Canadian Securities Regulators Abandon Proposal To Implement Separate Internal Control Certification Rule

The Canadian Securities Administrators (the CSA) recently announced that, after a protracted comment and review period, they will not continue with plans to implement proposed Multilateral Instrument 52-111 - Reporting on Internal Control over Financial Reporting, the Canadian equivalent of s. 404 of the U.S. Sarbanes Oxley Act. Instead, the CSA are proposing to expand existing Multilateral Instrument 52-109 - Certification of Disclosure in Issuers’ Annual and Interim Filings (MI 52-109 or the Existing Certification Rule). This represents an important departure from the CSA’s previously stated intentions and includes, among other significant changes, the decision to abandon mandated auditor attestation of an issuer’s internal controls over financial reporting.