SECTIONS 29500-29516 - California Statutes

CORPORATIONS CODE

SECTION 29500-29516

29500. This division shall be known and may be cited as the
"California Commodity Law of 1990." References herein to "this law"
refer to the applicable provisions of this division unless the
context otherwise requires. The definitions in this chapter govern
the construction of this law.

29501. "Board of trade" means any person or group of persons
engaged in buying or selling any commodity or receiving the same for
sale on consignment, whether the person or group of persons is
characterized as a board of trade, exchange, or other form of
marketplace.

29502. "Business days" are all days other than every Saturday,
every Sunday and such other days as are specified or provided for as
holidays in the Government Code.

29503. "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Corporations.

29504. "Commodity" means, except as otherwise specified by the
commissioner by rule or order, any agricultural, grain, or livestock
product or byproduct, any metal or mineral (including a precious
metal set forth in Section 29515), any gem or gemstone (whether
characterized as precious, semiprecious, or otherwise), any fuel
(whether liquid, gaseous, or otherwise), any foreign currency, and
all other goods, articles, products, or items of any kind. However,
the term "commodity" shall not include (a) a numismatic coin whose
fair market value is at least 15 percent higher than the value of the
metal it contains, or (b) any work of art offered or sold by art
dealers, at public auction, or through a private sale by the owner of
the work of art.

29505. (a) "Commodity contract" means any account, agreement, or
contract for the purchase or sale, primarily for speculation or
investment purposes and not for use or consumption by the offeree or
purchaser, of one or more commodities, whether for immediate or
subsequent delivery or whether delivery is intended by the parties,
and whether characterized as a cash contract, deferred shipment or
deferred delivery contract, forward contract, futures contract,
installment or margin contract, leverage contract, or otherwise. A
"commodity contract" includes a commodity option as defined in
Section 29510, unless otherwise specified. Any "commodity contract"
offered or sold shall, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, be
presumed to be offered or sold for speculation or investment
purposes.
(b) A "commodity contract" shall not include any contract or
agreement which requires, and under which the purchaser personally
receives, or at the request of the purchaser a family member or an
individual (which individual is other than the seller or any
affiliate of the seller, including any officer, director, or employee
of the seller or any affiliate of the seller) with whom the
purchaser has a preexisting close personal or preexisting business
relationship personally receives, within 28 calendar days from the
full payment in good funds of the purchase price, actual physical
delivery of the quantity of each commodity purchased under the
contract or agreement. In the case of a seller who requires a partial
payment of the total purchase price before obligating itself to
actually physically deliver the quantity of each commodity purchased
under the contract or agreement described in this subdivision, both
the amount remaining on the total purchase price shall be paid in
good funds and actual physical delivery of the quantity of each
commodity purchased under the contract or agreement shall be
personally received (by the purchaser or above-described individual)
within 28 calendar days from the date of the partial payment in good
funds. Otherwise, for the purposes of this exclusion from the
definition of a "commodity contract," a partial payment of, or an
installment payment on, the purchase price is not a full payment in
good funds of the purchase price.

29506. "Commodity Exchange Act" means the federal statute so named,
as amended before or after January 1, 1991.

29507. "Commodity Futures Trading Commission" means the independent
regulatory agency established by Congress to administer the
Commodity Exchange Act.

29508. "CFTC Rule" means any rule, regulation, or order of the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission in effect on January 1, 1991,
and all subsequent amendments, additions, or other revisions thereto,
unless the commissioner, within 10 days following the effective date
of any amendment, addition, or revision, disallows the application
thereof to this law or to any provision thereof by rule or order.

29509. "Commodity merchant" means any of the following, as defined
or described in the Commodity Exchange Act or by CFTC Rule:
(a) Futures commission merchant.
(b) Commodity pool operator.
(c) Commodity trading advisor.
(d) Introducing broker.
(e) Leverage transaction merchant.
(f) An associated person of any person specified in subdivisions
(a) to (d), inclusive.
(g) Floor broker.
(h) Any other person (other than a futures association) required
to register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

29510. "Commodity option" means any account, agreement, or contract
giving a party thereto the right but not the obligation to purchase
or sell one or more commodities or one or more commodity contracts,
or both, whether characterized as an option, privilege, indemnity,
bid, offer, put, call, advance guaranty, decline guaranty, or
otherwise, but shall not include an option traded on a national
securities exchange registered with the United States Securities and
Exchange Commission.

29511. "Financial institution" means (a) a national bank or a bank
or trust company incorporated under the laws of this state, (b) a
federal savings and loan association or federal savings bank, or (c)
a federally insured bank chartered by a state of the United States
when the commodity depository activities of the bank are supervised
by the bank regulator of that state.

29512. "Good funds" means the verified receipt of immediately
available funds according to the applicable requirements of federal
Regulation CC.

29513. "Offer" includes every offer to sell, offer to purchase, or
offer to enter into a commodity contract or commodity option.

29514. "Person" means an individual, a corporation, a partnership,
a limited liability company, an association, a joint stock company, a
trust, an unincorporated organization, a government, or a political
subdivision of a government.

29515. "Precious metal" means the following in either coin,
bullion, or other form:
(a) Silver.
(b) Gold.
(c) Platinum.
(d) Palladium.
(e) Copper.
(f) Other items that the commissioner may specify by rule or
order.

29515.5. "Purchase price" means all funds paid by or on behalf of a
purchaser to a seller of a commodity contract or a commodity option
(or to another person at the request or direction of a seller),
including, but not limited to, the sale price of a commodity, an
administrative charge or fee, assessment, deposit, dues, handling
charge or fee, holding charge or fee, membership charge or fee,
reservation charge or fee, or any charge, fee, or other payment made
or paid in connection with the sale of a commodity contract or a
commodity option.

29516. "Sale" or "sell" includes every sale, contract of sale,
contract to sell, or disposition, for value.