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

In accordance with Executive Order 13563, ``Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review,'' the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'' or ``Commission'') intends to review its existing regulations to evaluate their continued effectiveness in achieving the objectives for which they were adopted. In this regard, the Commission has developed a plan to identify and evaluate its regulations periodically to determine whether any such regulations should be modified, expanded, streamlined or repealed in order to make the agency's regulatory program more effective (the ``Plan'').

Pursuant to section 754 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (``Dodd-Frank Act''), the general effective date for certain provisions of subtitle A of title VII of the Dodd- Frank Act (``Title VII'') that do not require a rulemaking is 360 days after enactment, or July 16, 2011, unless another effective date is specifically provided. Following the general effective date, market participants may be subject to certain Commodity Exchange Act (``CEA'' or ``Act'') requirements but not others. To provide greater clarity regarding the applicability of various statutory and regulatory requirements, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'' or the ``Commission'') is proposing to grant, pursuant to its section 4(c) exemptive authority, temporary relief in two parts with respect to various requirements of the CEA that apply or may apply to certain agreements, contracts, and transactions. In part one, the Commission is proposing to temporarily exempt persons or entities with respect to provisions of the CEA added or amended by the Dodd-Frank Act that reference one or more terms regarding entities or instruments that Title VII requires be ``further defined,'' such as the terms ``swap,'' ``swap dealer,'' ``major swap participant,'' or ``eligible contract participant,'' to the extent that requirements or portions of such provisions specifically relate to such referenced terms. In part two, the Commission is proposing to grant relief from certain provisions of the CEA that will or may apply to certain agreements, contracts, and transactions in exempt or excluded commodities as a result of the repeal of various CEA exemptions and exclusions as of July 16, 2011.

On Thursday, June 16, 2011, commencing at 9 a.m. and ending at 3:45 p.m., staff of the Agencies will hold a public roundtable meeting at which invited participants will discuss various issues related to the proposed definitions of the terms ``swap dealer,'' ``security-based swap dealer,'' ``major swap participant,'' and ``major security-based swap participant'' under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the ``Act''). See 75 FR 80174 (Dec. 21, 2010). The discussion will be open to the public with seating on a first-come, first-served basis. Members of the public may also listen to the meeting by telephone. Call-in participants should be prepared to provide their first name, last name and affiliation. The information for the conference call is set forth below. U.S. Toll-Free: (866) 844-9416. International Toll: information on international dialing can be found at the following link: https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/ PressReleases/internationalnumbers021811.html. Conference ID: 7731946. A transcript of the public roundtable discussion will be published at https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/Events/2011/index.htm. The roundtable discussion will take place in the Conference Center at the CFTC's headquarters, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street, NW., Washington, DC.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the ``Commission'') hereby proposes rules to implement new statutory provisions enacted by Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the ``Dodd-Frank Act''). Specifically, the proposed rules contained herein impose requirements on futures commission merchants (``FCMs'') and derivatives clearing organizations (``DCOs'') regarding the treatment of cleared swaps customer contracts (and related collateral), and make conforming amendments to bankruptcy provisions applicable to commodity brokers under the Commodity Exchange Act (the ``CEA'').

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (``Dodd-Frank Act'' or ``DFA'') established a comprehensive new statutory framework for swaps and security-based swaps. The Dodd-Frank Act repeals some sections of the Commodity Exchange Act (``CEA'' or ``Act''), amends others, and adds a number of new provisions. The DFA also requires the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'' or ``Commission'') to promulgate a number of rules to implement the new framework. The Commission has proposed numerous rules to satisfy its obligations under the DFA. Because the Dodd-Frank Act makes so many changes to the existing statutory and regulatory frameworks, the proposed rules would make a number of conforming changes to the CFTC's regulations to integrate them more fully with the new statutory and regulatory framework (``Proposal'').