COMMIITEE ON FUTURES 

& DERIV ATJVES REGULATION 

MICHAEL S. SACKHEIM 

CHAIR 

787 SEVENTH AVENUE 

fLOOR 19 

NEW YORK, NY 10019 

Phone: (212) 839-5503 

Fax: (212) 839-5599 

msackheim@sid1ey.com 

DAVIDA FORM 

SECRETARY 

787 SEVENTH A VENUE 

FLOOR20 

NEW YORK, NY 10019 

Phone: (212) 839-5394 

Fax: (212) 839-5599 

dfonn@sidley .com 

David A. Stawick 

Secretary 

NEW YORK 

CITY BAR 

December 23, 2009 

Commodity Futures Trading Commission 

Three Lafayette Centre 

1155 2151 Street, N.W. 

Washington, D.C. 20581 

Filed via email: secretary@cftc.gov 

Re: Proposal Regarding Electronic Filing of Disclosure Documents 

Dear Ms. Stawick: 

·. ·; ~ ~' · 

I I • _

-:-)-. 

· r 0 " 

COMIV1ENT 

Received CFTC 

Records section 

1 ::..- /z3/09 

The Committee on Futures and Derivatives Regulation (the "Committee") of the New York City 

Bar Association (the "Association") is writing to express its concerns about the proposed 

amendments to Commission rules 4.26 and 4.36 concerning the electronic filing of disclosure 

documents by commodity pool operators ("CPOs") and commodity trading advisors ("CT As"), 

published on November 26, 2008, 73 F.R. 71968 (the "Proposal"). The Association is an 

organization of over 23,000 members. Most of its members practice in the New York City area. 

However, the Association also has members in nearly every state and over 50 countries. The 

Committee consists of attorneys knowledgeable about the trading and regulation of futures 

contracts and about the regulation of CPOs and CT As, and it has a practice of publishing 

comments on legal and regulatory developments that have a significant impact on futures and 

derivatives markets. 
Mr. David A. Stawick 

December 23, 2008 

Page2 

The Proposal is of concern to the Committee because of the lack of detail provided about the 

scope of what are presented as ancillary aspects to the Proposal's primary purpose of requiring 

CPOs and CTAs to file disclosure documents electronically. Specifically, the final sentence of 

section I of the Proposal states: "The other of these components will require CPOs and CT As to 

enter from their Disclosure Documents certain key. infonnation,on their operations and activities 

into a standardized form accessed through the NFA's Web site.'' Footnote 4 states: "Among 

other things, this key information concerns identification of contact persons, relationships with 

futures commission merchants or introducing brokers, and their past performance history and 

related data for the offered pool or trading program." Section III of the Proposal states: "The 

Proposal simply alters the mechanism for filing Disclosure Documents and does not affect the 

substance or frequency of those filings." The source for such descriptions of these ancillary 

requirements is not specified and is not part of the public record. 

The Committee is concerned that nothing in the Proposal or in the petition of the National 

Futures Association dated July 21, 2008 that initiated the rulemaking contains any detail on what 

"key information," "relationships" or "related data" will be required to be filed, or the uses to 

which such information will be put. If such information will in fact already be contained in the 

disclosure documents that are filed, the Proposal does not explain why its separate entry will be 

necessary. Moreover, other aspects of the Proposal appear to contradict the characterization of 

the Proposal as simply authorizing or formalizing the electronic procedure for filing disclosure 

documents. In addressing Paperwork Reduction Act issues, Section III.B of the Proposal states 

that it "would, however, authorize the separate collection from CPOs and CTAs of certain key 

information from the Disclosure Documents CPOs and CTAs would be filing electronically." 

The extent of that requirement was apparently significant or unc,ertain enough to require the 

Commission to file this section of the Proposal for review by the Office of Management and 

Budget. a process that was not completed as of the date of publication of the Proposal. The 

following subsection of the Proposal states that these new requirements ''will result in an 

increase in the estimated average number of hours per response under Regulations 4.26 and 

4.36." 

The Committee urges that the Proposal be republished with full explanations and details of such 

additional filing requirements. The Committee welcomes any questions the Commission may 

have about these comments. · 

Very truly yours, 

,.1-.f~· 

Michael S. Sackheim 

Chair 

Committee on Futures and Derivatives Regulation 
Alice Yurke 

Allan Rooney 

Andris Jonas Vizbaras 

Ann F. Chamberlain 

Brent A. Beck 

Charles R. Mills 

Christopher Bowen 

CindyMa 

Conrad G. Bahlke 

Daniel Cunningham 

David Fonn 

David Kozak 

Deborah A. Tuchman 

Dennis C. Sullivan 

Edmund Schroeder 

Ernest T. Patrikis 

Felix Shipkevich 

Gary Edward Kalbaugh 

Geoffrey Goldman 

Guy C. Dempsey 

Ian Cuillerier 

James Sanders 

Adjunct Members 

Stephen J. Obie, 

Lore C. SteinhauseJ1 

Barbara B. Wierzynski~ 

New York City Bar Association 

Committee on Futures & Derivatives Regulation 

Michael Sackheim, Chair 

David Form, Secretary 

Jan Paul Bruynes 

Jason Jurgens 

Joyce Hansen, 

Karen Jeanne Du Brul 

Lawrence S. Block 

;Lauren Ann Teigland-Hunt 

Martin Goldenberg 

Marvin J. Goldstein 

Michael Sackheim 

Paul M. Architzel 

Rakesh K. Shanna 

Richard Miller 

Robert F. Klein 

Robert M. McLaughlin 

Robin Powers 

Ronald T. Wolf 

Sam Abernethy 

Sherry Venokur 

Timothy P. Selby 

~hese members of the Committee did not participate in this comment letter. 

NY! 64108S9v.2