PROHIBITION ON VOTING BY INTERESTED MEMBERS.

SEC. 217. PROHIBITION ON VOTING BY INTERESTED MEMBERS. Subsection (a) of section 5a (7 U.S.C. 7a) (as amended by sections 201(a) and 206(a)(l) of this Act) is further amended by adding at the end the following: “(17) (A) provide for the avoidance of conflict of interest in deliberations by the governing board and any disciplinary and oversight committees. In order to comply with this subparagraph, each contract market shall adopt rules and procedures to require, at a minimum, that “(i) any member of a governing board or a disciplinary or other oversight committee must abstain from confidential deliberations and voting on any matter where the 106 STAT. 3612named party in interest is the member, the member’s employer, the member’s employee, or any other person that has a business, employment, or family relationship with the member that warrants abstention by the member; “(ii) any member of a governing board or a disciplinary or other oversight committee must abstain from voting on any significant action that would not be submitted to the Commission for its prior approval, if, as determined in accordance with regulations promulgated by the Commission, the member knowingly has a direct and substantial financial interest in the result of the vote, based either on positions held personally or at an affiliated firm; “(iii) prior to the deliberations of the governing board, disciplinary board, or other oversight committee, acting directly or indirectly through an authorized member or contract market official, the positions of the members of such board or committee, and positions of the firm or firms with which such members are affiliated, are reviewed: Provided, however, That no contract market or official, employee, member, other than the member whose position or positions are being reviewed, or agent thereof shall be subject to liability, except for liability in an action initiated by the Commission, for having conducted this review and for having taken or not taken further action; and “(iv) the board or committee shall clearly reflect, in the minutes of such meeting, that the review required in clause (iii) occurred and any decisions by a member to abstain or by the board or committee whether to direct a member or members to abstain from deliberations or voting on the matter before the board or committee. Any member prohibited from voting on a rule pursuant to this paragraph shall not be included in determining whether there has been a two-thirds vote of members of the governing board or committee as required by subparagraph (12). “(B) For the purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘significant action that would not be submitted to the Commission for its prior approval’ includes— “(i) any nonphysical emergency rule; or “(ii) any changes in margin levels designed to respond to extraordinary market conditions that are likely to have a substantial affect on prices in any contract traded on such contract market, but does not include any rule not submitted for prior Commission approval because such rule is unrelated to terms and conditions of any contract traded on such contract market. “(C) Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraph (A)(ii), the Commission shall issue rules establishing the conditions under which a member of a board or committee who is required to abstain from voting on a significant action, as provided in subparagraph (A)(ii), may participate in deliberations on that action prior to such vote, where the member’s participation is consistent with the public interest.”.