On March 22, 2013, ISDA published the March 2013 Dodd-Frank Protocol (the “Protocol” or “Protocol 2.0”), which is designed to facilitate compliance with certain CFTC rules relating to clearing, portfolio reconciliation and swap trading relationship documentation. The current deadline for compliance with these rules is July 1, 2013 and failure to complete Protocol 2.0 or enter into a substantially similar bilateral amendment addressing these requirements by the Adherence Deadline will likely result in swap dealers becoming unable or unwilling to enter into new swaps.3 This client publication provides an overview of the Protocol’s structure and a summary of changes that the Protocol will make to existing agreements between Protocol participants.

The operative provisions of the Protocol are found in the four schedules that comprise the ISDA March 2013 DF Supplement.

- Schedule 1 provides definitions;

- Schedule 2 covers a variety of CFTC rules, including, among other things, confirmations, clearing, and the end-user clearing exception;

- Schedule 3 provides a set of agreements intended to address the documentation requirements of the CFTC’s risk valuation and dispute resolution regulations;

- Schedule 4 provides a set of agreements intended to address the documentation requirements of the CFTC’s portfolio reconciliation regulations.