CFTC Staff Letter 12-55: Time-Limited No-Action Relief for Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants From Compliance With Reporting Obligations Under 17 CFR § 45.4(b)(2)(ii)

U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
Three Lafayette Centre
1155 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20581
Telephone: (202) 418-5000
Facsimile: (202) 418-5521 www.cftc.gov
Division of Market Oversight
CFTC Letter No. 12-55
No-Action
December 17, 2012
Division of Market Oversight
Mr. Robert G. Pickel
Chief Executive Officer
International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc.
1101 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20004
Re: Time-Limited No-Action Relief for Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants From Compliance With Reporting Obligations Under 17 CFR § 45.4(b)(2)(ii) Dear Mr. Pickel, This is in response to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc.’s (“ISDA”) letter dated December 13, 2012 (“Letter”), to the Division of Market Oversight (“Division”) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission”). In the Letter, ISDA, on behalf of its members that intend to register as Swap Dealers (“SDs”) and Major Swap Participants (“MSPs”), and other similarly situated persons, requests that the Division confirm that it will not recommend that the Commission take enforcement action against SDs and MSPs that have reporting obligations under regulation 45.4(b)(2)(ii)(valuation reporting for cleared swaps) of the Commission’s regulations, for failing to report certain continuation data to the extent that such reporting must be made to a swap data repository (“SDR”) for which data connectivity is not tested and consistently available. Under its proposed relief, SDs and MSPs would not be required to report valuation data, as required under regulation 45.4(b)(2)(ii), for cleared swaps in which the SD or MSP is the reporting counterparty. ISDA requests that such relief be effective until July 1, 2013. Applicable Regulatory Requirements The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act 1 (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) added to the Commodity Exchange Act 2 (the “CEA”) provisions requiring the retention and reporting of data related to swap transactions. New section 2(a)(13)(G) of the CEA requires that all swaps, both cleared and uncleared, be reported to a registered SDR. New section 21(b)