IIB 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6604 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
SEPTEMBER 22 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 17), 2008 
Received 
OCTOBER 2 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 17), 2008 
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
Forestry 
AN ACT 
To amend the Commodity Exchange Act to bring greater 
transparency and accountability to commodity markets, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Commodity Markets 
Transparency and Accountability Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
The table of contents of this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title. 
Sec. 2. Table of contents. 
Sec. 3. Definition of energy commodity. 
Sec. 4. Speculative limits and transparency of off-shore trading. 
Sec. 5. Disaggregation of index funds and other data in energy and agriculture 
markets. 
Sec. 6. Detailed reporting from index traders and swap dealers. 
Sec. 7. Transparency and recordkeeping authorities. 
Sec. 8. Trading limits to prevent excessive speculation. 
Sec. 9. Modifications to core principles applicable to position limits for con-
tracts in agricultural and energy commodities. 
Sec. 10. CFTC Administration. 
Sec. 11. Review of prior actions. 
Sec. 12. Review of over-the-counter markets. 
Sec. 13. Studies; reports. 
Sec. 14. Over-the-counter authority. 
Sec. 15. Expedited process. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF ENERGY COMMODITY. 
(a) DEFINITION OF ENERGY COMMODITY.—Section 
1a of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 1a) is 
amended— 
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (13) through 
(34) as paragraphs (14) through (35), respectively; 
and 
(2) by inserting after paragraph (12) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(13) ENERGY COMMODITY.—The term ‘energy 
commodity’ means— 
‘‘(A) coal; 
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‘‘(B) crude oil, gasoline, diesel fuel, jet 
fuel, heating oil, and propane; 
‘‘(C) electricity; 
‘‘(D) natural gas; and 
‘‘(E) any other substance that is used as 
a source of energy, as the Commission, in its 
discretion, deems appropriate.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 
(1) Section 2(c)(2)(B)(i)(II)(cc) of the Com-
modity 
Exchange 
Act 
(7 
U.S.C. 
2(c)(2)(B)(i)(II)(cc)) is amended— 
(A) in subitem (AA), by striking ‘‘section 
1a(20)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 1a(21)’’; and 
(B) in subitem (BB), by striking ‘‘section 
1a(20)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 1a(21)’’. 
(2) Section 13106(b)(1) of the Food, Conserva-
tion, and Energy Act of 2008 is amended by striking 
‘‘section 1a(32)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 1a’’. 
(3) Section 402 of the Legal Certainty for 
Bank Products Act of 2000 (7 U.S.C. 27) is amend-
ed— 
(A) in subsection (a)(7), by striking ‘‘sec-
tion 1a(20)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 1a’’; and 
(B) in subsection (d)— 
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(i) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking 
‘‘section 1a(33)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 
1a’’; and 
(ii) in paragraph (2)(D), by striking 
‘‘section 1a(13)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 
1a’’. 
SEC. 4. SPECULATIVE LIMITS AND TRANSPARENCY OF OFF- 
SHORE TRADING. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4 of the Commodity Ex-
change Act (7 U.S.C. 6) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(e) FOREIGN BOARDS OF TRADE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission may not 
permit a foreign board of trade to provide to the 
members of the foreign board of trade or other par-
ticipants located in the United States direct access 
to the electronic trading and order matching system 
of the foreign board of trade with respect to an 
agreement, contract, or transaction in an energy or 
agricultural commodity that settles against any price 
(including the daily or final settlement price) of 1 or 
more contracts listed for trading on a registered en-
tity, unless— 
‘‘(A) the foreign board of trade makes pub-
lic daily trading information regarding the 
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agreement, contract, or transaction that is com-
parable to the daily trading information pub-
lished by the registered entity for the 1 or more 
contracts against which the agreement, con-
tract, or transaction traded on the foreign 
board of trade settles; and 
‘‘(B) the foreign board of trade (or the for-
eign futures authority that oversees the foreign 
board of trade)— 
‘‘(i) adopts position limits (including 
related hedge exemption provisions) for the 
agreement, contract, or transaction that 
are comparable, taking into consideration 
the relative sizes of the respective markets, 
to the position limits (including related 
hedge exemption provisions) adopted by 
the registered entity for the 1 or more con-
