Relief from CFTC registration for European swaps trading facilities. On February 12, 2014, the CFTC and European Union officials announced an agreement and issued two no-action letters granting European trading facilities relief from CFTC rules requiring that certain interest rate swaps and credit default swaps (CDS) be traded on swap execution facilities (SEFs), which go into effect over the next two weeks (see Upcoming Mandatory Exchange-trading Deadlines). The statement and no-action letters clarify that US entities can continue trading these swaps on non-US platforms that are not registered with the CFTC, as long as the rules of the platform's country are as stringent as those of the CFTC. For more details including links to the no-action letters, see Legal Update, CFTC and European Commission Agree on Swap Exchange Trading.

Temporary relief from exchange trading for "packaged" swaps. On February 10, 2014, the CFTC's Division of Market Oversight issued No-action Letter No. 14-12, which recommends that no action be taken by the CFTC enforcing the trade execution requirement under section 2(h)(8) of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), the mandatory exchange trading requirement, for package transactions. Relief is granted through 11:59 p.m. EST on May 15, 2014 for parties engaging in package transactions and for SEFs or designated contract markets (DCMs) that facilitate package trading. Package transactions are transactions that:

Anonymity of SEF participants. On February 10, 2014, the CFTC issued an interim final rule, which protects the identities of counterparties trading on SEFs. Consistent with section 21(c)(6) of the CEA, a party to an anonymous trade executed on a SEF or DCM cannot access information in swap data repositories to obtain the identity of the counterparty.

SEF jurisdictional consent. On February 10, 2014, the CFTC's Division of Market Oversight issued guidance clarifying 17 CFR 37.202(b), which requires market participants trading on SEFs to consent to the SEF's jurisdiction. The guidance makes clear that consent need not be obtained via an affirmative writing, but rather may be obtained by providing in the SEF's rule book that any person executing a transaction on or subject to the rules of a SEF or any person for whose benefit the transaction was initiated consents to the SEF's jurisdiction.

Table of swaps subject to mandatory exchange trading. On February 10, 2014, the CFTC published the Swaps Available to Trade Charts, which detail the swaps subject to the mandatory trade execution mandate.

February 15, 2014: mandatory exchange trading required for certain interest rate swaps. Under the CFTC's made-available-to-trade (MAT) determination process by which certain swaps become subject to mandatory exchange trading under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act, as of this date, certain interest rate swap transactions may be entered into only on a SEF or a DCM, pursuant to the Javelin MAT determination (see Legal Update, Mandatory Exchange Trading of Interest Rate Swaps to Begin on February 15, 2014). For a complete summary of all swaps subject to CFTC exchange-trading mandates to date, see Legal Update, MAT Summary: CFTC Exchange-trading Mandates and Effective Dates for MAT Determinations.

February 21, 2014: mandatory exchange trading required for certain interest rate swaps. Under the CFTC's MAT determination process by which certain swaps become subject to mandatory exchange trading under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act, as of this date, certain interest rate swap transactions may be entered into only on a SEF or DCM, pursuant to the trueEX MAT determination. For a complete summary of all swaps subject to CFTC exchange-trading mandates to date, see Legal Update, MAT Summary: CFTC Exchange-trading Mandates and Effective Dates for MAT Determinations.

February 26, 2014: mandatory exchange trading required for certain CDS and certain interest rate swap. Under the CFTC's MAT determination process by which certain swaps become subject to mandatory exchange trading under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act, as of this date, certain interest rate swap and CDS transactions may be entered into only on a SEF or DCM, pursuant to the Tradeweb MAT determination. For a complete summary of all swaps subject to CFTC exchange-trading mandates to date, see Legal Update, MAT Summary: CFTC Exchange-trading Mandates and Effective Dates for MAT Determinations.