WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, today applauded the Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for its decision to relieve certain commodity market participants, including farmers, ranchers and grain elevator operators, of overly burdensome paperwork and recordkeeping requirements.
The Commission voted unanimously to finalize amendments to CFTC Regulation 1.35, a recordkeeping rule regarding commodity interests and cash or forward transactions. The new rule requires these market participants to keep track of only the final terms of the agreement, providing a cost-effective solution to recordkeeping. Previously, participants were required to keep track of all communication leading up to a trade, which created unnecessary paperwork.
Roberts urged the CFTC to apply these same commonsense standards to future regulations and focus on farmers and ranchers’ use of commodities markets as a risk management tool.
“While I am pleased our agriculture producers and commercial end-users will be granted relief from these overreaching and ridiculous recordkeeping rules, the CFTC still has more work to do to improve rules for folks managing risk in the commodities markets,” said Chairman Roberts. “End-users did not cause the 2008 financial crisis, nor were they ever blamed for contributing it. Because of this, Congress did not intend for them to be subject to Title VII of Dodd-Frank. However, these end-users are captured by many rules and regulations stemming from the regulatory implementation of Dodd-Frank. We need the CFTC to continue adequately addressing the concerns of the end-user community, as they have done today.”
“Furthermore, I intend to keep working in a bipartisan manner on a bill that eases the burdens on end-user companies that provide the crucial services our farmers and ranchers need to effectively operate in our economy, as well as accomplish our responsibility of reauthorizing the Commission.”
Chairman Roberts, an outspoken opponent of overregulation through the implementation of Dodd-Frank, oversees the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee, which has jurisdiction over the CFTC. Roberts is continuing to work on a CFTC reauthorization bill and is looking forward to finding middle ground on the issue early next year.
In May, Chairman Roberts held a hearing on CFTC regulatory issues impacting end-users and market liquidity.
-30-