On May 10, 2012, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) proposed an order to further extend temporary relief from the effective dates of many new requirements for swaps under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) that otherwise would have taken effect on July 16, 2012 (the “Proposed Order”). The CFTC first granted temporary relief from the effectiveness of these requirements in a final order issued July 14, 2011 (the “July 14 Order”), which granted relief from compliance with most of the new requirements under Dodd-Frank through December 31, 2011. On December 23, 2011, the CFTC extended this relief through July 16, 2012.

In the July 14 Order, the CFTC distinguished four categories of Dodd-Frank provisions. Certain provisions required a rulemaking to become effective (“Category 1 Provisions”) and so were not covered in the order. The CFTC granted market participants relief from certain self effectuating provisions that either reference terms subject to further definition by the CFTC pursuant to Sections 712(d)(1) and 721(c) of Dodd-Frank (“Category 2 Provisions”) or repealed provisions of then current law (“Category 3 Provisions”). The CFTC did not extend relief to a certain number of self effectuating Dodd-Frank provisions (“Category 4 Provisions”), and those provisions became effective in July 2011.

View full memo, "CFTC Proposes Further Delay in Compliance Dates for Dodd-Frank Derivatives Requirements"