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Enron Mail |
Enclosed is a version of the Commodity Exchange Act, redlined to show how it
has been revised by the CFMA. This document was e-mailed to me earlier today by Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. Chris, the language in the "Definitions" sections (Section 1a) is what concerns us most. A new definition has been added -- "EXEMPT COMMODITY" which is (14) of Sec. 1a (not to be confused w/ "EXCLUDED COMMODITY," which is (13) of Sec 1a.). The new "scheme" is as follows -- an "excluded" commodity (essentially, financials and weather) is the most deregulated, an "exempt" commodity is almost but not quite as deregulated, and agricultural commodities are still subject to full jurisdiction of the CFTC and the Commodity Exchange Act. As you can see, the definition of "Exempt Commodity" is simply stated as everything other than an excluded commodity or agricultural commodity. The ambiguity is that "agricultural commodity" is not defined, so the question is -- is the reference to "agricultural commodity" here meant to encompass coffee, sugar and cocoa as well as grains and meats? FYI, the list of "enumerated" agricultural commodities is in (4) of Sec 1a, in the old definition of "COMMODITY," which remains in the Act. Usually, when regulators wish to reference the restricted list of grains and meats, it is this section they refer to. In fact, Congress referred expressly to this list in other places in the CFMA. For example, see the new Section 4p©(1) (which is on page 59 of the attached document). Please feel free to call me w/ any comments or questions. Thanks -- Bob Robert E. Bruce Senior Counsel Enron North America Corp. T (713) 345-7780 F (713) 646-3393 robert.bruce@enron.com
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