On May 23, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved amendments to Regulation 1.31, which contains the recordkeeping requirements under the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations. The final rule adopts the amendments as proposed with a few exceptions. The proposed amendments are discussed in the January 13 edition of the Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest.

The changes to Regulation 1.31 modernize and make technology neutral the form and manner in which regulatory records must be kept. The amendments are intended to provide greater flexibility regarding the retention and production of all regulatory records under a principles-based approach. The amendments do not change the current requirements regarding the types of records to be inspected, produced, or maintained under CFTC regulations.

The amendments go into effect 90 days after publication of the final rule in the Federal Register. The CFTC release is available here.