On 1 March 2017, the SEC adopted rule and form amendments aimed at making access to exhibits in registration statements and periodic reports easier for market participants. The final rules will be effective for filings submitted on or after 1 September 2017.
Currently, someone seeking to retrieve and access an exhibit that has been incorporated by reference to a previous filing must review the exhibit index to determine the filing in which the exhibit is included, and then search through the registrant's filings to locate the relevant filing. This will change under the revised rules, as issuers will now be required to include a hyperlink to each exhibit in the filing's exhibit index.
The new rules apply to companies that file registration statements and periodic and current reports that are subject to the exhibit requirements under Item 601 of Regulation S-K, or that file on Forms F-10 or 20-F, but will not apply to exhibits filed with Form 6-Ks. Registrants must also submit all such filings in HTML format to enable the inclusion of hyperlinks, as opposed to ASCII format, which does not support hyperlink capabilities.
Companies will be required to rectify non-functioning or incorrect exhibit hyperlinks. For example, if the Company's Form 20-F contains such an error, its next Form 20-F must contain the correct hyperlink.
The relevant SEC announcement is available at:
https://www.sec.gov/news/pressrelease/2017-55.html
Our related client publication can be found at:
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