Only July 24, 2012, the CFTC published regulations that establish a schedule to phase-in compliance with certain clearing requirements under new section 2(h)(1)(A) of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and the corresponding trade execution requirement under new section 2(h)(8)(A) of the CEA. The regulations phase-in the clearing requirement based on the type of market participant entering into swaps that are subject to the clearing requirement. However, the compliance schedule does not prohibit any type of market participant from voluntarily complying with the clearing requirement sooner than the compliance deadline.

The triggering event for the compliance schedule will be the CFTC's issuance of a final clearing requirement determination. On July 24, 2012, the CFTC issued its first proposed clearing determination for certain classes of credit default swaps and interest rate swaps.

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