The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) Thursday introduced a new web-based tool that simplifies the identification of SEDAR regulatory filing fees.

The new SEDAR Regulatory Fee Guide is a web-based application that, based on entered filing information, identifies the relevant regulatory filing fees in all Canadian jurisdictions. The tool also displays a legislative reference on how the fee applies in each jurisdiction within the final search results of a query.

“The SEDAR Regulatory Fee Guide allows market participants to generate a multi-jurisdictional fee report by simply entering in their filing information,” said Jean St-Gelais, CSA chairman, in a release. “This new online tool gives SEDAR users a faster, simpler and easier way to calculate the filing fees of various securities commissions.”

As part of its work to harmonize fees, the CSA surveyed SEDAR users, who ranked fee harmonization, consolidation and automation as the three highest priorities they wanted to see addressed by Canadian securities regulators. SEDAR is the electronic filing system for the disclosure documents of public companies and mutual funds.

SEDAR does not automatically calculate fees, and implementing the system changes required to automate calculations in the current system would not be cost-effective, the CSA said.

The CSA is studying how to address SEDAR user concerns most cost-effectively.

The SEDAR Regulatory Fee Guide is available in both English and French at www.securities-administrators.ca in the “Industry Resources” dropdown menu of the website.

The guide will be updated as filing fees change, the CSA said. However, it does not include CDS Clearing and Depository Services Inc. fees that may be associated with SEDAR filings.

IE