[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 17, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2006]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 17CFR40.5]

[Page 447-449]
 
              TITLE 17--COMMODITY AND SECURITIES EXCHANGES
 
             CHAPTER I--COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
 
PART 40_PROVISIONS COMMON TO CONTRACT MARKETS, DERIVATIVES TRANSACTION 
EXECUTION FACILITIES AND DERIVATIVES CLEARING ORGANIZATIONS--Table of Contents
 
Sec.  40.5  Voluntary submission of rules for Commission review and 
approval.

    (a) Request for approval of rules. A registered entity may request 
pursuant to Section 5c(c) of the Act that the Commission approve any 
proposed rule or rule amendment. A submission requesting approval shall:
    (1) Be filed electronically with the Secretary of the Commission and 
at the regional office of the Commission having local jurisdiction over 
the registered entity in a format specified by the Secretary of the 
Commission.
    (2) Include a copy of the submission cover sheet in accordance with 
the instructions in Appendix D to this part;
    (3) Set forth the text of the proposed rule or rule amendment (in 
the case of a rule amendment, deletions and additions must be 
indicated);
    (4) Describe the proposed effective date of a proposed rule and any 
action taken or anticipated to be taken to adopt the proposed rule by 
the registered entity or by its governing board or by any committee 
thereof, and cite the rules of the entity that authorize the adoption of 
the proposed rule;
    (5) Explain the operation, purpose, and effect of the proposed rule, 
including, as applicable, a description of the anticipated benefits to 
market participants or others, any potential anticompetitive effects on 
market participants or others, how the rule fits into the registered 
entity's framework of self-regulation, a demonstration that the 
submission complies with the requirements of Appendix A to this part--
Guideline No. 1, and any other information which may be beneficial to 
the Commission in analyzing the proposed rule. If a proposed rule 
affects, directly or indirectly, the application of any other rule of 
the submitting registered entity, set forth the pertinent text of any 
such rule and describe the anticipated effect;

[[Page 448]]

    (6) Briefly describe any substantive opposing views expressed to the 
registered entity by governing board or committee members, members of 
the entity or market participants with respect to the proposed rule that 
were not incorporated into the proposed rule;
    (7) Identify any Commission regulation that the Commission may need 
to amend, or sections of the Act or Commission regulations that the 
Commission may need to interpret, in order to approve the proposed rule. 
To the extent that such an amendment or interpretation is necessary to 
accommodate a proposed rule, the submission should include a reasoned 
analysis supporting the amendment to the Commission regulation or the 
interpretation;
    (8) Identify with particularity information in the submission 
(except for a product's terms and conditions, which are made publicly 
available at the time of submission) that will be subject to a request 
for confidential treatment and support that request for confidential 
treatment with reasonable justification; and
    (9) Include a copy of the submission cover sheet in accordance with 
the instructions in Appendix D to this part.
    (b) Forty-five day review. All rules submitted for Commission 
approval under paragraph (a) of this section shall be deemed approved by 
the Commission under section 5c(c) of the Act, forty-five days after 
receipt by the Commission, or at the conclusion of such extended period 
as provided under paragraph (c) of this section, unless notified 
otherwise within the applicable period, if:
    (1) The submission complies with the requirements of paragraphs 
(a)(1)(i) through (vi) of this section, and
    (2) The submitting entity does not amend the proposed rule or 
supplement the submission, except as requested by the Commission, during 
the pendency of the review period. Any amendment or supplementation not 
requested by the Commission will be treated as the submission of a new 
filing under this section.
    (c) Extensions of time. The Commission may extend the review period 
in paragraph (b) of this section for:
    (1) An additional forty-five days, if the proposed rule raises novel 
or complex issues that require additional time for review or is of major 
economic significance, in which case, the Commission would notify the 
submitting registered entity within the initial forty-five day review 
period and would briefly describe the nature of the specific issues for 
which additional time for review would be required; or
    (2) Such additional period as the submitting entity has so 
instructed the Commission in writing.
    (d) Notice of non-approval. The Commission at any time during its 
review under this section may notify the submitting entity that it will 
not, or is unable to, approve the proposed rule or rule amendment. This 
notification will briefly specify the nature of the issues raised and 
the specific provision of the Act or regulations, including the form or 
content requirements of this section, that the proposed rule would 
violate, appears to violate or the violation of which cannot be 
ascertained from the submission.
    (e) Effect of non-approval. (1) Notification to a registered entity 
under paragraph (d) of this section of the Commission's refusal to 
approve a proposed rule or rule amendment of a registered entity does 
not prejudice the entity from subsequently submitting a revised version 
of the proposed rule or rule amendment for Commission approval or from 
submitting the rule or rule amendment as initially proposed pursuant to 
a supplemented submission.
    (2) Notification to a registered entity under paragraph (d) of this 
section of the Commission's refusal to approve a proposed rule or rule 
amendment of a registered entity shall be presumptive evidence that the 
entity may not truthfully certify that the same, or substantially the 
same, proposed rule or rule amendment does not violate the Act or 
regulations thereunder.
    (f) Expedited approval. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 
(b) of this section, changes to terms and conditions of a product that 
are consistent with the Act and Commission regulations and with 
standards approved or established by the Commission in a written 
notification to the registered entity of the applicability of

[[Page 449]]

this paragraph (f) shall be deemed approved by the Commission at such 
time and under such conditions as the Commission shall specify in the 
notice, provided, however, that the Commission may, at any time, alter 
or revoke the applicability of such a notice to any particular product.

[66 FR 42283, Aug. 10, 2001, as amended at 67 FR 62879, Oct. 9, 2002; 69 
FR 67505, Nov. 18, 2004; 71 FR 1969, Jan. 12, 2006]