On August 21, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission adopted amendments to Rule 3.3, which sets out the duties of a chief compliance officer (CCO) of a futures commission merchant, swap dealer and major swap participant (each, a registrant). The amended rules are designed to simplify a CCO’s duties under the rule and to harmonize further CFTC and parallel rules previously adopted by the SEC. Among other changes, the amended rules: (1) clarify that a CCO’s duty is to administer policies and procedures that are specific to the registrant’s business as such; (2) provide that a CCO must take reasonable steps to resolve “material” conflicts of interest arising from the registrant’s business as such (rather than resolve any conflicts of interest); (3) require that the CCO take “reasonable steps” to establish and maintain written policies and procedures and remove the requirement that the CCO consult with the board of directors in doing so; and (4) require that the CCO take “reasonable steps” to establish written procedures for the handling of noncompliance issues and remove the requirement that the CCO consult with the board of directors in doing so.

The CFTC also simplified the requirements with respect to the preparation and filing of the CCO Annual Report and adopted revised guidance on the form and content of the Report.

The amended rules will take effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. The amended rules are available here.