On Friday, December 7, 2012, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), through its Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (Division), issued a letter which provides broad relief for certain segments of the securitization industry (December Relief). The December Relief provides both interpretative relief and no-action relief to securitization vehicles that invest in "commodity interests" as follows: (i) interpretative relief for certain securitization vehicles; (ii) no-action relief for fixed income parties to certain legacy transactions; and (iii) temporary no-action relief for other securitization vehicles until March 31, 2013.

I. Interpretative Relief -

The Division had previously issued an interpretive letter on October 11, 2012 (October Relief), where itstated that certain securitization vehicles would not be included within the definition of “commodity pool” under the U.S. Commodity Exchange Act as amended (CEA) and the related CFTC regulations if they meet certain conditions. Those conditions are generally as follows...