The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) is going ahead with plans to require exempt-market filings to be made through the existing SEDAR system despite certain concerns from the investment industry.
The CSA announced on Thursday that rule changes doing away with paper-based filing for exempt-market reports will take effect on May 24, 2016. At that point, certain filings, including offering memorandums and reports of exempt distribution, will have to be made in electronic format on SEDAR. The requirements do not include filings in Ontario or British Columbia, which both already have their own electronic filing systems for the exempt markets.
Some in the investment industry have objected to the regulators’ plans to use SEDAR for exempt-market filings amid concerns that the system is antiquated and inefficient. The CSA notes that it does have a project underway to create a single, integrated electronic filing system for exempt-market filings. In the meantime, though, it says that using SEDAR will be more efficient than paper filing.
“These changes will improve efficiency by enabling issuers to file with one electronic submission instead of paper submissions to multiple jurisdictions, while increasing regulators’ ability to gather market intelligence and analyze submissions,” says Louis Morisset, chairman of the CSA and president and CEO of the Autorité des marchés financiers, in a statement.
Issuers will have to a pay a $25 filing fee for using SEDAR, starting May 24, 2016. However, firms that want to begin filing through SEDAR early can do so voluntarily, starting Dec. 7, without paying the system fee. The CSA says that this voluntary filing period is intended to give issuers time to transition onto SEDAR.