On December 19, 2016, the Division of Market Oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced time-limited no-action relief for entities submitting swaps for clearing by derivatives clearing organizations (DCOs) relying on a CFTC exemption order or no-action relief (Relief DCOs). Entities submitting such swaps for clearing are now relieved of the obligation to terminate the original “alpha” swap and the obligation to report any swaps between the Relief DCO counterparties and the Relief DCO. This relief expires on the earlier of (1) January 31, 2018; (2) the effective date of any CFTC regulation altering the reporting obligations of any entities with respect to the reporting of such swaps; (3) the revocation or expiration of any exemptive order issued to that Relief DCO; or (4) the revocation or expiration of any no-action letter issued to that Relief DCO.

Counterparties also are relieved from reporting certain primary economic terms data fields for swaps intended to be cleared by a Relief DCO. This relief will expire on the earlier of (1) January 31, 2018; (2) the effective date of any CFTC regulation altering or amending the “clearing indicator” or “clearing venue” primary economic terms data fields in Part 45, or the “Cleared or Uncleared” data field in Part 43; (3) the revocation or expiration of any exemptive order issued to that Relief DCO; or (4) the revocation or expiration of any no-action letter issued to that Relief DCO.

Staff Letter 16-85 is available here.