By James Langton

(November 27 – 11:20 ET) – The new system for reporting insider trading that was supposed to be online by next Monday has been delayed. The Canadian Securities Administrators are putting off launching the system until sometime next year.

The System for Electronic Disclosure by Insiders (SEDI) was to launch on December 4.

In June the CSA published for comment a proposed rule outlining the new system. Now the CSA says that, “Some commentators expressed concerns that the proposed implementation date would not provide SEDI issuers and their insiders with sufficient time to prepare for electronic filing. In addition, some system development delays have occurred. As a result, implementation of the system has been postponed from December 4 to spring 2001.”

SEDI will provide for online filing and public dissemination of insider reports. Access to this data, which is one of the few reliable predictors of stock price activity, is notoriously cumbersome under the present system.

The CSA is not committing to another hard and fast date, saying only that,” a firm implementation date will be established and communicated well in advance of implementation.”

The CSA says it is finalizing its communication plan for the implementation of SEDI. The plan includes disseminating additional materials through the CSA; offering industry information seminars in various centres to explain the SEDI filing system; and distributing an information and registration package to all reporting issuers.