CFTC Staff Letters

Thailand Futures Exchange Pcls Request for No-Action Relief in Connection with the Offer and Sale in the United States of its Futures Contract Based on the SET50 Index Futures Contract.

The Division of Market Oversight issued a letter granting no-action relief to permit the Brazilian Derivatives Exchange, BM&F Bovespa S.A. – Bolsa de Valores, Mercadorias e Futuros (BM&F), to make its electronic trading and order matching system (GTS) available to persons that have been authorized to directly access GTS from the United States without obtaining contract market designation or registration as a derivatives transaction execution facility pursuant to Sections 5 and 5a of the Commodity Exchange Act, respectively. The relief applies, subject to conditions, to (1) persons located in the U.S. that have been authorized by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to have access to a Globex terminal and that, pursuant to the BM&F-CME Order Routing Agreement, have been granted the right to directly access GTS through a Globex terminal; (2) futures commission merchants (FCM) that submit orders for execution to GTS using the GTS application programming interface (API) for proprietary accounts or from or on behalf of U.S. foreign futures and options customers; and (3) a foreign futures or options customer (authorized customer) of an FCM or a firm that is exempt from registration as an FCM pursuant to Commission Rule 30.10 (Rule 30.10 Firm) that is authorized by an entity with access rights to BM&F (authorized entity) to enter orders directly into the trading system using the GTS API; provided that the authorized entity has a clearing relationship with a BM&F Settlement Rights Holder (clearing member) and, as a requirement for and as a condition of the authorized entity’s permitting direct access to the BM&F GTS API by the authorized customer, the BM&F Settlement Rights Holder, among other things, guarantees and assumes all financial responsibility for all activity conducted through the authorized customer’s direct market access connection.

The Division of Market Oversight issued a letter granting no-action relief to permit Nord Pool ASA (Nord Pool or the Exchange) to make its electronic trading and order matching system (ETS), as well as its Application Program Interface (API), available to Exchange members in the U.S. without obtaining contract market designation or registration as a derivatives transaction execution facility pursuant to Sections 5 and 5a of the CEAct. The relief applies to Nord Pool members in the U.S. that qualify as “Professional Clients” (as defined in the European Union Markets in Financial Derivatives Directive (MiFID)) or as “eligible contract participants” (ECP) (as defined in Section 1a(12) of the CEAct) trading for their proprietary accounts; Nord Pool members that are registered as futures commission merchants (FCM) that submit orders to ETS for execution from or on behalf of U.S. customers that qualify as Professional Clients or as ECPs; firms exempt from such registration pursuant to Commission Rule 30.10 (Rule 30.10 Firms) that accept orders through automated order routing systems for transmission to ETS from or on behalf of U.S. customers that qualify as Professional Clients or ECPs; and Nord Pool members that are registered as Commodity Pool Operators (CPO) or Commodity Trading Advisors (CTA), or exempt from such CPO or CTA registration pursuant to Commission Regulation 4.13 or 4.14, that submit orders for execution on behalf of U.S. pools they operate that qualify as Professional Clients or ECPs or accounts of U.S. customers that qualify as Professional Clients or ECPs, for which they have discretionary authority, respectively, provided that an FCM or Rule 30.10 Firm acts as clearing firm and guarantees without limitation all such trades of the CPO or CTA effected through submission of orders on ETS.

Eurex Deutschlands Request for No-Action Relief in Connection with the Offer and Sale in the United States of its Futures Contracts Based on the SLI Swiss Leader Index, the Swiss Market Index Midcap, the Dow Jones Euro STOXX Select Dividend 30 Stock Index and the TecDAX Index.

Euronext Paris SAs request for no-action relief in connection with the offer and sale in the United States of its futures contracts based on the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Europe Index and the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Euro Zone Index.

The Division of Market Oversight issued a letter amending the no-action relief granted May 24, 2007, permitting the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) to make its electronic trading and order matching system, DME Direct, available to its members and guaranteed customers in the US without obtaining designation as a DCM or registration as a DTEF pursuant to Sections 5 and 5a, respectively, of the CEA. The amendment adds additional conditions to DME’s no-action relief for contracts that it lists that settle against any price of (1) a contract listed for trading on a DCM or DTEF, or (2) a contract listed for trading on an exempt commercial market that has been determined to be a significant price discovery contract. The additional conditions are that DME set position limits or position accountability levels (including related hedge exemption provisions) on these contracts, publish daily trading information, and provide a daily report of large trader positions and a quarterly report concerning positions held that are above the set position limits.

The Division of Market Oversight issued a letter amending the no-action relief granted November 12, 1999, permitting the International Petroleum Exchange of London Limited (now ICE Futures Europe) to make its electronic trading and order matching system available to its members in the US without obtaining contract market designation pursuant to Sections 5 and 5a of the CEA. The amendment adds additional conditions to ICE Futures Europe’s no-action relief for contracts that it lists that settle against any price of (1) a contract listed for trading on a DCM or DTEF, or (2) a contract listed for trading on an exempt commercial market that has been determined to be a significant price discovery contract. The additional conditions are that ICE Futures Europe set position limits or position accountability levels (including related hedge exemption provisions) on these contracts, publish daily trading information, and provide a daily report of large trader positions and a quarterly report concerning positions held that are above the set position limits.

Taiwan Futures Exchanges Request for No-Action Relief in Connection with the Offer and Sale in the United States of its Futures Contract Based on the Taiwan Stock Exchange Non-Finance Non-Electronic Sub-Index.

Eurex Deutschlands Request for No-Action Relief in Connection with the Offer and Sale in the United States of its Futures Contract Based on the RDXxt USD-RDX Extended Index.

Eurex Deutschlands Request for No-Action Relief in Connection with the Offer and Sale in the United States of Eight Futures Contracts Based on Security Indices Derived from the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index.