The Saskatchewan Securities Commission is republishing a proposed new rule regarding capital raising exemptions.

The multilateral rule was last published for comment on September 23, 2002 by the SSC and the regulators of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, and PEI. The comment period ended November 22, 2002.

The first time around, 25 written comments were received, nine of which were from Saskatchewan residents. The SSC also held a stakeholder meeting. As a result of those comments, the commission has made a number of changes to the proposed rule and it is republishing it for comment.

The rule is not being republished for comment in any of the other jurisdictions because they have different rule-making procedures.

The rule sets out four exemptions that allow persons and companies to raise capital without complying with the registration and prospectus requirements of securities legislation. In summary the exemptions are: the private issuer exemption; the family, friends and business associates exemption; the offering memorandum exemption, and the accredited investor exemption. The rule contains several provisions which are unique to Saskatchewan.

As a result of comments received the commission made several changes to the proposed rule. Under the private issuer exemption, the restriction on commissions was relaxed and the requirement for the purchaser to sign a risk acknowledgement was removed to harmonize with all other jurisdictions.

Under the friends and family exemption, the requirement to provide detailed relationship information in the report of trade was removed to harmonize with all other jurisdictions.

Under the offering memorandum exemption, a purchaser must be an eligible investor only if the purchase is over $10,000, and the restriction that no more than $1 million can be raised in Saskatchewan was removed to harmonize with all jurisdictions.

Under the accredited investor exemption, charities were added to the definition of accredited investor if they receive advice on the purchase.

Comments on the changes are due by March 17.