Order Exempting the Trading and Clearing of Certain Products Related to iShares® COMEX Gold Trust Shares and iShares® Silver Trust Shares

요약

On November 12, 2008, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC" or the "Commission") published for public comment in the Federal Register \1\ a proposal to exempt the trading and clearing of certain contracts called "options" and other contracts called "security futures" on each of iShares[supreg] COMEX Gold Trust Shares ("Gold Products") and iShares[supreg] Silver Trust Shares ("Silver Products") (collectively, "Gold and Silver Products") from the provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA") \2\ and the regulations thereunder to the extent necessary to permit them to be traded and cleared as described below. The contracts are proposed to be traded on national securities exchanges (as to options) and designated contract markets registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") as limited purpose national securities exchanges (as to security futures), and in both cases to be cleared through the Options Clearing Corporation ("OCC") in its capacity as a registered securities clearing agency. Authority for this exemption is found in Section 4(c) of the CEA.\3\ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------