The CFTC has issued final amendments to Regulation 1.31 which sets forth the form and manner in which all regulatory records must be kept by records entities. “Records entities” are persons required to keep records pursuant to the Commodity Exchange Act and related CFTC regulations.

Regulation 1.31 does not specify the types of regulatory records that must be kept. Rather the regulation specifies the form and manner in which regulatory records required by other CFTC regulations are maintained and produced to the CFTC.

The amendments modernize and make technology neutral the form and manner in which regulatory records must be kept, as well as rationalize the current rule text for ease of understanding. Under the proposed amendments, records entities would have greater flexibility regarding the retention and production of all regulatory records under a less-prescriptive, principles-based approach.

The amendments do not alter any existing requirements regarding the types of regulatory records to be inspected, produced, and maintained set forth in other CFTC regulations.