On November 18, 2011, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's ("CFTC" or "Commission") long-awaited final rules establishing federal position limits pursuant to its authority under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank") were published in the Federal Register, to be effective, in large part, 60 days after the term "swap" is further defined under Dodd-Frank.

The CFTC is expected to finalize the final swap definition early next year, which translates to a late Quarter 1 or early Quarter 2, 2012 effective date for the position limits rules. A portion of the final rules, relating to the spot-month position limits, has been designated as an "interim final rule," which provides for an additional 60-day comment period. Comments on the interim final rule are due on January 17, 2012. Click here to read the full text of this article.

This article was prepared by Jeff Sherman (jsherman@fulbright.com or 202 662 4573), with assistance from Peggy Heeg (pheeg@fulbright.com or 713 651 8443), Michael Loesch (mloesch@fulbright.com or 202 662 4552), Lui Chambers, and Rabeha Kamaluddin (rkamaluddin@fulbright.com or 202 662 4576) from Fulbright's Energy Practice.

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