1999 U.S. Code
Title 7 - AGRICULTURE
CHAPTER 1 - COMMODITY EXCHANGES
Sec. 5 - Legislative findings

Transactions in commodities involving the sale thereof for future delivery as commonly conducted on boards of trade and known as “futures” are affected with a national public interest. Such futures transactions are carried on in large volume by the public generally and by persons engaged in the business of buying and selling commodities and the products and byproducts thereof in interstate commerce. The prices involved in such transactions are generally quoted and disseminated throughout the United States and in foreign countries as a basis for determining the prices to the producer and the consumer of commodities and the products and byproducts thereof and to facilitate the movements thereof in interstate commerce. Such transactions are utilized by shippers, dealers, millers, and others engaged in handling commodities and the products and byproducts thereof in interstate commerce as a means of hedging themselves against possible loss through fluctuations in price. The transactions and prices of commodities on such boards of trade are susceptible to excessive speculation and can be manipulated, controlled, cornered or squeezed, to the detriment of the producer or the consumer and the persons handling commodities and the products and byproducts thereof in interstate commerce, rendering regulation imperative for the protection of such commerce and the national public interest therein. Furthermore, transactions which are of the character of, or are commonly known to the trade as, “options” are or may be utilized by commercial and other entities for risk shifting and other purposes. Options transactions are in interstate commerce or affect such commerce and the national economy, rendering regulation of such transactions imperative for the protection of such commerce and the national public interest.

(Sept. 21, 1922, ch. 369, §3, 42 Stat. 999; June 15, 1936, ch. 545, §2, 49 Stat. 1491; Pub. L. 97–444, title II, §203, Jan. 11, 1983, 96 Stat. 2298.)

1983—Pub. L. 97–444 reenacted provisions punctuated with semicolons as sentences, substituted “commodities” for “commodity” wherever appearing, substituted “susceptible to excessive speculation and can be manipulated, controlled, cornered or squeezed, to the detriment of the producer or the consumer and the persons handling commodities and the products and byproducts thereof in interstate commerce, rendering” for “susceptible to speculation, manipulation, or control, which are detrimental to the producer or the consumer and the persons handling commodity and products and byproducts thereof in interstate commerce, and such fluctuations in prices are an obstruction to and a burden upon interstate commerce in commodity and the products and byproducts thereof and render”, and inserted provisions respecting “options” and “options transactions”.

1936—Act June 15, 1936, substituted “commodity” for “grain” wherever appearing.

Amendment by Pub. L. 97–444 effective Jan. 11, 1983, see section 239 of Pub. L. 97–444, set out as a note under section 2 of this title.

Amendment by act June 15, 1936, effective 90 days after June 15, 1936, see section 13 of that act, set out as a note under section 1 of this title.