The Canadian Securities Administrators is moving to adopt its proposed new disclosure certification rule.

The CSA has published the final version of National Instrument 52-109 Certification of Disclosure in Issuers’ Annual and Interim Filings, and, in Ontario, it has been sent to the finance minister for approval.

The proposed rule requires an issuer’s CEO and CFO to personally certify that, among other things:

> the financial filings do not contain any misrepresentations;

> the issuer has designed disclosure controls and internal controls over financial reporting; and

> the issuer has evaluated the effectiveness of these controls on an annual basis, and disclosed its conclusions about their effectiveness.

Venture issuers are not required to include representations about their controls, or to certify their efficacy.

The CSA says that the purpose of the new rule “is to improve the quality and reliability of reporting issuers’ annual and interim disclosure. We believe that this, in turn, will help to maintain and enhance investor confidence in the integrity of our capital markets.”

Provided all necessary ministerial approvals are obtained, the new rule will come into force on December 15.