On July 3, the OCC issued a final Order on the effective date for swap regulation. The OCC previously extended the temporary exemptive relief from the Commodity Exchange Act that otherwise would have taken effect on July 16, 2011, the general effective date of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act. The final Order extends the previous extension with certain modifications, including: (i) removing references to entities terms such as “swap dealer”, “major swap participant”, and “eligible contract participant”, (ii) extending the potential latest expiration of the Order to December 31 or, depending on the nature of the relief, such other date as determined by the Commission, (iii) allowing the clearing of agricultural swaps; and (iv) removing references to the exempt commercial market and board of trade grandfather relief. The Order is effective immediately. CFTC Release.
final order
CFTC Proposed Extension of the Effective Date for Swap Regulation
On October 18, the CFTC proposed to amend a final order issued on July 14 granting temporary exemptive relief from certain provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act that would have taken effect on July 16. The proposed order would extend such exemptive relief from December 31 to July 16, 2012. The original order grants relief from: (i) provisions added or amended by Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act that reference one or more terms regarding entities or instruments that Title VII requires to be further defined and (ii) provisions that 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. CFTC Fact Sheet.