In light of recent legislative amendments to provincial securities legislation, the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) can now extend existing safe harbour provisions for statutory civil liability for issuers to new areas of disclosure, including climate-related disclosures, the regulatory body announced Thursday.
“The amendments [to Alberta’s Securities Act] will help the ASC address evolving threats to investor protection and ensure that existing safe harbours or defences from statutory civil liability can reasonably apply to new areas of issuer disclosure,” the ASC said in a release.
Securities legislation currently provides companies with defences or safe harbours from third-party lawsuits in certain cases. The changes will address liability under securities laws for climate-related disclosures.
Although the Canadian Securities Administrators paused development of a mandatory climate-related disclosure rule in April 2025, Alberta issuers may be making climate-related disclosure voluntarily, “and it is important that the existing defences are available,” the regulator said.
The recent amendments, which received royal assent on Dec. 11, also include allowing the ASC to halt trading when false or misleading investment information is circulating.