such an index are principally traded on, by, or through any exchange or market located outside the U.S.; (iii) the Commission must have a Memorandum of Understanding with the foreign exchange's regulator with respect to information sharing and cooperation; \3\ and (iv) an ECP seeking to claim the exemption would file notice with the Commission, which would be effective with respect to that person and index, unless the Commission notifies the person within ten (10) business days that the claimant does not meet the requirements of the exclusion, or that the index does not qualify as broad based.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'' or ``Commission'') proposes a rule (``Proposal'') that requires Designated Contract Markets (DCMs), Derivatives Transaction Execution Facilities (DTEFs), and Exempt Commercial Markets (ECMs) that list significant price discovery contracts (SPDCs) that offer co-location and/or proximity hosting services to market participants to have equal access to co-location and/or proximity hosting services without artificial barriers that act to exclude some market participants from accessing these services or that act to bar otherwise qualified third-party