Strong rulemaking is central to the mission of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Transparency to the process is important so the affected parties can provide input and see changes coming. To help with mission and to improve transparency, the SEC launched a new database intended to provide better transparency.
I applaud any effort the SEC takes to make it easier for compliance professionals to find, understand and implement its regulatory scheme.
I decided to try out the index/database and share my initial thoughts.
The new database does provide a better single source for lots of the SEC rules. It’s better than the current chronological listing of rules. But not not that much better.
The rules have three sortable fields:
- Last action
- File number
- Title of rulemaking
The first two are not useful. Anyone remember the date the rule was proposed or the file no.? No I didn’t think so. The title is useful if you know the name and the name is descriptive.
I decided to look for two rulemaking that interest me: Crowdfunding implementation under the JOBS Act and General solicitation amendments to Form D and the private placement regime.
I had trouble. I didn’t know the date or the file number or the name. I have the choice to limit the rules displayed by Status: “All”, “complete” or “Proposed”. I also had the choice to limit the display by SEC division. None of these choice are particularly useful for the layperson. I’m not sure any of the database choices are even useful for compliance professionals.
The database lacks a separate search.
Fortunately, I have this website so I could search for the post about the changes, find the relevant SEC document and locate the file number on the document so I could use the database.
I found my post on the proposed amendments to Rule 506 and Form D that were released at the time the SEC issued the new Rule 506(c) allowing general solicitation. In the SEC’s database I see that the database shows the proposed rule and second rule re-opening the comment period. I’m not sure I could have found that entry if it were not for this website.
Fortunately, the crowdfunding regulation was actually called “Crowdfunding” so it was easier to spot by sorting the “rulemaking” column.
I did notice that the Naked Short Selling Anti-Fraud rule is out of order because it is titled “Naked” Short Selling Anti-Fraud, with the punctuation disrupting the alphabetical sort.
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