CFTC Staff Letters

The Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight provided no-action relief to the general partner of a commodity pool from registering as a CPO under Section 4m(1) of the Commodity Exchange Act, and allowed an affiliated, registered CPO (“designee”) to serve as the CPO of the pool instead, where, among other things: (1) the general partner and the designee are under common ownership and control; (2) the general partner has delegated all of its management authority to the designee; (3) the general partner does not engage in the solicitation of investors for the pool and does not manage property of the pool; and (4) the general partner and designee executed and submitted to the Division a written acknowledgement of joint and several liability for any violation by either of them of the Act or the Commission’s regulations.

The CPO of a commodity pool requested relief from Commission Regulations 4.22(c) and (d), which require the filing and distribution of a certified Annual Report for the pool. The pool began trading in 2007 and had a net asset value of $1X,XXX. The CPO submitted signed waivers from the pool’s eight participants consenting to the exemption from the certified annual relief requirement. DCIO granted relief pursuant to Commission Regulations 140.93 and 4.12(a) conditioned upon the future filing and distribution of a certified Annual Report for the period from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2010.

The CPO of two commodity pools requested exemptive relief to permit it to file Annual Reports for the pools for the period from the inception of trading on November 1, 2009 through December 31, 2010. The pools had a total of three participants at the end of the pool’s fiscal year and a net asset value of $3,XXX,XXX and $5X,XXX,XXX. The CPO submitted waivers from the participants evidencing their consent to the relief requested. DCIO granted relief pursuant to Commission Regulations 140.93 and 4.12(a).

The CPO of a commodity pool requested exemptive relief to permit it to file an Annual Report for the period from the inception of trading in November 2009 through December 31, 2010. The pool had three participants at the end of the pool’s fiscal year and a net asset value of $1XX,XXX. The CPO submitted waivers from the participants evidencing their consent to the relief requested. DCIO granted relief pursuant to Commission Regulations 140.93 and 4.12(a).

The CPO of a commodity pool requested exemptive relief to permit it to file an Annual Report for the period from the inception of trading in October 2009 through December 31, 2010. The pool had one participant at the end of the pool’s fiscal year and a net asset value of $2XX,XXX. The CPO submitted a waiver from the participant evidencing her consent to the relief requested. DCIO granted relief pursuant to Commission Regulations 140.93 and 4.12(a).

The CPO of a commodity pool that operates pursuant to an exemption under Regulation 4.7 requested exemptive relief to permit it to file a final annual report for the period from January 1, 2009 through the permanent cessation of trading on March 31, 2010. The pool had five participants at the end of the pool’s fiscal year and a net asset value of $66,XXX,XXX. The CPO submitted waivers from the participants evidencing their consent to the relief requested. DCIO granted relief pursuant to Commission Regulations 140.93 and 4.12(a).

The CPO of a commodity pool requested relief from Commission Regulations 4.22(c) and (d), which require the filing and distribution of a certified Annual Report for the pool. The pool began trading in August 2008 and had a net asset value of $3XX,XXX. The CPO submitted signed waivers from the pool’s participants consenting to the exemption from the certified annual relief requirement. DCIO granted relief pursuant to Commission Regulations 140.93 and 4.12(a) conditioned upon the future filing and distribution of a certified Annual Report for the period from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2010.

The CPO of a commodity pool requested relief from Commission Regulations 4.22(c) and (d), which require the filing and distribution of a certified Annual Report for the pool. Additionally, the CPO requested relief from the distribution and filing of an uncertified Annual Report. The pool began trading in June 2007 and had a net asset value of $2XX. The pool had no nonproprietary participants, and has plans to resume trading commodity interests and offering interests in the pool in 2010. DCIO granted relief pursuant to Commission Regulations 140.93 and 4.12(a) with respect to the request for relief from the certification requirement, conditioned upon the future filing and distribution of a certified Annual Report for the period from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2010. DCIO, however, denied the remainder of the request as not being in the public interest.

The CPO of a commodity pool that operates pursuant to an exemption under Regulation 4.7 requested exemptive relief to permit it to file a final annual report for the period from September 2009 through December 31, 2010. Additionally, because the notice for the 4.7 exemption was not filed until after the close of the fiscal year, the CPO also requested relief from the certification requirement for the period from September 2009 through December 31, 2009. The pool had seven participants at the end of the pool’s fiscal year, three of which were proprietary, and a net asset value of $1,XXX,XXX. The CPO provided executed waivers from all of the nonproprietary participants. DCIO granted relief pursuant to Commission Regulations 140.93 and 4.12(a).

The CPO of a commodity pool that operates pursuant to an exemption under Regulation 4.7 requested exemptive relief to permit it to file an Annual Report for the period from October 15, 2009 through December 31, 2010. The pool had seven participants at the end of the pool’s fiscal year and a net asset value of $6,XXX,XXX. DCIO granted relief pursuant to Commission Regulations 140.93 and 4.12(a).