SEC Proposes Rule Amendments Requiring Exhibits to be Hyperlinked and Certain Filings to be Submitted in HTML Format
On August 31, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) proposed rule amendments that would require issuers filing registration statements and periodic and current reports that are subject to the exhibit requirements codified in Item 601 of Regulation S-K, as well as those that file on Forms F-10 or 20-F, to:
- include a hyperlink to each exhibit listed in the exhibit index of these filings; and
- submit these filings on EDGAR in HyperText Markup Language (“HTML”) format.
The proposed rule is intended to further the objectives of the SEC’s “Disclosure Effectiveness Initiative” – a comprehensive evaluation of the SEC’s disclosure requirements recommended by the SEC staff in its Report on Review of Disclosure Requirements in Regulation S-K.