SEC Allows Voluntary Online Filing Using XBRL

The SEC granted a limited and conditional exemption under the Securities Exchange Act Section 36(a) that permits companies to file structured financial statement data directly and voluntarily within an HTML format known as Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language ("Inline XBRL"). The SEC asserted that permitting Inline XBRL will (i) decrease filing preparation costs, (ii) improve the quality of structured data and, by improving data quality, (iii) increase the use of Inline XBRL data by investors and other market participants.

Subject to certain conditions, companies that comply by supplying Inline XBRL submissions are exempt from the requirement to submit an instance document as part of its Interactive Data File exhibits when filing Forms 6-K, 8-K, 10-Q, 10-K, 20-F and 40-F for reports due before March 30, 2020.

The SEC noted that the Electronic Data Gathering Analysis and Retrieval ("EDGAR") System has been upgraded to facilitate the use of Inline XBRL. It now includes an updated EDGAR Filer Manual with the specific technical requirements needed for filers to begin using Inline XBRL.