CFTC Staff Letter 13-08: No-Action Relief from Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements for End Users Eligible for the Trade Option Exemption

U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
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Division of Market Oversight
CFTC Letter No. 13-08
No-Action
April 5, 2013
Division of Market Oversight
Staff No-Action Relief from the Reporting Requirements of § 32.3(b)(1) of the Commission’s Regulations, and Certain Recordkeeping Requirements of § 32.3(b), for End Users Eligible for the Trade Option Exemption On April 27, 2012, the Commission published final commodity option rules and interim final rules (“IFR”) incorporating a trade option exemption (“TOE”), subject to conditions, from most provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd￾Frank”), 1 the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”), 2 and the Commission’s regulations (“Commodity Options Release”). 3 The Commission requested comment in the Commodity Options Release on a number of questions in connection with the TOE. 4 In the Commodity Options Release, the Commission reiterated that commodity options are “statutorily defined as swaps” and thus “subject to the same rules applicable to any other swap.”5 However, the Commission added that “if the offeror, the offeree, and the characteristics of the option transaction meet the requirements of the trade option exemption, such option transactions will be exempt from the general Dodd-Frank regime, subject to specified ongoing conditions and compliance requirements discussed below, as applicable.”6 The Commission also advised interested parties that: