<article><p>The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) plans to reopen the comment period on a proposed rule setting position limits for 28 core commodities, including crude, natural gas, gasoline and fuel oil.</p><p>The CFTC is reopening the comment period in anticipation of a 9 December Agricultural Advisory Committee meeting focusing on deliverability of farm commodities as they pertain to position limits and the agricultural economy. The comment period will be reopened starting on 9 December and remain open for 45 days.</p><p>The agency plans to publish a notice in the <i>Federal Register</i> on 3 December.</p><p>The CFTC in November 2013 re-proposed a rule setting limits on these commodities after a federal court in 2012 threw out the agency's previous rule.</p><p>Commissioner Sharon Bowen said she supported reopening the comment period but said the agency "cannot allow this rule to linger indefinitely." Bowen expressed hope the CFTC can issue a final rule in the spring.</p><p>Regulators must "avoid the temptation to simply ratchet back or weaken prior versions of those rules," Bowen said. "The best way of viewing changes to our rules is not that we are tweaking them but rather that we are enhancing them."</p><p>CFTC chairman Tim Massad said last month the agency will not rush to set position limits on these commodities. Massad noted that Congress, when passing the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, mandated regulators set position limits to avoid the risk of excessive speculation but said that regulators must ensure the market works for commercial end-users trying to hedge against commercial risk.</p><p>The Coalition of Physical Energy Companies, which represents companies such as Shell, independent Apache and midstream company Enterprise Products Partners, warned in August that the agency's position limits rule "appears to be the most burdensome and intrusive element of Dodd-Frank regulation affecting end-users."</p><p>di/dcb</p><p> Send comments to <a href="mailto:feedback@argusmedia.com" target="_parent"> feedback@argusmedia.com </a></p><br><br><p> If you would like to review other ArgusMedia.com content options, <u><a href="http://info.argusmedia.com/mailers/News/sectortrial.html?ref=webnews" target="_TOP"> request more information </a></u> about Argus' energy news, data and analysis services. </p><p><i> Copyright © 2014 Argus Media Ltd - <a href="http://www.argusmedia.com/" target="_TOP"> www.ArgusMedia.com </a> - All rights reserved. </i></p></article>
