The Ontario Securities Commission has sent its proposed amendment for the rules governing insider bids, issuer bids, going private transactions and related party transactions to the Minister of Finance for approval.

The purpose of the amendment is to add a new exemption from the requirement to obtain an independent, formal valuation for related party transactions that are subject to Canadian Venture Exchange rules. The amendment requires that the subject transaction be carried out in compliance with the requirements of CDNX.

The commission published a draft of the amendment for comment on August 24, 2001. The comment period ended on November 26, and it received no comments. The amendment was delivered on November 30. If the minister does not reject the amendment or return it to the commission for further consideration by February 13, 2002, it will come into force on March 1, 2002.