The Canadian Securities Administrators, Market Regulation Services Inc. (RS), the Bourse de Montréal, and the Investment Dealers Association have put out a joint notice regarding the implementation of electronic audit trails for orders and trades.

The notice states that CSA staff, RS, the IDA, and the Bourse de Montréal are working together to determine the implementation plan for electronic audit trails and transmission requirements. National Instrument NI 21-101 Trading Rules requires that records of orders and trades must be maintained in electronic form as of Dec. 31, 2003.

RS and the Bourse will determine what data should be transmitted to each of them for market regulation purposes, by whom, and the frequency of the transmission.

A consultation committee will be established in April to determine if there is a need to establish any joint technology standards to facilitate the implementation of the electronic audit trail requirements.

A survey will be sent to all relevant market participants to determine their readiness to implement an electronic audit trail and their ability to transmit this data electronically. A report will be made by June 2003.

After the evaluation of the survey results, the CSA Staff, RS, the Bourse, and the IDA will issue an implementation plan. The implementation plan will deal with both the electronic audit trail and the electronic transmission of data.