7 U.S.C. § 19 — Consideration of costs and benefits and

Page 135 TITLE 7—AGRICULTURE § 20 Subsecs. (g) to (i). Pub. L. 97–444, § 231(4), redesignated subsecs. (g), (h), and (i), as (e), (f), and (g), respectively. 1978—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 95–405, § 21(1), substituted ‘‘who is registered or required to be registered’’ for ‘‘registered’’. Subsecs. (b), (c). Pub. L. 95–405, § 21(2), (3), substituted ‘‘$5,000’’ for ‘‘$2,500’’ wherever appearing. 1975—Subsec. (i). Pub. L. 94–16 substituted ‘‘fifteen months’’ for ‘‘one year’’ in two places, and ‘‘one year’’ for ‘‘nine months’’. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 2008 AMENDMENT Amendment of this section and repeal of Pub. L. 110–234 by Pub. L. 110–246 effective May 22, 2008, the date of enactment of Pub. L. 110–234, see section 4 of Pub. L. 110–246, set out as an Effective Date note under section 8701 of this title. EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1983 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 97–444 effective 120 days after Jan. 11, 1983, or such earlier date as the Commission shall prescribe by regulation, see section 239 of Pub. L. 97–444, set out as a note under section 2 of this title. EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1978 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 95–405 effective Oct. 1, 1978, see section 28 of Pub. L. 95–405, set out as a note under section 2 of this title. § 19. Consideration of costs and benefits and antitrust laws (a) Costs and benefits (1) In general Before promulgating a regulation under this chapter or issuing an order (except as provided in paragraph (3)), the Commission shall con- sider the costs and benefits of the action of the Commission. (2) Considerations The costs and benefits of the proposed Com- mission action shall be evaluated in light of— (A) considerations of protection of market participants and the public; (B) considerations of the efficiency, com- petitiveness, and financial integrity of fu- tures markets; (C) considerations of price discovery; (D) considerations of sound risk manage- ment practices; and (E) other public interest considerations. (3) Applicability This subsection does not apply to the fol- lowing actions of the Commission: (A) An order that initiates, is part of, or is the result of an adjudicatory or investiga- tive process of the Commission. (B) An emergency action. (C) A finding of fact regarding compliance with a requirement of the Commission. (b) Antitrust laws The Commission shall take into consideration the public interest to be protected by the anti- trust laws and endeavor to take the least anti- competitive means of achieving the objectives of this chapter, as well as the policies and purposes of this chapter, in issuing any order or adopting any Commission rule or regulation (including any exemption under section 6(c) or 6c(b) of this title), or in requiring or approving any bylaw, rule, or regulation of a contract market or reg- istered futures association established pursuant to section 21 of this title. (Sept. 21, 1922, ch. 369, § 15, as added Pub. L. 93–463, title I, § 107, Oct. 23, 1974, 88 Stat. 1395; amended Pub. L. 102–546, title V, § 502(b), Oct. 28, 1992, 106 Stat. 3631; Pub. L. 106–554, § 1(a)(5) [title I, § 119], Dec. 21, 2000, 114 Stat. 2763, 2763A–403.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 2000—Pub. L. 106–554 inserted section catchline, added subsec. (a), designated existing provisions as subsec. (b), and inserted subsec. (b) heading. 1992—Pub. L. 102–546 substituted ‘‘regulation (includ- ing any exemption under section 6(c) or 6c(b) of this title)’’ for ‘‘regulation’’. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE For effective date of section, see section 418 of Pub. L. 93–463, set out as an Effective Date of 1974 Amend- ment note under section 2 of this title. § 20. Market reports (a) Information The Commission may conduct regular inves- tigations of the markets for goods, articles, services, rights, and interests which are the sub- ject of futures contracts, and furnish reports of the findings of these investigations to the public on a regular basis. These market reports shall, where appropriate, include information on the supply, demand, prices, and other conditions in the United States and other countries with re- spect to such goods, articles, services, rights, in- terests, and information respecting the futures markets. (b) Avoidance of duplication The Commission shall cooperate with the De- partment of Agriculture and any other Depart- ment or Federal agency which makes market in- vestigations to avoid unnecessary duplication of information-gathering activities. (c) Furnishing of information; confidentiality The Department of Agriculture and any other Department or Federal agency which has mar- ket information sought by the Commission shall furnish it to the Commission upon the request of any authorized employee of the Commission. The Commission shall abide by any rules of con- fidentiality applying to such information. (d) Disclosure of business transactions, market positions, trade secrets, or names of cus- tomers The Commission shall not disclose in such re- ports data and information which would sepa- rately disclose the business transactions or mar- ket positions of any person and trade secrets or names of customers except as provided in sec- tion 12 of this title. (e) Application This section shall not apply to investigations involving any security underlying a security fu- tures product.