On August 16, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission published in the Federal Register its final response to the order of the US District Court for the District of Columbia in SIFMA v. CFTC, which remanded eight swaps-related rulemakings for new cost-benefit analysis.

As reported in the Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest edition of March 13, 2015, the 2014 case involved a challenge to the CFTC’s extra-territorial application of several swaps rules and cross-border guidance. The court remanded the rules, requiring the CFTC to consider the costs and benefits of the application of the swaps rules outside of the United States. The initial CFTC response, issued on March 10, 2015, explained that the swaps market functions internationally, and the costs and benefits identified in the rules apply to both domestic and foreign swap activities subject to CFTC jurisdiction. The initial response also requested comments on the costs and benefits of the extraterritorial and domestic application of the rules.

The final response summarizes industry comments, including some commentary distinguishing extraterritorial and domestic application of the remanded rules. However, the final response ultimately concludes that no changes to the substantive requirements of the rules are required.

The final response is available here.