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P.ECEIVED 

C.F. T.C. 

@DCMEGroup 1 1 OEC 2 7 PH q: q I 

A CME/Chicago Board of Trade Company 

!1 O~OS tjJJ~~~er 26, 2007 

VIA E-MAIL 

David A. Stawick ~ 

Secretary 

Commodity Futures Trading Commission 

Three Lafayette Centre 

1155 21st Street, N.W. 

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COMMENT 

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Washington, D.C. 20581 1'0 

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Re: ICE Clear Section 4(c) Request- 72 Fed. Reg. 68862 (December 6. 2007) r>_ 

Dear Mr. Stawick: 

CME Group Inc. ("CME Group") respectfully requests a 45-day extension of thecomment period with respect to two ICE Clear U.S., Inc. ("ICE Clear") petitions and a 

related petition filed by ICE Futures U.S., Inc. ("ICE Futures U.S."). These petitions are 

discussed further below. 

CME Group was formed by the July 2007 merger of Chicago Mercantile Exchange 

Holdings Inc. and CBOT Holdings, Inc. CME Group is the parent of Chicago Mercantile 

Exchange Inc. and the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. (the "CME Group 

Exchanges"). CME Group also owns Swapstream Operating Services Limited, an overthe-counter ("OTC") trading facility, and owns an interest in FXMarketspace Limited, an 

FX trading platform that is authorized and regulated by the United Kingdom's Financial 

Services Authority. The CME Group Exchanges serve the global risk management 

needs of our customers and those who rely on the price discovery provided by the 

competitive markets maintained by the Exchanges. The CME Group Exchanges offer a 

comprehensive selection of benchmark products in most major asset classes, including 

futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, 

agricultural commodities, energy, and alternative investment products such as weather 

and real estate. We also offer access to energy products on our Globex® electronic 

trading platform through our agreement with the New York Mercantile Exchange. 

Additionally, CME Group offers order routing, execution and clearing services to other 

exchanges by means of Globex and our clearing house. CME Group is traded on the 

New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ under the symbol "CME." 

On December 6, 2007, the Commission issued its Federal Register release requesting 

comment on a petition filed by ICE Clear and a related petition filed by ICE Futures U.S. 

Both petitions request that the Commission exercise its exemptive authority in Section 

4(c) of the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA"). ICE Clear seeks to clear OTC agricultural 

contracts that do not meet certain of the requirements of Commission Regulation 35.2. 

ICE Futures U.S. requests that its floor traders and floor brokers be recognized as 

eligible swap participants, when trading for their own accounts, so that they may enter 

into such cleared-only OTC agricultural contracts. ICE Clear has also filed a related 

petition for an order pursuant to Section 4d of the CEA that would prescribe terms and 

conditions for the commingling, by ICE Clear and futures commission merchants 

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David A. Stawick 

December 26, 2007 

Page 2 of 3 

("FCMs"), of customer funds used to margin these OTC agricultural contracts with other 

funds held in segregated accounts. Although the Commission has not issued a Federal 

Register release specifically requesting comment on ICE Clear's Section 4d petition, the 

Commission has posted this petition on its website, making it available for comment. 

The Commission indicated in its Federal Register release that comments must be 

received on or before January 7, 2008, and its posting regarding ICE Clear's Section 4d 

petition also indicates that comments are due by January 7, 2008. CME Group requests 

a 45-day extension of the comment period with respect to all three petitions. The issues 

·raised by the petitions filed by ICE Clear and ICE Futures U.S. are very-important and, if 

granted, would open up new markets for clearing by registered derivatives clearing 

organizations that have never before been permitted under the CEA, as currently 

administered by the Commission. Granting the relief requested by ICE Clear will set a 

new precedent that will permit the clearing of agricultural contracts that are traded offexchange and that may have certain characteristics that have traditionally been 

associated with futures contracts. 

Examples of the many issues that may need to be addressed include, among others: 

• Under what circumstances there may be a valid distinction between cleared-only 

OTC agricultural swaps and off-exchange futures contracts in agricultural 

commodities; 

• Whether the Commission should issue a general interpretation or blanket 

exemption with respect to cleared-only OTC agricultural swaps, and if so, under 

what conditions. These conditions may address: 

• To what extent a cleared-only OTC agricultural swap may be part of a 

fungible class of agreements that are standardized as to their material 

economic terms; 

• Under what conditions it may be determined that cleared-only OTC 

agricultural swaps are consistent with the public interest and the purposes of 

the CEA; 

• Under what conditions it may be determined that cleared-only OTC 

agricultural swaps will not have a material adverse effect on the ability of the 

Commission and the relevant market and/or clearing house to discharge their 

regulatory and self-regulatory responsibilities. 

• The necessary requirements with respect to the liquidity of the underlying 

markets or how the risk of a potential default with respect to cleared-only 

OTC agricultural swaps should otherwise be mitigated. 

• To what extent reporting obligations, speculative position limits, or position 

accountability requirements should apply to cleared-only OTC agricultural 

swaps. 
David A. Stawick 

December 26, 2007 

Page 3 of 3 

• Under what conditions the funds used to margin cleared-only OTC 

agricultural swaps should be permitted to be commingled with funds held in 

segregated accounts. 

• What market participants will qualify as eligible swap participants with respect 

to such contracts. 

• Whether the Commission should grant individual petitions on a case-by-case 

basis at the same time that it considers whether to issue a general interpretation 

or blanket exemption with respect to cleared-only OTC agricultural contracts, and 

if so, whether any case-by-case exemptions previously granted must comply with 

the conditions that may subsequently be imposed in any blanket exemption. 

• Whether a Commission order permitting the funds used to margin such clearedonly OTC contracts to be held in segregation would subject those funds to the 

bankruptcy protections set forth in Part 190 of the Commission's regulations, and 

if so, under what circumstances. 

In order to properly consider the issues noted above, more time (well beyond the current 

holiday period) is needed. Accordingly, CME Group respectfully requests that the 

Commission extend the comment period with respect to the ICE Clear and ICE Futures 

U.S. Section 4(c) petitions and ICE Clear's Section 4d petition for an additional 45 days. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Anne Polaski, Associate Director 

and Regulatory Counsel, at 312-338-2679 or anne.polaski@cmegroup.com or me at 

312-930-2041 or richard.lamm@cmeqroup.com. 

Thank you for your consideration. 

cc: Acting Chairman Walter Lukken 

Commissioner Bart Chilton 

Commissioner Michael Dunn 

Commissioner Jill E. Sommers 

AnandaRadhakrishnan 

Richard Shilts 

David Van Wagner 

Sincerely, 

Richard H. Lamm 

Managing Director, Regulatory Counsel