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

This document corrects incorrect text published in the Federal Register of July 27, 2011, regarding Provisions Common to Registered Entities.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) is proposing rules to implement new statutory provisions enacted by Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. These proposed rules address risk management for cleared trades by futures commission merchants, swap dealers, and major swap participants that are clearing members.

On Monday, August 1, 2011, commencing at 9 a.m. and ending at 4 p.m., staff of Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'') and Securities and Exchange Commission (``SEC'') (each, an ``Agency,'' and collectively, the ``Agencies'') will hold a public roundtable meeting at which invited participants will discuss various international issues related to the implementation of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) is adopting regulations to implement certain provisions of the Dodd- Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). These regulations establish the process by which the Commission will review swaps to determine whether the swaps are required to be cleared.

The Commission is adopting reporting regulations (``Reporting Rules'') that require physical commodity swap and swaption (for ease of reference, collectively ``swaps'') reports. The new regulations require routine position reports from clearing organizations, clearing members and swap dealers and also apply to reportable swap trader positions.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``Commission'' or ``CFTC'') is amending its rules implementing new statutory provisions enacted by titles VII and X of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the ``Dodd-Frank Act''). Section 1093 of the Dodd-Frank Act provides for certain amendments to title V of the Gramm- Leach-Bliley Act (the ``GLB Act''). The GLB Act sets forth certain protections for the privacy of consumer financial information and was amended by the Dodd-Frank Act to affirm the Commission's jurisdiction in this area. The Commission's amendments to its regulations, inter alia, broaden the scope of part 160 to cover two new entities created by title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act: swap dealers and major swap participants.

On June 17, 2011, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'' or the ``Commission'') published for public comment in the Federal Register a proposed order that would grant, pursuant to the Commission's exemptive authority pursuant to the Commodity Exchange Act (``CEA''), certain temporary relief from the provisions of the CEA added or amended by title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (``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 and do not require a rulemaking. The CFTC also proposed to grant temporary 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 the general effective date set forth in section 754 of the Dodd-Frank Act, July 16, 2011. Upon consideration of the full record, the Commission has determined to issue this final exemptive order (``Final Order'') essentially as proposed, with appropriate or necessary modification or clarification.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'' or ``Commission'') is adopting final rules pursuant to section 753 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (``Dodd-Frank Act''), to implement amended subsections (c)(1) and (c)(3) of section 6 of the Commodity Exchange Act (``CEA''). These rules broadly prohibit fraud and manipulation in connection with any swap, or contract of sale of any commodity in interstate commerce, or contract for future delivery on or subject to the rules of any registered entity.

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'').

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of certain information by the agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., Federal agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension of an existing collection of information, and to allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice. This notice solicits comments on requirements relating to gross collection of Exchange-Set margins for Omnibus Accounts.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) is adopting amendments to its regulations as they affect certain commodity pool operators (CPOs) of commodity pools whose units of participation are listed and traded on a national securities exchange (Amendments). Specifically, this action codifies the relief from certain disclosure, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements that Commission staff previously had issued to these CPOs on a case-by-case basis. It also codifies relief from the CPO registration requirement for certain independent directors or trustees of actively-managed commodity pools that Commission staff similarly has issued.

On April 28, 2011, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``Commission'' or ``CFTC'') published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking that would establish initial and variation margin requirements for swap dealers (SDs) and major swap participants (MSPs). Elsewhere today in the Federal Register, the Commission is proposing to adopt capital, financial reporting, and recordkeeping requirements for these same entities, as well as proposing to amend certain capital requirements for futures commission merchants (FCMs) that also register as SDs or MSPs and supplemental capital requirements, and supplemental financial reporting requirements for these FCMs. The Commission now is extending the comment period for the proposed margin regulations so that the comment period will run concurrently with the comment period for the proposed rulemaking on capital requirements being published today.