Bylaw 1301
BYLAW 1301. SCHEDULE OF DUES AND ASSESSMENTS.
[Effective dates of amendments: January 10, 1983; July 27, 1983; November 29, 1983; February 27, 1984; April 1, 1984; June 4, 1985; January 28, 1986; July 1, 1988; May 22, 1989; July 1, 1989; January 1, 1990; July 1, 1991; July 1, 1993; January 1, 1994; July 1, 1994; January 1, 1995; January 1, 1998; July 1, 1999; July 1, 2001; October 15, 2001; January 1, 2002; April 1, 2002; July 1, 2002; September 9, 2002; January 1, 2003; September 15, 2003; December 1, 2003; July 1, 2004; January 1, 2005; April 30, 2006; December 4, 2006; October 1, 2007; January 1, 2008; and September 11, 2009.]
Subject to the provisions of Article XII, dues and assessments of Members shall be as follows:
(a) Contract Markets.
Each contract market Member shall pay to NFA an assessment calculated on the basis of $.005 for each round-turn transaction in a commodity futures contract (purchase and sale or sale and purchase) executed on the contract market, except that in any NFA fiscal year, the total of such assessments paid by a contract market Member that had transaction volume of more than 20 percent of aggregate contract market transaction volume during that fiscal year shall not be more than $150,000 and the total of such assessments paid by a contract market Members that had transaction volume of 20 percent or less of aggregate contract market transaction volume during that fiscal year shall not be more than $100,000. A specific contract market's transaction volume shall be the number of commodity futures contracts entered into on the contract market. The aggregate contract market transaction volume shall be the number of such contracts entered into on all U.S. contract markets. The number of contracts entered into on a contract market shall be adjusted where necessary because of differences in sizes of contracts (e.g., one 5,000 oz. contract for a particular commodity would equal five 1,000 oz. contracts for that commodity for purposes of the computation).
(b) FCM Members.
(i) Each FCM Member shall pay to NFA an assessment equal to:
(A) $.02 for each commodity futures contract traded on or entered into subject to the rules of a contract market (other than an option contract) on a round-turn basis;
(B) $.01 for each option contract traded on or entered into subject to the rules of a contract market on a per trade basis;
(C) $.02 for each security futures contract, as defined in Section 1a(31) of the Act, traded on a round-turn basis, carried by it in a commodity futures account,
carried by it for a customer other than: (1) a person having privileges of membership on a contract market where such contract is entered (except that this exemption does not apply to transactions by commodity pools operated by NFA Member CPOs); (2) a business affiliate of such FCM that directly or indirectly owns 100 percent of or is owned 100 percent by or has 100 percent ownership in common with such FCM provided such FCM has privileges of membership on the contract market where such contract is entered; or (3) an omnibus account carried for another FCM Member for which assessments are payable to NFA by the other FCM;
(D) $.02 for each commodity futures contract traded on or entered into subject to the rules of a foreign board of trade (other than an option contract) on a round-turn basis;
(E) $.01 for each option contract traded on or entered into subject to the rules of a foreign board of trade on a per trade basis,
carried by it for a customer other than on an omnibus account basis for another FCM Member for which assessments are payable to NFA by the other FCM; and
(F) $.01 for each dealer option contract on a per trade basis carried by it for a customer other than a business affiliate of such FCM that directly or indirectly owns 100 percent of or is owned 100 percent by or has 100 percent ownership in common with such FCM Member:
Provided, however, such assessments shall be suspended or adjusted by the Board for a period not to exceed three months when in the judgment of the Board such action is appropriate in light of NFA's overall financial goals. The FCM Member shall invoice these assessments to its customer and shall remit the amount due to NFA; and
(ii) Each FCM for which NFA serves as the DSRO, as defined in NFA Financial Requirements Section 1, shall pay to NFA annual dues of $5,625 and each FCM for which NFA does not serve as the DSRO as defined in NFA Financial Requirements Section 1, shall pay to NFA annual dues of $1,500.
(c) LTM Members.
(i) Each LTM Member shall pay to NFA an assessment equal to $.09 for each leverage contract purchased from or sold to the LTM by a customer: Provided, however, such assessments shall be suspended or adjusted by the Board for a period not to exceed three months when in the judgment of the Board such action is appropriate in light of NFA's overall financial goals. The LTM Member shall invoice these assessments to its customers and shall remit the amount due to NFA; and
(ii) Each LTM Member shall pay to NFA annual dues of $750.
(d) Other Members.
Annual dues for the other membership categories shall be as follows:
(i) Commodity Trading Advisor-$750
(ii) Commodity Pool Operator-$750
(iii) Introducing Broker-$750
Subject to the two-thirds majority voting requirements contained in Article XI, Section 1, the Board may in its discretion waive or establish lower annual dues for particular Members.
(e) Forex Dealer Members.
(i) Each Forex Dealer Member shall pay to NFA annual dues in the amount provided under section (b)(ii) of this bylaw plus a surcharge of $44,375 if its gross annual revenue from the activities described in Bylaw 306(a) is $500,000 or less, a surcharge of $69,375 if its gross annual revenue from those activities is more than $500,000 but not more than $2,000,000, a surcharge of $94,375 if its gross annual revenue from those activities is more than $2,000,000 but not more than $5,000,000, and a surcharge of $119,375 if its gross annual revenue from those activities is more than $5,000,000; provided, however, that a Forex Dealer Member for which NFA does not serve as the DSRO, as defined in NFA Financial Requirements Section 1, shall pay only a surcharge of $12,000 if the Forex Dealer Member’s DSRO, or the entity to which the DSRO has delegated such responsibilities, agrees in writing to examine the Forex Dealer Member’s forex activities to ensure compliance with all applicable NFA requirements as part of the annual examination of the Forex Dealer Member. These dues replace the dues that would otherwise be payable based on the Forex Dealer Member's registration category.
(ii) Each Forex Dealer Member that is subject to discipline for the activities of solicitors and account managers shall pay a separate annual fee as follows payable on the firm's annual renewal date — for 1 to 4 solicitors and account managers, the fee is $5,000; for 5 to 19 solicitors and account managers the fee is $10,000; for 20 to 99 solicitors and account managers the fee is $25,000; and for 100 or more solicitors and account managers the fee is $50,000. In determining whether this fee applies, a Forex Dealer Member must calculate the highest number of solicitors and account managers it was responsible for at any one point of time during the year. This number does not include solicitors and account managers that are Members of NFA, meet the criteria in Bylaw 306(b), or would be exempt from Commission registration if they were acting in the same capacity in connection with exchange-traded futures contracts.
(iii) Each Forex Dealer Member shall pay an assessment of .0001% on the notional value of each initiating (non-rollover) forex transaction (as forex is defined in Bylaw 1507(b)). For transactions with a notional value less than $10,000, the Forex Dealer Member may aggregate separate transactions and pay $.01 on each multiple of $10,000.
Subject to the two-thirds majority voting requirements contained in Article XI, Section 1, the Board may in its discretion waive or establish lower annual dues for particular Members.
(See Interpretive Notice NFA Bylaw 1301: NFA Assessment Fee Questions and Answers for FCMs and Interpretive Notice NFA Bylaw 1301: Forms and Procedures for Assessment Fee Computation.)
