Commodity Futures Trading Commission Seeks Public Comment on the Petition for Exemptive Relief Submitted by the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and the New York Mercantile Exchange Pursuant to Section 4(c) of the

Release:�� #4303-99�
For Release:�� August� 20, 1999

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Seeks Public Comment on the Petition for Exemptive Relief Submitted by the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and the New York Mercantile Exchange Pursuant to Section 4(c) of the Commodity Exchange Act!

Washington, D.C. � The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is seeking public comment on the joint petition for exemptive relief, dated June 25, 1999, submitted to the Commission by the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and the New York Mercantile Exchange, pursuant to Section 4(c) of the Commodity Exchange Act (�Act�). The petition requests an exemption for all boards of trade that have been designated by the Commission as contract markets from certain statutory requirements in three areas: (1) the contract market designation procedures for new contract submissions, set forth in Sections 5 and 6 of the Act and any related statutory provisions, including Section 2(a)(8)(B)(ii) of the Act; (2) the contract market rule review procedures, set forth in Section 5a(a)(12) of the Act; and (3) pertinent provisions of the Act that would otherwise prevent the immediate adoption and implementation of trading rules and procedures for a contract listed by a contract market that are comparable to those of a competing foreign exchange.

The Commission believes that publication of the petition in the Federal Register for comment is in the public interest, will assist the Commission in considering the views of interested persons, and is consistent with the purposes of the Act and the Commission�s regulations. The Commission urges members of the interested public, including U.S. contract markets, market participants, Commission registrants and end-users, as well as other federal government regulators to comment on all aspects of the petition.

The Commission expects the Notice of Petition for Exemption and Request for Comment to be published in the Federal Register promptly and has provided for a 45-day comment period.� The Notice will be available on the Commission�s Internet Home Page (www.cftc.gov) and also may be obtained by contacting the Office of the Secretariat, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21^st Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20581, (202) 418-5100.