Pending all relevant regulatory review periods, effective on February 21, 2014, CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX will adopt new Rule 537 (“Trade Data Submitted to the Exchange”). The new rule codifies that, subject to each market participant’s rights with respect to its own data, each Exchange owns all rights, title and interest, database rights and trade secret rights in and to all trade data and related information submitted in connection with trading on the Exchanges that is not collected or received for the purpose of the Exchanges’ fulfilling their regulatory obligations. The Exchanges have the exclusive right to use, distribute, sub-license, disclose and sell anonymized trade data and derivatives works.
Section (b) of the Rule confirms that market participants consent to the Exchanges’ use of trade data and related information submitted to the Exchanges for purposes of fulfilling regulatory obligations, including for business or marketing purposes, unless such market participants opt out of such usage. The Rule clarifies that such data shall not be disclosed publicly except on an aggregated or anonymized basis, or in a manner that does not directly or indirectly identify any market participant who submitted such data. The Rule will work in conjunction with the existing Confidentiality Policy that has been publicly posted on the CME Group website.[1]
Market participants may avail themselves of the opt out provision by submitting a notice in writing to the General Counsel of CME Group or by calling 855.219.1580, which is a toll free number.
The text of Rule 537 is set forth below.
537. TRADE DATA SUBMITTED TO THE EXCHANGE
(a) Subject to each market participant's rights with respect to its own data, the Exchange shall own all rights, title and interest, database rights and trade secret rights in and to all trade data and related information submitted in connection with trading on the Exchange, and which is not collected or received for the purpose of fulfilling regulatory obligations. The Exchange has the exclusive right to use, distribute, sub-license, disclose and sell anonymized trade data and derivative works in any manner, media and jurisdiction. Market participants shall not redistribute trade data or derivative works based thereon unless licensed by the Exchange. The restriction on redistribution shall not apply to a market participant's own data.
(b) Trade data and related information that is submitted to the Exchange for the purpose of fulfilling regulatory obligations may be used by the Exchange for business or marketing purposes, unless the market participant has refused consent to such use, and either provides written notice to the General Counsel of the Exchange at 20 South Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60606 (“Attn: Data Opt Out Request”), or provides notice by calling (855) 219-1580. Data collected or received for the purpose of fulfilling regulatory obligations shall not be disclosed publicly other than on an aggregated or anonymized basis, or in a manner that does not directly or indirectly identify any market participant who has submitted such data. Access to the Exchange will not be conditioned upon a market participant's consent to data collected or received for the purpose of fulfilling regulatory obligations being used for business or marketing purposes. Nothing in this Rule shall preclude the Exchange from disclosing data pursuant to a valid subpoena or court order, or as otherwise required by law.
If you have any questions concerning Rule 537, please contact Joe Adamczyk, Executive Director & Associate General Counsel, Legal Department, at 312.648.3854.
For media inquiries concerning this Special Executive Report, please contact CME Group Corporate Communications at 312.930.3434 or news@cmegroup.com.
[1] http://www.cmegroup.com/market-regulation/overview/files/confidentialitypolicy.pdf.