At a public meeting on July 12, 2013, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) adopted final guidance on how Dodd-Frank Act requirements will apply to cross-border swap activities (Guidance). In conjunction with the Guidance, the CFTC issued an order on an interim final basis phasing in the implementation of its Guidance (Exemptive Order). During the July 12 meeting, Commissioner Bart Chilton stated that the Guidance is the CFTC’s most complicated undertaking in the past three years. This client alert provides a broad overview of that Guidance and the Exemptive Order.

Guidance -

The Guidance addresses several important topics relating to the CFTC’s regulation of the global swap marketplace:

• Definition of U.S. Person. The Commission adopted as a foundation for the rest of its Guidance a definition of “U.S. person” that departs materially from the definitions originally proposed in several ways...