113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1256 
AN ACT 
To direct the Securities and Exchange Commission and the 
Commodity Futures Trading Commission to jointly adopt 
rules setting forth the application to cross-border swaps 
transactions of certain provisions relating to swaps that 
were enacted as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street 
Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Swap Jurisdiction Cer-
tainty Act’’. 
SEC. 2. JOINT RULEMAKING ON CROSS-BORDER SWAPS. 
(a) JOINT RULEMAKING REQUIRED.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 270 days 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Securi-
ties and Exchange Commission and the Commodity 
Futures Trading Commission shall jointly issue rules 
setting forth the application of United States swaps 
requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 
1934 and the Commodity Exchange Act relating to 
cross-border swaps and security-based swaps trans-
actions involving U.S. persons or non-U.S. persons. 
(2) CONSTRUCTION.—The rules required under 
paragraph (1) shall be identical, notwithstanding 
any difference in the authorities granted the Com-
missions in section 30(c) of the Securities Exchange 
Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78dd(c)) and section 2(i) of 
the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 2(i)), re-
spectively, except to the extent necessary to accom-
modate differences in other underlying statutory re-
quirements under such Acts, and the rules there-
under. 
(b) CONSIDERATIONS.—The Commissions shall joint-
ly issue rules that address— 
(1) the nature of the connections to the United 
States that require a non-U.S. person to register as 
a swap dealer, major swap participant, security- 
based swap dealer, or major security-based swap 
participant under each Commission’s respective Acts 
and the regulations issued under such Acts; 
(2) which of the United States swaps require-
ments shall apply to the swap and security-based 
swap activities of non-U.S. persons, U.S. persons, 
and their branches, agencies, subsidiaries, and affili-
ates outside of the United States and the extent to 
which such requirements shall apply; and 
(3) the circumstances under which a non-U.S. 
person in compliance with the regulatory require-
ments of a foreign jurisdiction shall be exempt from 
United States swaps requirements. 
(c) RULE IN ACCORDANCE WITH APA REQUIRED.— 
No guidance, memorandum of understanding, or any such 
other agreement may satisfy the requirement to issue a 
joint rule from the Commissions in accordance with sec-
tion 553 of title 5, United States Code.
(d) GENERAL APPLICATION TO COUNTRIES OR AD-
MINISTRATIVE REGIONS HAVING NINE LARGEST MAR-
KETS.— 
(1) GENERAL APPLICATION.—In issuing rules 
under this section, the Commissions shall provide 
that a non-U.S. person in compliance with the swaps 
regulatory requirements of a country or administra-
tive region that has one of the nine largest combined 
swap and security-based swap markets by notional 
amount in the calendar year preceding issuance of 
such rules, or other foreign jurisdiction as jointly de-
termined by the Commissions, shall be exempt from 
United States swaps requirements in accordance 
with the schedule set forth in paragraph (2), unless 
the Commissions jointly determine that the regu-
latory requirements of such country or administra-
tive region or other foreign jurisdiction are not 
broadly equivalent to United States swaps require-
ments. 
(2) EFFECTIVE DATE SCHEDULE.—The exemp-
tion described in paragraph (1) and set forth under 
the rules required by this section shall apply to per-
sons or transactions relating to or involving— 
(A) countries or administrative regions de-
scribed in such paragraph, or any other foreign
jurisdiction as jointly determined by the Com-
missions, accounting for the five largest com-
bined swap and security-based swap markets by 
notional amount in the calendar year preceding 
issuance of such rules, on the date on which 
final rules are issued under this section; and 
(B) the remaining countries or administra-
tive regions described in such paragraph, and 
any other foreign jurisdiction as jointly deter-
mined by the Commissions, 1 year after the 
date on which such rules are issued. 
(3) CRITERIA.—In such rules, the Commissions 
shall jointly establish criteria for determining that 
one or more categories of regulatory requirements of 
a country or administrative region described in para-
graph (1) or other foreign jurisdiction is not broadly 
equivalent to United States swaps requirements and 
shall jointly determine the appropriate application of 
certain United States swap requirements to persons 
or transactions relating to or involving such country 
or administrative region or other foreign jurisdiction. 
