Bill > HR1003

This bill requires the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which is the U.S. agency that regulates the derivatives markets, to thoroughly consider the costs and benefits of any new regulations or orders it proposes. Before implementing a rule, the CFTC, through its Office of the Chief Economist, must assess both the measurable (quantitative) and unmeasurable (qualitative) costs and benefits of the proposed regulation. The agency can only adopt a regulation if it can reasonably determine that the expected benefits outweigh the costs, acknowledging that some benefits and costs are hard to quantify, and must actively work to improve the actual outcomes of its regulations. The bill also specifies that when making this determination, the CFTC must evaluate factors such as protecting market participants and the public, ensuring the efficiency and competitiveness of futures and swaps markets (which are financial contracts for trading commodities or other assets in the future), promoting liquidity and price discovery in these markets, encouraging sound risk management, considering less burdensome alternatives to direct regulation, assessing the risks of regulated activities, tailoring regulations to minimize societal burdens, avoiding duplication with other federal rules, maximizing net benefits when choosing between regulatory approaches, and other public interest considerations.