The CFTC has extended until 7 September the comment period on its proposed Acceptable Practices for Exchange Governance and Conflicts of Interest.

The notice of extension will be published shortly in the Federal Register.

The proposed Acceptable Practices offer designated contract markets (DCMs) a safe-harbor for compliance with Section 5(d)(15) of the Commodity Exchange Act, and its requirement that DCMs minimize conflicts of interest in their decision-making processes. The Acceptable Practices propose that DCMs minimize potential conflicts of interest by maintaining governing boards composed of at least fifty percent 'public' directors. They also address the composition of DCMs' disciplinary panels; propose board-level Regulatory Oversight Committees, consisting solely of public directors, to oversee DCMs' regulatory functions; and define 'public' for persons serving on DCMs' boards and disciplinary panels.

The extension granted today will give interested parties additional time to comment on this CFTC proposal.