The Vice President of the Saint Petersburg Exchange, Elena Sidorova, spoke to Finance University instructors about the legal regulation of exchange trading, the exchange’s place among organizers of trading, its infrastructure, and key differences from electronic platforms and marketplaces.
The basic statute regulating exchange trading is the Federal Law 'On Organized Trading.' It largely follows a financial-market model and does not fully account for the specifics of a commodity exchange. The Federal Law 'On Protection of Competition' sets requirements that the price of a commodity is not regarded as excessively high if the deal was concluded on exchange trades, thereby treating exchange-trade prices as transparent and competitive.
The exchange infrastructure includes a clearing organization that defines obligations to be fulfilled and confirms liquidity for settlement, as well as an Operator of Commodity Deliveries (OTD) that monitors and records deliveries tied to clearing obligations (analogous to a depository in the securities market, but for the commodity market). The operator maintains commodity trading accounts and ensures transfer of ownership. Auxiliary components include accredited laboratories, rating agencies, information agencies, and SROs. On SPIMEX social channels are available: VKontakte, Dzen, T-pulse.