A Tailored Fit: Streamlined Disclosure Rules To Suit Venture Issuers

Just as the modern business suit has become slim and trim, so too are the disclosure rules for venture issuers changing with the times. Recognizing that venture issuers¹ and their investors have unique needs, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) are streamlining venture issuer disclosure rules. Published for comment in May 2014, the CSA announced last week the impending implementation of the new rules. Except as noted below, the new rules go into effect June 30, 2015.

The new disclosure rules are the culmination of a process the CSA began in July 2011. The CSA initially employed a bespoke approach, crafting an entirely new national instrument for venture issuer disclosure. However, it later abandoned the initiative, not wanting to burden venture issuers with a new regime in already difficult financial times. As McMillan discussed in a bulletin published last May, the CSA instead has opted to take existing disclosure rules in at the sides with more