CANADA: CSA Publishes Policy on Reducing Regulatory Burden on Public Markets

Thursday March 29 2018

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published its updated CSA Consultation Paper 51-404 titled “Considerations for Reducing Regulatory Burden for Non-Investment Fund Reporting Issuers”. This paper outlines the CSA’s plan to pursue policy projects to examine specific prospectus requirements, revisit certain continuous disclosure requirements, and enhance electronic delivery of documents.

Specific initiatives the CSA intends to pursue include:

• removing or modifying the criteria for reporting issuers to file a business acquisition report;
• facilitating at-the-market offerings;
• revisiting the primary business requirements to provide greater clarity to issuers preparing an IPO prospectus;
• considering a potential alternative prospectus model;
• reducing or streamlining certain continuous disclosure requirements; and
• enhancing electronic document distribution for investors.

Selection of these projects follows a consultation initiated by the CSA in 2017 on reducing regulatory burden in the public markets. The notice can be found on the websites of CSA members.

For additional information please click the link above.