An ISDA protocol is a multilateral contractual amendment mechanism which has been used to address changes to ISDA standard contracts and other documentation since 1998. The fundamental benefit to an adhering party to a protocol is that it eliminates the necessity for costly and time-consuming bilateral negotiations.

ISDA acts, for certain purposes, as an agent for participating parties and posts the Protocol on its website, receives Adherence Letters and updates the web site with participant information during the Adherence Period.

(A) There are a few important things to keep in mind when adhering to a protocol on www.isda.org:

1. You have 90 calendar days to complete your adherence(s) once you start the process.  The adherence process starts once you click “submit” at the end of the adherence form.(the “Start Date”).
2. After 90 calendar days from the Start Date shopping carts with pending (i.e. incomplete) adherence(s) will be filed as ‘incomplete’ electronically and will no longer be accessible to you.  If you still wish to adhere to this protocol you will need to start the process again from the beginning.
3. Refunds for pending (i.e. incomplete) paid adherences can be requested up to 90 calendar days after adherence.  Note:  This refers only to adherences that have not already been posted on the ISDA website.  After 90 calendar days the adherences will be electronically filed as ‘incomplete’ and will no longer be eligible for a refund.
4. Duplicate adherences:
   1. Duplicate adherence letter(s) uploaded to the relevant list of adhering parties:  you have 14 calendar days from the date it is listed on the ISDA website to request that: (a) the duplicate adherence letter(s) be removed from the relevant list of adhering parties and; (b) that a refund is processed.  After 14 calendar days from the date it is listed on the ISDA website you will not be eligible for a refund, however we will be able to remove the duplicate adherence letter(s) from the website.
   2. Duplicate adherence letter(s) not finalised and uploaded to the relevant list of adhering parties:  you have 90 calendar days from the Start Date to request a refund.  After 90 calendar days from the Start Date the duplicate adherence letter(s) will be filed as ‘incomplete’ and will not be eligible for a refund.

(B) There are some adherences that are ineligible for refund, including:

1. Completed adherence letters:  Letters which are posted on the list of adhering parties for a protocol at www.isda.org cannot be removed and a refund cannot be issued (unless they are duplicates, as covered under 4(ii) above).
2. Adherence to incorrect protocol:  We urge you to ensure you are adhering to the correct protocol.  If you erroneously adhere to an ISDA protocol, per the terms of the underlying protocol agreement, ISDA cannot remove the letter from the website and you will also not be eligible for a refund.

(C) Protocol Refund Policy for eligible refunds:

Once approved, we will initiate a refund to your credit card (or original method of payment).  You will receive the credit within a certain amount of days (usually 30 calendar days from approval) depending on your card issuer’s policy. The point of contact, which is the contact that is listed under the “Point of Contact” section of the adherence(s) will get notification when the refund has been processed.

If you have any additional questions please contact Protocolmanagement@isda.org and the ISDA Protocol team will be happy to assist. You can call our NY and London office numbers if you want to speak to a protocol management representative but we recommend email so we can have the appropriate staff member address your query in a timely manner.