Scott O'Malia, commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is urging the agency to issue a schedule outlining the order of Dodd-Frank Act rules to be proposed and an implementation timeline for all the rules under consideration. In a statement, the commissioner said the CFTC rules have not been released in any particular order which contributes to regulatory uncertainty among market participants.

“Our rules have not been released in any particular order, which contributes to regulatory uncertainty. Every market participant and foreign regulator I have spoken with asks about our schedule. I am certain that more transparency into scheduling and implementation will accelerate compliance. Our current opacity contributes to confusion and delay,” he said in his keynote address today before the participants at the Edison Electric Institute, CFTC-Dodd Frank Compliance Forum.

Unlike the Securities and Exchange Commission, which outlines its Dodd-Frank rulemaking schedule, the CFTC has no similar resources available for market participants to manage their expectations on the upcoming rulemaking actions. (Although the SEC has come in for criticism on its inability to meet its own deadlines.)

O'Malia indicated that the confusion will soon be over, as Congress has taken notice and retained the language in the CFTC's annual 2012 appropriations bill directing the Commission to develop, publish, and include a 60-day comment period, a schedule for implementation, and sequencing of all rules and regulations under Title VII of Dodd-Frank. “If we ignore Congress, I fear we risk getting a large lump of coal in our stocking,” he said.

Another improvement suggested by O'Malia is the opportunity for market participants to voice their concerns on CFTC rulemaking through roundtables discussions to be organized by the Commission. He said the Commission should host additional roundtables to address client clearing documentation, mandatory clearing determination, and the mandatory trading requirement.

He sent an earlier letter in July to market participants seeking their input on how the Commission should define what is "clearable," as the rulemaking refused to address the issue. “On Dec. 5, 2011, the chairman agreed to roundtables on what is clearable and what is tradable,” he said. He remained hopeful that the Commission will host the third roundtable to answer the issue on client clearing documentation as well.

O'Malia also addressed some terms as defined by the Commission that are essential to Dodd-Frank rulemaking relating to end users, swap dealer definition, capital and margin, designated contract market, technology, mandatory trade data reporting, position limits, and the recent MF Global scandal involving the misuse of client's funds by the now insolvent cash and derivatives broker-dealer.