§16a Service Fees and National Futures Association Study

Summary

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission can make a plan to charge reasonable fees to cover the estimated cost of regulating the markets it oversees. Before it puts the plan into effect, the Commission must tell and send a report about the plan to the House Committee on Agriculture and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. That report must say whether collecting the fees is feasible and desirable. The plan cannot start until both committees approve it. Any fees collected under an approved plan must be deposited in the U.S. Treasury as miscellaneous receipts. The Commission must also give Congress a study about the National Futures Association’s regulation work from January 1, 1983 through September 30, 1985. That report is due no later than January 1, 1986. It must cover several points, including how fully the Association implemented the program under section 17(p) and (q) and how well it worked; actual and projected federal cost savings; costs the Commission and public would have faced if the Association had not taken on self‑regulatory duties; problems the Association had; how the Association and the Commission worked together; efficiencies gained or expected; and the Commission’s ability to focus on more immediate regulatory problems because of the Association’s activities. Nothing here stops the Commission from later setting fees for services after notice and a hearing, but those fees cannot be higher than the Commission’s actual cost.