December 6, 2004

NFA Assessment Fee decrease takes effect January 1, 2005

NFA would like to remind its Members that effective January 1, 2005, NFA assessment fees will be reduced from $.03 to $.02 per side for futures contracts and from $.03 to $.02 for each options contract traded. The assessment fee decrease is the seventh such decrease since July 1999.

For more detailed information on the assessment fee decrease, please see NFA's Notice I-04-13 at http://www.nfa.futures.org/news/newsNotice.asp?ArticleID=1283.

NFA change to the "privileges of membership" exemption takes effect January 1, 2005

Certain exchanges have created new membership opportunities for passive investment vehicles, including commodity pools operated by CPO Members of NFA. As a result, passive investment vehicles that are commodity pools operated by NFA Member CPOs currently qualify for the exemption from NFA assessment fees for contracts traded on the exchange of which they are a member.

Effective January 1, 2005, NFA Bylaw 1301 will be amended to exclude from the "privileges of membership" exemption trades executed by a commodity pool operated by an NFA Member CPO. This change is necessary because NFA has regulatory responsibilities for CPO Members regardless of the status of the pools they operate. Consequently, both exempt and non-exempt pools operated by NFA Member CPOs will be required to pay the NFA assessment fee effective January 1, 2005.

For more detailed information on this change to Bylaw 1301, please see NFA's rule amendment at http://www.nfa.futures.org/news/newsProposedRule.asp?ArticleID=1332 and explanation at http://www.nfa.futures.org/news/newsProposedRule.asp?ArticleID=1333.

Both of these Rule changes have been approved by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.