CFTC Staff Letter 18-35: No-Action Relief for General Partner of Commodity Pool from CPO Registration

U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
Three Lafayette Centre
1155 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20581
Telephone: (202) 418-5000 mkulkin@cftc.gov
Division of Swap Dealer and
Intermediary Oversight
Matthew B. Kulkin
Director
CFTC Letter No. 18-35
No-Action
July 19, 2018
Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight Re: Request For No-Action Relief from the Requirement to Register as a Commodity Pool Operator under Section 4m(1) of the Commodity Exchange Act Dear :
This is in response to your letter, dated May 22, 2018, to the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (the “Division”) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “Commission” or the “CFTC”). In the letter, you request, on behalf of “A” that “A” receive relief from the requirement to register with the Commission as a commodity pool operator (a “CPO”) under section 4m(1) of the Commodity Exchange Act (the “Act”)1 in connection with its role as the general partner of a commodity pool, “B”, (the “Pool”). Instead, you state that “A” will delegate certain of its responsibilities as the CPO of the Pool to “C” pursuant to the applicable requirements of CFTC Staff Letter No. 14-126 (“Letter 14-126”),2 except for criterion 6 therein as discussed below. Background On May 12, 2014, the Division issued CFTC Staff Letter No. 14-69 (“Letter 14-69”), which was in response to numerous requests asking that the Division provide no-action relief for failure to register as a CPO under section 4m(1) of the Act, if another person would serve as the registered CPO of the commodity pool at issue (the “Designated CPO”) in lieu of the requesting CPO (the “Delegating CPO”). Letter 14-69 developed a standardized, streamlined approach pursuant to which the Division addressed these types of relief requests, and set forth certain requirements that were based on prior staff no-action letters. On October 15, 2014, the Division issued Letter 14-126, which was a further refinement of the relief addressed in Letter 14-69. Like Letter 14-69, Letter 14-126 provided no-action relief for failure to register as a CPO under section 4m(1) of the Act, if another person would