tracts against which the agreement, con-
tract, or transaction traded on the foreign 
board of trade settles; 
‘‘(ii) has the authority to require or 
direct market participants to limit, reduce, 
or liquidate any position the foreign board 
of trade (or the foreign futures authority 
that oversees the foreign board of trade) 
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determines to be necessary to prevent or 
reduce the threat of price manipulation, 
excessive speculation as described in sec-
tion 4a, price distortion, or disruption of 
delivery or the cash settlement process; 
‘‘(iii) agrees to promptly notify the 
Commission of any change regarding— 
‘‘(I) the information that the for-
eign board of trade will make publicly 
available; 
‘‘(II) the position limits that the 
foreign board of trade or foreign fu-
tures authority will adopt and enforce; 
‘‘(III) the position reductions re-
quired to prevent manipulation, exces-
sive speculation as described in sec-
tion 4a, price distortion, or disruption 
of delivery or the cash settlement 
process; and 
‘‘(IV) any other area of interest 
expressed by the Commission to the 
foreign board of trade or foreign fu-
tures authority; 
‘‘(iv) provides information to the 
Commission regarding large trader posi-
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tions in the agreement, contract, or trans-
action that is comparable to the large trad-
er position information collected by the 
Commission for the 1 or more contracts 
against which the agreement, contract, or 
transaction traded on the foreign board of 
trade settles; and 
‘‘(v) provides the Commission with in-
formation necessary to publish reports on 
aggregate trader positions for the agree-
ment, contract, or transaction traded on 
the foreign board of trade that are com-
parable to such reports for 1 or more con-
tracts against which the agreement, con-
tract, or transaction traded on the foreign 
board of trade settles. 
‘‘(2) EXISTING FOREIGN BOARDS OF TRADE.— 
Paragraph (1) shall not be effective with respect to 
any agreement, contract, or transaction in an energy 
commodity executed on a foreign board of trade to 
which the Commission had granted direct access 
permission before the date of the enactment of this 
subsection until the date that is 180 days after such 
date of enactment.’’. 
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(b) LIABILITY OF REGISTERED PERSONS TRADING 
ON A FOREIGN BOARD OF TRADE.— 
(1) Section 4(a) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 6(a)) is 
amended by inserting ‘‘or by subsection (f)’’ after 
‘‘Unless exempted by the Commission pursuant to 
subsection (c)’’. 
(2) Section 4 of such Act (7 U.S.C. 6) is fur-
ther amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(f) A person registered with the Commission, or ex-
empt from registration by the Commission, under this Act 
may not be found to have violated subsection (a) with re-
spect to a transaction in, or in connection with, a contract 
of sale of a commodity for future delivery if the person 
has reason to believe the transaction and the contract is 
made on or subject to the rules of a board of trade that 
is legally organized under the laws of a foreign country, 
authorized to act as a board of trade by a foreign futures 
authority, subject to regulation by the foreign futures au-
thority, and has not been determined by the Commission 
to be operating in violation of subsection (a).’’. 
(c) CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT FOR FOREIGN FU-
TURES CONTRACTS.—Section 22(a) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 
25(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(5) A contract of sale of a commodity for fu-
ture delivery traded or executed on or through the 
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facilities of a board of trade, exchange, or market lo-
cated outside the United States for purposes of sec-
tion 4(a) shall not be void, voidable, or unenforce-
able, and a party to such a contract shall not be en-
titled to rescind or recover any payment made with 
respect to the contract, based on the failure of the 
foreign board of trade to comply with any provision 
of this Act.’’. 
SEC. 5. DISAGGREGATION OF INDEX FUNDS AND OTHER 
DATA IN ENERGY AND AGRICULTURE MAR-
KETS. 
Section 4 of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 
6), as amended by section 4 of this Act, is amended by 
adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(g) DISAGGREGATION
OF
INDEX
FUNDS
AND 
OTHER DATA
IN ENERGY
AND AGRICULTURE MAR-
KETS.—Subject to section 8 and beginning within 30 days 
of the issuance of the final rule required by section 4(h), 
the Commission shall disaggregate and make public week-
ly— 
‘‘(1) the number of positions and total value of 
index funds and other passive, long-only and short- 
only positions (as defined by the Commission) in all 
energy and agricultural markets to the extent such 
information is available; and 
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