Release:            #4531-01
For Release:     June 22, 2001

CFTC REQUESTS COMMENTS FOR INTERMEDIARIES STUDY

Washington, D.C. – The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is seeking public comments to assist the CFTC in conducting a study of the Commodity Exchange Act (Act) and the CFTC's rules and orders governing the conduct of registrants under the Act, as mandated by section 125 of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (CFMA), which was enacted last December. That provision requires that the CFTC, in conducting the study, solicit the views of the public, CFTC registrants, registered entities (i.e., exchanges and clearing organizations) and registered futures associations. The CFTC must include an analysis of comments received in the report of the results of the study to its Congressional oversight committees, the House Committee on Agriculture and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

Persons wishing to comment should organize their comments as follows: (1) identify by section number, rule number, or Federal Register citation the particular provision of the Act, the CFTC's rules, or the CFTC's orders, respectively, upon which comment is being provided; (2) indicate whether that provision should be (a) amended, (b) revoked without replacement, (c) revoked and replaced with a core principle and statement of acceptable business practices, or (d) retained; (3) include the proposed text of any suggested amendment or core principle and statement of acceptable business practices; (4) include a brief discussion in support of the suggested action and describe any problems encountered in complying with the existing relevant statutory and regulatory framework; (5) indicate, if applicable, whether the suggested change may be made pursuant to the CFTC's exemptive authority in section 4(c) of the Act; and (6) identify any regulatory functions that the CFTC performs that can be delegated to a registered futures association and include a brief discussion to support such a delegation. Commenters should indicate the relative importance of proposed changes by ranking them in priority order or by categorizing them in some fashion. Following a review of comments received, the CFTC or its staff may conduct follow-up discussions with interested parties.

Comments may be sent to the Secretary of the CFTC at the address listed below, by fax to (202) 418-5521, or by email to [email protected]. Reference should be made to “Intermediaries Study.”

The notice of solicitation of comments was published in the Federal Register on June 22, 2001. Copies may be obtained by contacting the Office of the Secretariat, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21^st Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20581, (202) 418-5100, or by accessing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission website. Public comments must be received at the Office of the Secretariat on or before August 21, 2001.