CFTC Staff Letters Archive

CFTC Staff Letters Archive provides Letters from 2007 and earlier. For Letters published 2008 or later visit the All Letters page.

There are no Advisory Letters or Other Written Communications for 2007 or earlier.

Date	PDF and Description
05/31/2002	02-61 ; Rule 4.22(f);; No-Action A CPO which had claimed an extension has requested an additional extension. The additional time is required because the CPO has not yet received information from certain investee funds.
05/31/2002	02-60 ; Rule 4.7;; No-Action The CPO of a 4.7 fund of funds pool requested an exemption to provide quarterly reports to participants 45 calendar days after the end of the reporting period, rather than 30 calendar days after quarter-end, as required by Rule 4.7(b)(2). The exemption was granted based on the fact that, after substantial efforts were made and due to reasons beyond the control of the CPO, the financial information from the sub-funds could not be received earlier.
05/24/2002	02-72 ; Regulation 4.22;; No-Action The Division of Trading and Markets provided exemptive relief to a registered CPO from the periodic and annual reporting requirements of Rule 4.22 in connection with its operation of master funds that have as their sole participants feeder funds that are also operated by the CPO. The relief is subject to the conditions that: (i) the CPO remains the CPO of the Master Funds and the Feeder Funds; (ii) the CPO limits participation in the Master Funds to the Feeder Funds, and any fund for which the CPO is the sole CPO; and (iii) the annual reports of the Feeder Funds contain financial statements that include, among other information, the fees associated with the operation of the Master Funds expressed in dollars and a detailed schedule of investments made by the Master Funds.
05/24/2002	02-71 ; Regulation 4.22;; No-Action The Division of Trading and Markets provided exemptive relief to a registered CPO from the periodic and annual reporting requirements of Rule 4.22 in connection with its operation of a master fund that has as its sole participants two feeder funds that are also operated by the CPO. The relief is subject to the conditions that: (i) the CPO remain the CPO of the Master Fund and the Feeder Funds; (ii) participation in the Master Fund is limited to the Feeder Funds, and any fund for which the CPO is the sole CPO; and (iii) the annual reports of the Feeder Funds contain financial statements that include, among other information, the fees associated with the operation of the Master Fund expressed in dollars and a detailed schedule of investments made by the Master fund.
05/17/2002	02-59 ; Section 4m(1) of the Act; CFTC Rule 4.14(a)(1);; No-Action The Division of Trading and Markets issued a letter granting no-action relief to permit a power marketer to provide commodity trading advice to electric cooperatives and other participants in the wholesale energy market, without registering as a commodity trading advisor. This relief was based upon, among other reasons, the representation that the commodity trading advice would be limited to hedging transactions and would be offered only in conjunction with the provision of cash market services to entities that qualify as "eligible contract participants" under the Commodity Exchange Act.
05/16/2002	02-89 ; Section 4m(1);; No-Action The Division of Trading and Markets took a CPO and CTA registration "no-action" position with respect to a state-regulated insurance company's operation of one or more insurance company separate accounts. The premiums paid by purchasers of a life insurance product would be invested in, inter alia, pools operated by registered CPOs. Factors supporting granting the request included: (1) the investment manager allocating separate account assets would be registered CTA (and investee pools would all be operated by registered CPOs); (2) the requester was a state-regulated insurance company and the insurance product would be sold by SEC-registered broker-dealers; (3) the requester would design the insurance features of the proposed program and would not participate in the management of commodities-related investments (which will be the responsibility of a registered CTA); (4) separate account assets would be exposed to the commodity interest markets only indirectly through limited liability vehicles; and (5) only QEPs would be allowed to purchase the products.
05/16/2002	02-58 ; Rule 4.22(f)(1);; No-Action A Commodity Pool Operator requests an extension of time to file two Pools' financial statements, where the Pools' auditors are delayed due to implementing a new AICPA guideline pertaining to the amortization of premiums and discounts on preferred securities. An extension until May 31, 2002, was granted.
05/07/2002	02-56 ; Section 17(j); Regulation 3.12(d);; No-Action As part of the change from a paper-based registration system to an online registration system, NFA, a registered futures association, will not be able to process any registration filings for a two week "quiet period" as of the end of business on May 17, 2002. As a result of this "quiet period," persons could be disadvantaged because they could incur a late filing fee if the 20-day period during which they must file a Form 8-T expires during the "quiet period." Also, individuals who would be eligible for a special temporary license would lose that eligibility if the 60-day period within which they must file a new application after leaving their prior sponsor expiries during the "quiet period." NFA asked that it be permitted to waive the late filing fee for any late Form 8-T filed within the first 20 days that the online registration system is available. Additionally, NFA asked that it be permitted to issue a special temporary license to eligible individuals during the "quiet period." To obtain the temporary license, the sponsor must notify NFA that the individual has been employed as an AP and must file an electronic application for the individual within 20 days after the online registration system is available. The Division of Trading and Markets indicated that permitting NFA to waive the late fee and to grant a special temporary license in the manner described, would not be contrary to the public interest and the purposes of the Act and the Commission's rules thereunder.
05/06/2002	02-70 ; Regulation 4.23;; No-Action The Division of Trading and Markets provided exemptive relief to a registered CPO from the books and records location requirements of Rule 4.23 such that the CPO may maintain its books and records at the main business office of an affiliated company that provides operational support to the CPO. The relief is subject to the conditions that: (1) the CPO notify the Division if the location of any of the books and records required by Rule 4.23 changes from that as represented to the Division; (2) the CPO remains responsible for ensuring that all books and records required by Rule 4.23 are maintained in accordance with Rule 1.31 and for assuring the availability of such records to the Commission, NFA, or any other agency authorized to review such books and records in accordance with the Act and Commission regulations; (3) within forty-eight hours after a request by a representative of the foregoing, the CPO will obtain the original books and records and provide them for inspection at its main business office; and (4) the CPO discloses in its Disclosure Documents the location of all books and records required under Commission regulation 4.23. The exemption is further subject to the condition that the CPO/CTA remains fully responsible for compliance with Rule 4.23.
05/06/2002	02-57 ; Rule 4.22;; No-Action The Division of Trading and Markets further extended an existing exemption from the reporting requirements of Rule 4.22 with respect to the operation by two affiliated registered CPOs of certain investee pools operated solely for the purpose of facilitating the trading of investor pools operated by the same CPOs to cover the operation of two additional investee pools made part of the structure that was the subject of the original exemption, The extension was based on the following conditions: (1) that the affiliated CPOs remain the CPOs of the new investee pools; (2) that participation in the new investee pools remain restricted to feeder funds operated by the same CPOs; and (3) that the feeder fund annual reports include information about the nature and amount of fees associated with the operation of the new investee pools and a detailed schedule of investments made by the new investee pools.