WASHINGTON STATUTES AND CODES

21.30.010 - Definitions.

Definitions.

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

     (1) "Administrator" means the person designated by the director in accordance with the provisions of RCW 21.30.390.

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

     (3) "Director" means the director of financial institutions.

     (4) "Commodity broker-dealer" means, for the purposes of registration in accordance with this chapter, any person engaged in the business of making offers, sales, or purchases of commodities under commodity contracts or under commodity options.

     (5) "Commodity sales representative" means, for the purposes of registration in accordance with this chapter, any person authorized to act and acting for a commodity broker-dealer in effecting or attempting to effect a transaction in a commodity contract or commodity option.

     (6) "Commodity exchange act" means the act of congress known as the commodity exchange act, as amended, codified at 7 U.S.C. Sec. 1 et seq.

     (7) "Commodity futures trading commission" means the independent regulatory agency established by congress to administer the commodity exchange act.

     (8) "CFTC rule" means any rule, regulation, or order of the commodity futures trading commission in effect on October 1, 1986, and all subsequent amendments, additions, or other revisions thereto, unless the administrator, within ten days following the effective date of any such amendment, addition, or revision, disallows the application thereof by rule or order.

     (9) "Commodity" means, except as otherwise specified by the director by rule or order, any agricultural, grain, or livestock product or by-product, any metal or mineral (including a precious metal set forth in subsection (17) of this section), 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 does not include (a) a numismatic coin whose fair market value is at least fifteen percent higher than the value of the metal it contains, (b) real property or any timber, agricultural, or livestock product grown or raised on real property and offered or sold by the owner or lessee of such real property, or (c) any work of art offered or sold by art dealers, at public auction, or offered or sold through a private sale by the owner thereof.

     (10) "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. 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. A commodity contract shall not include any contract or agreement which requires, and under which the purchaser receives, within twenty-eight calendar days from the payment in good funds of any portion of the purchase price, physical delivery of the total amount of each commodity to be purchased under the contract or agreement.

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

     (12) "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 of the foregoing;

     (g) Floor broker; and

     (h) Any other person (other than a futures association) required to register with the commodity futures trading commission.

     (13) "Financial institution" means a bank, savings institution, or trust company organized under, or supervised pursuant to, the laws of the United States or of any state.

     (14) "Offer" or "offer to sell" includes every offer, every attempt to offer to dispose of, or solicitation of an offer to buy, to purchase, or to acquire, for value.

     (15) "Sale" or "sell" includes every sale, contract of sale, contract to sell, or disposition, for value.

     (16) "Person" means an individual, a corporation, a partnership, an association, a joint-stock company, a trust where the interests of the beneficiaries are evidenced by a security, an unincorporated organization, a government, or a political subdivision of a government, but does not include a contract market designated by the commodity futures trading commission or any clearinghouse thereof or a national securities exchange registered with the United States securities and exchange commission (or any employee, officer, or director of such contract market, clearinghouse, or exchange acting solely in that capacity).

     (17) "Precious metal" means:

     (a) Silver, in either coin, bullion, or other form;

     (b) Gold, in either coin, bullion, or other form;

     (c) Platinum, in either coin, bullion, or other form; and

     (d) Such other items as the director may specify by rule or order.