Title 7 › Chapter CHAPTER 1— - COMMODITY EXCHANGES › § 10a
Boards of trade that are registered as a contract market or a derivatives transaction execution facility must not refuse membership or other privileges to a cooperative association or corporation that does cash commodity business, if it has enough financial strength and is organized under state cooperative law or is recognized by the U.S. government as a producers’ cooperative. The cooperative must agree to follow the same lawful rules and conditions other members follow. A board can ask the Commission to exclude a cooperative, but the Commission must hold a hearing after at least three days’ notice following the board’s complaint. If a cooperative fails to meet its duties to a clearing house or clearing agency, it is automatically barred from trading on that contract market except to close out or settle existing contracts. The Commission can order that the cooperative keep its membership (with or without conditions) or allow immediate barring. Any Commission order can be reviewed by the court of appeals for the circuit where the cooperative or board has its main office, by written petition under section 8(b), but the order is not put on hold while under review. No rule of a registered contract market or derivatives transaction execution facility can stop a federated cooperative from paying its regional member-associations for work on organization, education, or getting patronage. Those payments are allowed so long as none of the money is passed back to patrons, except as a dividend on capital stock or as a patronage dividend from net earnings or surplus.
Full Legal Text
Agriculture — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
7 U.S.C. § 10a
Title 7 — Agriculture
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73