Such criteria shall include the scope and objectives 
of the regulatory requirements of a country or ad-
ministrative region described in paragraph (1) or 
other foreign jurisdiction as well as the effectiveness
of the supervisory compliance program administered, 
and the enforcement authority exercised, by such 
country or administrative region or other foreign ju-
risdiction, and such other factors as the Commis-
sions, by rule, jointly determine to be necessary or 
appropriate in the public interest. 
(4) REQUIRED ASSESSMENT.—Beginning on the 
date on which final rules are issued under this sec-
tion, the Commissions shall begin to jointly assess 
the regulatory requirements of countries or adminis-
trative regions described in paragraph (1), as the 
Commissions jointly determine appropriate, in ac-
cordance with the criteria established pursuant to 
this subsection, to determine if one or more cat-
egories of regulatory requirements of such a country 
or administrative region or other foreign jurisdiction 
is not broadly equivalent to United States swaps re-
quirements. 
(e) REPORT
TO CONGRESS.—If the Commissions 
make the joint determination described in subsection 
(d)(1) that the regulatory requirements of a country or 
administrative region described in such subsection or other 
foreign jurisdiction are not broadly equivalent to United 
States swaps requirements, the Commissions shall articu-
late the basis for such a determination in a written report
transmitted to the Committee on Financial Services and 
the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representa-
tives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
Affairs and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
Forestry of the Senate within 30 days of the determina-
tion. The determination shall not be effective until the 
transmission of such report. 
(f) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this Act and for pur-
poses of the rules issued pursuant to this Act, the fol-
lowing definitions apply: 
(1) The term ‘‘U.S. person’’— 
(A) means— 
(i) any natural person resident in the 
United States; 
(ii) 
any 
partnership, 
corporation, 
trust, or other legal person organized or 
incorporated under the laws of the United 
States or having its principal place of busi-
ness in the United States; 
(iii) any account (whether discre-
tionary or non-discretionary) of a U.S. per-
son; and 
(iv) any other person as the Commis-
sions may further jointly define to more ef-
fectively carry out the purposes of this Act; 
and 
(B) does not include the International 
Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Re-
construction and Development, the Inter-Amer-
ican Development Bank, the Asian Development 
Bank, the African Development Bank, the 
United Nations, their agencies and pension 
plans, and any other similar international orga-
nizations and their agencies and pension plans. 
(2) The term ‘‘United States swaps require-
ments’’ means the provisions relating to swaps and 
security-based swaps contained in the Commodity 
Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 1a et seq.) and the Securi-
ties Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.) 
that were added by title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall 
Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (15 
U.S.C. 8301 et seq.) and any rules or regulations 
prescribed by the Securities and Exchange Commis-
sion and the Commodity Futures Trading Commis-
sion pursuant to such provisions. 
(g) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 
(1) SECURITIES
EXCHANGE
ACT
OF 1934.— 
Section 36(c) of the Securities Exchange Act of 
1934 (15 U.S.C. 78mm(c)) is amended by inserting
‘‘or except as necessary to effectuate the purposes of 
the Swap Jurisdiction Certainty Act,’’ after ‘‘to 
grant exemptions,’’. 
(2) 
COMMODITY
EXCHANGE
ACT.—Section 
4(c)(1)(A) of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 
U.S.C. 6(c)(1)(A)) is amended by inserting ‘‘or ex-
cept as necessary to effectuate the purposes of the 
Swap Jurisdiction Certainty Act,’’ after ‘‘to grant 
exemptions,’’. 
Passed the House of Representatives June 12, 2013. 
Attest: 
Clerk.
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 1256 
AN ACT 
To direct the Securities and Exchange Commission 
and the Commodity Futures Trading Commis-
sion to jointly adopt rules setting forth the appli-
cation to cross-border swaps transactions of cer-
tain provisions relating to swaps that were en-
acted as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Re-
form and Consumer Protection Act.