The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is proposing rule amendments to require foreign companies and foreign governments to file their Securities Act and Exchange Act documents electronically.

Currently the SEC’s rules permit, but do not require, foreign issuers to file their securities documents on EDGAR, the SEC’s electronic filing system, which is equivalent to Canada’s SEDAR.

By mandating the electronic filing of foreign issuers’ securities documents on EDGAR, the commission seeks to realize the same investor benefits and the same efficiencies in information transmission, dissemination, retrieval and analysis that it has achieved through mandated EDGAR filing for domestic issuers.

The proposal would eliminate the foreign issuer exception from mandated EDGAR filing for most Securities Act and Exchange Act documents.

The proposed amendments would require the electronic filing of: foreign private issuers’ and foreign governments’ registration statements and exchange registration statements and reports; multi-jurisdictional disclosure system forms filed by Canadian issuers; statements of beneficial ownership that pertain to the securities of a foreign issuer; the form used for cross-border rights offers, exchange offers and business combinations; and most Trust Indenture Act forms.

The commission is soliciting comment on its proposal. Comments must be submitted within 60 days.