CSA's Proposed Venture Regime Seeks To Tailor Regulation

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) have introduced a new mandatory regulatory regime for venture issuers intended to provide a more tailored approach to the regulation of the venture market. As discussed in an earlier blog post, on July 29, the CSA published for comment proposed rules and rule amendments in the form of Proposed National Instrument 51-103 Ongoing Governance and Disclosure Requirements for Venture Issuers (NI 51-103), which represents a comprehensive overhaul of the prospectus and private placement requirements, as well as continuous disclosure and governance obligations currently applicable to venture issuers.

The CSA's proposals are ultimately intended to streamline venture issuer disclosure to reflect the needs of investors, while making disclosure requirements more suitable and manageable for issuers. The highlights of the proposals include replacing all current continuous disclosure and governance requirements (including audit