On 19 December 2011, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) issued a final order (the “Final Order”) regarding the effective date of swap regulation under the Dodd-Frank Act. Certain provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act (the “CEA”) addressing the regulation of swaps were originally scheduled to take effect on 16 July 2011, the general effective date of the Dodd-Frank Act. On 14 July 2011, recognizing that the rulemaking process had not progressed to a point sufficient to enact the pending swap regulations, the CFTC granted temporary exemptive relief from certain provisions of the CEA until 31 December 2011. On 25 October 2011, the CFTC published in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Amendment proposing an extension of the temporary exemptive relief granted on 14 July 2011 until possibly 16 July 2012. After a period during which parties were invited to submit comments on the Notice of Proposed Amendment, the CFTC has issued the Final Order, under which the CFTC has determined to retain an outmost expiry date of 16 July 2012 for the exemptive relief granted from the relevant provisions of the CEA with respect to swap regulation.
For more information on the Notice of Proposed Amendment and the extension of the effective date of swap regulation, please see our article from the October 2011 Mayer Brown Global Corporate Insurance & Regulatory Bulletin, CFTC proposes extension of effective date of swap regulation.
