FERC scraps early public identification of enforcement targets

摘要

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has scrapped a policy ofidentifying targets of enforcement in early stages, saying the expectedbenefits, such as increased transparency, have failed to materialize oroutweigh potential harm to the subjects’ confidentiality.Instead, the commission said it now has more effective, alternativemeans to gather information, and to provide guidance to marketplayers about its approach to enforcement when it comes to marketmanipulation and other wrongdoing.Under FERC’s notice of alleged violation policy, implemented in2011, enforcement staff typically issued a notice briefly describingalleged wrongdoings along with its preliminary determination in a nonpublicinvestigation. The policy had come under criticism from industrylawyers and ex-enforcement officials, who argued it unfairly publicizedmatters with scant detail at a time when subjects were unable topublicly defend their actions, and that such notices got in the way ofsettlement negotiations.