Earlier this week the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) published a notice in the Federal Register to announce the re-opening and extension of the public comment period for certain of its proposed rules to implement Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the Dodd-Frank Act). The reopening/extension provides interested parties the opportunity to comment on the CFTC’s proposed regulatory framework for swap transactions now that its “mosaic” of proposed rules is substantially complete.1 The new public comment deadline for the affected proposed rules is June 3, 2011.

A list of the 32 proposed rulemakings whose public comment periods have been extended or reopened by the CFTC’s notice is available here. To the extent a proposed rule’s comment period has already closed, such public comment period is now reopened until June 3, 2011. To the extent that a proposed rule’s comment period is currently open but is set to close prior to June 3, 2011, the comment period deadline is now extended to June 3. Proposed rules whose comment periods are set to close after June 3, 2011 remain unaffected.

Several of the CFTC’s proposed rulemakings whose comment periods have already closed were not included in the CFTC’s notice, namely the proposed rulemakings pertaining to: (1) business affiliate marketing and the disposal of consumer information; (2) the privacy of consumer financial information; (3) position reports for physical commodity swaps; (4) the removal of reliance on credit ratings, (5) provisions common to registered entities; (6) market manipulation; (7) whistleblower incentives and protection; (8) position limits; (9) reporting by investment advisors to private funds; and (10) CPO and CTA compliance obligations. The public comment periods for these proposed rules will remain closed.

Also, the CFTC’s proposed rulemakings pertaining to product definitions, capital requirements for swap dealers and major swap participants, and the legal segregation of cleared swap customer collateral have yet to be published in the Federal Register and are not affected by the CFTC’s notice.