Table Of Contents

Means:

• Detect and prevent violations of Federal commodity laws.
• Require commodity professionals to meet high standards.
• Provide a forum for customer complaints against firms and persons registered under the Act.

Strategies:

• Investigate and prosecute wrongdoing. The Commission identifies and investigates possible fraudulent and other illegal activities relating to the commodity futures and option markets and their registrants and brings enforcement actions as necessary. The Administrative Law Judges will continue to hear and decide administrative enforcement cases brought by the Commission against persons or firms charged with violating the Act or Commission rules and regulations.
• Inform the public concerning violators. Allegations of wrongdoing and associated legal actions are publicized and communicated to the industry and the public in order to ensure informed market users.
• Provide a forum to bring complaints. The Commission provides a reparations program for commodity futures and option market users to resolve complaints concerning possible violations of the Act. Approximately 50-60 reparations cases are filed per year. Presently, the cases are maintained in the Reparations Case Tracking System (Repcase), which houses all filings relating to the complaints, as well as reparations sanctions information. The Office is transitioning to Practice Manager, a Project eLaw automated tool that will assist staff in managing the reparations complaints more efficiently and effectively. We anticipate that Practice Manager will replace Repcase for new cases filed after the implementation date.
  
  Information regarding the Reparations program is available on the Commission’s Web site and information regarding the various reparations documents that have been filed or issued by a Presiding Officer or the Commission is available internally to Commission staff. In FY 2007, the Commission’s Web site was redesigned and includes a variety of detailed information about the Office of Proceedings, the reparations program, the reparations and administrative sanctions lists, and the Presiding Officers’ dispositions. By the end of 2009, dispositions from 1997 through the present will be available through the Web site. In addition, in FY 2009, the Web Disciplinary History project streamlined and automated the process for updating and publishing the Administrative and Reparations Sanctions information to the Commission’s Web site and improved the user interface and usability of this information for our users.
  
  During FY 2009, the Commission amended its rules to allow a Presiding Officer, at his discretion, to allow filing by email or fax. In addition, published rules to implement new statutory requirements on post-judgment interest.
• Oversee the NFA’s registration program. The Commission oversees the NFA’s registration program, requiring testing, licensing, and ethics training for commodity futures and option professionals. CFTC maintains a strong working relationship with the NFA, including joint representation on the Registration Working Group (RWG).
• Review regulations and amend or abolish as appropriate. In order to ensure that the regulations enforced by the Commission are reflective of the needs of the industry and the public, the Commission reviews and adapts its regulations with the evolving conditions and changes in the industry.
• Monitor media. The Internet and other media venues are monitored for fraudulent activities and other possible violations of the Act.
• Maintain cooperative relationships. Strong working relationships with the exchanges, the NFA, other Federal agencies, state governments and law enforcement entities, and foreign authorities maintain the Commission’s ability to gain information for regulatory and law enforcement purposes and to provide enforcement assistance as necessary and appropriate.

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