Relief on Reporting of Certain Prohibited Data Under Dodd-Frank Swaps Rules Extended and Modified by CFTC | Practical Law

Relief on Reporting of Certain Prohibited Data Under Dodd-Frank Swaps Rules Extended and Modified by CFTC | Practical Law

The CFTC further extended relief, to March 1, 2017, from certain Title VII Dodd-Frank swap data reporting obligations for certain data, the dissemination of which is prohibited by certain enumerated jurisdictions.

Relief on Reporting of Certain Prohibited Data Under Dodd-Frank Swaps Rules Extended and Modified by CFTC

by Practical Law Finance
Published on 21 Jan 2016 • USA (National/Federal)
The CFTC further extended relief, to March 1, 2017, from certain Title VII Dodd-Frank swap data reporting obligations for certain data, the dissemination of which is prohibited by certain enumerated jurisdictions.
Update: On March 10, 2017, the CFTC published No-Action Letter 17-16, which extends the relief granted in No-action Letter 16-03 until:
  • 12:01 a.m. EST on September 1, 2017 for reportable swaps in French and Swiss jurisdictions.
  • For all other jurisdictions, the date on which the reporting party no longer holds the requisite reasonable belief regarding the privacy law consequences of reporting and subject to the terms and conditions in the prior No-action letters, discussed below.
On January 15, 2016, the CFTC issued No-action Letter 16-03 (No-action 16-03), which further extended relief, to March 1, 2017, from certain Title VII Dodd-Frank swap data reporting obligations under Parts 20, 45 or 46 of the CFTC's regulations for certain data, the dissemination of which is prohibited by certain enumerated jurisdictions.
The relief allows the masking of Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) and other identifying swap data fields under Part 45 (final SDR rules), Part 46 (final historical swap data reporting rules) and Part 20 (large swap trader counterparty identification rules). The data that is covered includes any identifying information that would intrinsically reveal the identity of the counterparty or its affiliated group and which is subject to statutory or regulatory prohibitions of one of the enumerated jurisdictions.
The relief granted under No-action 16-03 is an extension of the relief granted under No-action Letter 15-01, which was scheduled to expire on January 16, 2016. No-action 15-01 was an extension of relief granted under No-action Letters 12-46, 13-41 and 14-89 (see Legal Update, FTC Extends Relief on Reporting of Certain Prohibited Information under Dodd-Frank Swaps Rules).
No-action 16-03 extends the prior relief granted but makes the following modifications:
  • The opinion of outside counsel (or any other particular basis) is not required to form a "reasonable belief" that foreign privacy laws bar certain reporting under Parts 20, 45 and 46.
  • An additional six jurisdictions have been added to the list of enumerated jurisdictions that qualify for relief.
  • The relief may be extended to additional jurisdictions, assuming other conditions are met including the receipt of a letter from the regulator in any such foreign jurisdiction confirming that its laws bar certain reporting under Parts 20, 45 and 46.
The further extension of relief is intended to provide additional time for relevant jurisdictions and parties with reporting obligations to continue their efforts to resolve statutory or regulatory prohibitions on reporting this data. The extended relief allows parties to fulfill their reporting obligations without compromising privacy, secrecy, and blocking laws in certain foreign jurisdictions.
The relief will expire on the earlier of:
  • The date on which the reporting party no longer holds the requisite reasonable belief regarding the privacy law consequences of reporting.
  • 12:01 a.m. EST on March 1, 2017.