CFTC Staff Letters Archive

CFTC Staff Letters Archive provides Letters from 2007 and earlier. For Letters published 2008 or later visit the All Letters page.

There are no Advisory Letters or Other Written Communications for 2007 or earlier.

Date	PDF and Description
08/08/2002	02-94 ; Rule 1.17, 1.25;; No-Action The Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight issued a no-action position with regard to FCM's that include the value of their clearing organization stock as an asset subject to certain conditions.
08/08/2002	02-93 ; Rule 4.22(c) & (d);; No-Action The CPO of a small fund that began trading late in the year requested exemption from filing an Annual Report for year ending December 2001. The participants submitted statements in support of the exemption. The exemption was based on the fact that the 2002 Annual Report will cover the entire operating history of the funds.
08/02/2002	02-92 ; Rule 30.4(b);; No-Action The Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight issued a letter granting no-action relief to permit an entity to execute on behalf of customers located in the U.S. the futures portion of basis transactions cleared on Eurex Deutschland and the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange without having to register as an introducing broker pursuant to Rule 30.4(b). The Division's no-action position is limited to the contracts specifically delineated in the letter and is subject to compliance with the terms and conditions set forth therein.
07/30/2002	02-91 ; Section 1a(23) and Regulation 1.3(mm);; No-Action The Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight provided an interpretation that a data service provider that makes available to its customers an integration tool to permit the customers to access the order-entry system of the FCM of their choice is not an IB and, therefore, not required to register as such. The Division noted, in particular, that the data service provider does not solicit customers or orders for an FCM or the trading of futures contracts (customers indicate to the data service provider the FCM with which they have an existing relationship), does not recommend, propose, or encourage that customers use any particular FCM, or place any orders for futures contracts, and is not accepting customer orders, but simply providing technology that connects the customer to its FCM's order entry system. The customer is submitting its order to the FCM and not the data service provider. The Division further noted that the fees paid to the data service provider by the FCM are a reflection of the costs of the development and ongoing support of the required technology and are intended to cover these costs and are not associated with the placement of customer orders (the fee is paid by the FCM whether the trade is executed or not).
07/26/2002	02-96 ; Sections 5 and 5a of the Act;; No-Action 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 (IPE) to make its electronic trading and order matching system, known as Energy Trading System II, available to its members in the U.S. without obtaining contract market designation pursuant to Sections 5 and 5a of the CEA. Subject to two conditions, the amendment permits IPE to make its UK Natural Gas (NBP) futures contract available in the U.S. on an electronic trading system operated by Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., without obtaining contract market designation or registration as a derivatives transaction execution facility pursuant to Sections 5 and 5a of the CEA.
07/24/2002	02-86 ; Section 2(a);; No-Action ASX Futures Exchange Pty Limited's request for no-action relief in connection with the offer and sale of its futures contracts based on the Standard & Poors/Australian Stock Exchange 200 Index and the Standard & Poors/Australian Stock Exchange 50 Index in the United States.
07/23/2002	02-88 ; Regulations 4.21 and 4.22;; No-Action The Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight provided exemptive relief to a registered CPO from the Disclosure Document delivery and the periodic and annual reporting requirements of Rules 4.21 and 4.22, respectively, in connection with its operation of a master fund that has as its sole participants two feeder funds that are also operated by the CPO. The relief is subject to the conditions that: (i) the CPO remain the CPO of the Master Fund and the Feeder Funds; (ii) participation in the Master Fund is limited to the Feeder Funds, and any fund for which the CPO is the sole CPO; and (iii) the annual reports of the Feeder Funds contain financial statements that include, among other information, the fees associated with the operation of the Master Fund expressed in dollars and a detailed schedule of investments made by the Master Fund.
07/22/2002	02-90 ; Section 4f(a)(2);; No-Action The Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight took a no-action position with respect to certain securities broker-dealers and registered representatives who register with the Commission as limited-purpose FCMs and APs for the sole purpose of trading certain proprietary electronically-traded broad-based-index futures contract (the Contracts) on a specified contract market pursuant to Staff Letter 02-22. Under the no-action position, such limited-purpose FCMs and APs would be permitted to notice-register under Rule 3.10(a)(3) for the purpose of offering and selling security futures products without violating the commodity interest trading activity restrictions of Rule 3.10(a)(3)(A), provided that such limited purpose FCMs and APs otherwise comply fully with the terms and conditions of Staff Letter 02-22 with respect to the offer and sale of the Contracts, and the requirements of Rule 3.10(a)(3) with respect to the offer and sale of security futures products.
07/11/2002	02-85 ; Regulations 4.22, 4.7(b)(2), and 4.7(b)(3);; No-Action The Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight provided exemptive relief to registered CPOs from the periodic and annual reporting requirements of Rule 4.22, as modified by Rules 4.7(b)(2) and 4.7(b)(3), in connection with their joint operation of a master fund that has as its sole participant a feeder fund that is also jointly operated by the CPOs. The relief is subject to the conditions that: (i) the CPOs remain the CPOs of the Master Fund and the Feeder Fund; (ii) participation in the Master Fund is limited to the Feeder Fund; and (iii) the annual reports of the Feeder Fund contain financial statements that include, among other information, the fees associated with the operation of the Master Fund expressed in dollars and a detailed schedule of investments made by the Master Fund.
07/10/2002	02-84 ; Regulations 4.23 and 4.33;; No-Action The Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight provided exemptive relief to two registered CPOs and CTAs from the books and records location requirements of Rules 4.23 and 4.33 such that the CPOs/CTAs may maintain their books and records at the main business office of an affiliated company that provides operational support to the CPOs/CTAs. The relief is subject to the conditions that: (1) the CPOs/CTAs notify the Division if the location of any of the books and records required by Rules 4.23 and 4.33 changes from that as represented to the Division; (2) the CPOs/CTAs remain responsible for ensuring that all books and records required by Rules 4.23 and 4.33 are maintained in accordance with Rule 1.31 and for assuring the availability of such records to the Commission, NFA, or any other agency authorized to review such books and records in accordance with the Act and Commission regulations; (3) within forty-eight hours after a request by a representative of the foregoing, the CPOs/CTAs will obtain their respective original books and records and provide them for inspection at their main business office; and (4) the CPOs/CTAs disclose in their respective Disclosure Documents the location of all books and records required under Commission regulations 4.23 and 4.33. The exemption is further subject to the condition that the CPOs/CTAs remain fully responsible for compliance with Rules 4.23 and 4.33.