SEC Eliminates "competitive Harm" Requirement In Streamlined Process For Confidential Treatment

So here's a nugget that is buried in the SEC's new adopting release on harmonization of the private offering exemptions (see this PubCo post): amendments to Reg S-K Item 601 to "adjust" the exhibit filing requirements related to confidential treatment by removing the competitive harm requirement in light of the SCOTUS decision in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media. (See this PubCo post.) What in the world does that have to do with harmonizing private offering exemptions, you ask?

You might recall that, under the SEC's streamlined approach to confidential treatment adopted in March 2019 as part of FAST Act Modernization and Simplification of Regulation S-K, under Reg S-K Item 601(b)(2)(ii) and (b)(10)(iv), companies are now able to redact information from material contracts and plans of acquisition without the need to submit in advance formal confidential treatment requests, so long as the redacted information (i) is not material and (ii) would