Commodity Futures Trading Commission February 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Technology Advisory Committee will hold a rescheduled public meeting on March 1, 2011, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., at the CFTC's Washington, DC headquarters.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'') and the Securities and Exchange Commission (``SEC'') (collectively, ``we'' or the ``Commissions'') are proposing new rules under the Commodity Exchange Act and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to implement provisions of Title IV of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The proposed SEC rule would require investment advisers registered with the SEC that advise one or more private funds to file Form PF with the SEC. The proposed CFTC rule would require commodity pool operators (``CPOs'') and commodity trading advisors (``CTAs'') registered with the CFTC to satisfy certain proposed CFTC filing requirements by filing Form PF with the SEC, but only if those CPOs and CTAs are also registered with the SEC as investment advisers and advise one or more private funds. The information contained in Form PF is designed, among other things, to assist the Financial Stability Oversight Council in its assessment of systemic risk in the U.S. financial system. These advisers would file these reports electronically, on a confidential basis.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) is proposing regulations to implement new statutory provisions established under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). Section 731 of the Dodd-Frank Act added a new section 4s(i) to the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), which requires the Commission to prescribe standards for swap dealers and major swap participants related to the timely and accurate confirmation, processing, netting, documentation, and valuation of swaps. The proposed rule would set forth parameters for the inclusion of an orderly liquidation termination provision in the swap trading relationship documentation for swap dealers and major swap participants.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``Commission'' or ``CFTC'') is charged with proposing rules to implement new statutory provisions enacted by Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (``Dodd-Frank Act''). The Dodd-Frank Act provides that swaps in an agricultural commodity (as defined by the Commission) are prohibited unless entered into pursuant to a rule, regulation or order of the Commission adopted pursuant to Commodity Exchange Act (``CEA'' or ``Act''). The Dodd-Frank Act also includes options (other than an option on a futures contract) in its definition of swaps. Broadly speaking, the rules proposed herein would implement regulations whereby swaps in agricultural commodities and all commodity options (including options on both agricultural and non-agricultural commodities), other than options on futures, may transact subject to the same rules as all other swaps. The proposed rules for swaps in an agricultural commodity would repeal and replace the Commission's regulations concerning the exemption of swap agreements. Because the Dodd-Frank Act defines commodity options (other than options on futures) as swaps, the proposed rules for options would substantially amend the Commission's regulations regarding commodity option transactions. Also, current regulations on domestic exchange-traded commodity option transactions applies not only to exchange-traded options on futures (which are excluded from the Dodd-Frank definition of a swap), but also to exchange-traded options on physical commodities (which are within the Dodd-Frank swap definition). Therefore, the proposed rules would remove references to options on physical commodities from the Commission's regulations for exchange-traded options on futures.