[by Howard Haykin ] The SEC amended interim final temporary Rule 15b12-1T under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, extending the date on which the rule will expire.  Expiration has been schedule for 7/16/12, but now will be extended to 7/16/13.  The rule extension is effective as of 7/16/12. Discussion. The Dodd-Frank Act amended the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA") to provide that a person for which there is a Federal regulatory agency, including a broker or dealer registered under section 15(b) of the Exchange Act, shall not enter into, or offer to enter into, a forex transaction with a person who is not an “eligible contract participant” except pursuant to a rule or regulation of a Federal regulatory agency allowing the transaction under such terms and conditions shall be prescribed ("retail forex rulea'). A Federal regulatory agency’s retail forex rule must treat all forex agreements, contracts, and transactions and their functional or economic equivalents, similarly.  Any retail forex rule also must prescribe appropriate requirements with respect to disclosure, recordkeeping, capital and margin, reporting, business conduct, and documentation, and may include such other standards or requirements as the Federal regulatory agency determines to be necessary. Interim Temporary Final Rule First Goes Into Effect. The prohibition in CEA section 2(c)(2)(B) took effect on 7/16/11.  Beginning on that date, broker-dealers, including broker-dealers also registered with the CFTC as futures commission merchants, for which the CFTC is the "Federal regulatory agency," were no longer able to engage in off-exchange retail forex futures and options transactions with a customer except pursuant to a retail forex rule issued by the CFTC. On 7/13/11, the CFTC adopted interim final temporary Rule 15b12-1T, which temporarily permits a broker-dealer to engage in a "retail forex business," in compliance with the Exchange Act, the rules and regulations thereunder, and the rules of the SROs of which the broker-dealer is a member, insofar as they are applicable to retail forex transactions.  At the time of its action, the SEC explained that its action was intended to preserve potentially beneficial market practices that, for example, may serve to minimize a retail customer’s exposure to the risk of changes in forex rates in connection with the customer’s purchase or sale of a security.  The SEC also discussed in the Interim Release that there may be potentially abusive practices such as lack of disclosure about fees and forex pricing, and insufficient capital or margin requirements occurring in the retail forex market, and sought comment on these practices and steps we should take to seek to prevent them. Finalized Rulemaking Anticipated. The SEC further anticipates that the rulemaking will be finalized in the near future and the CFTC will provide at that time its views of whether conversion trades are excluded from the prohibition under CEA section 2.  Extending the expiration of Rule 15b12-1T to July 16, 2013 will provide the CFTC additional time to consider carefully these and other issues.  The extension will help to ensure that the SEC has sufficient time to take such action as it  may determine appropriate in this area, particularly in light of the diverse classes of transactions – beyond the conversion trades that have been the focus of comments to date – that any further rulemaking may need to consider. The SEC requests further comments on the Interim Final Temporary Rule. SEC Staff Contacts. Direct questions on this pronouncement to: Branch Chief Joanne Rutkowski, Senior Special Counsel Bonnie Gauch, and Special Counsel Leila Bham, in the Division of Trading and Markets, at (202) 551-5550. For further details, go to:  [SEC Extension of Interim Final Temporary Rules, Release 34-67405, 7/13/12].