SEC Adopts Temporary Final Rule to Provide Relief from Certain Filing and Reporting Obligations

The SEC adopted a temporary final rule to provide certain relief relating to Form ID Notarizations, Regulation A and Regulation Crowdfunding requirements, and Form MA filings.

Form ID Notarization Requirement. The SEC provided relief from the Form ID Notarization requirement for filers, under the conditions that a filer (i) state on the manually signed Form ID that it could not provide the notarization for COVID-19-related reasons, and (ii) submit - within 90 days of obtaining an EDGAR account - a PDF copy of the notarized manually signed document. The relief from the notarization requirement is valid from March 26, 2020 through July 1, 2020.

Regulation A and Regulation Crowdfunding. The SEC extended the filing deadlines by 45 days to submit certain forms and reports required under Regulation A and Regulation Crowdfunding. In order to receive the relief, the SEC stated that an issuer must comply with several conditions, including: (i) disclosing in a timely manner to investors of its plan to use the relief; and (ii) providing a reason why it could not file the report on a timely basis. In the absence of the relief, the disclosure reports would be due between March 26, 2020 and May 31, 2020.

Form MA for Municipal Advisors. The SEC extended the annual update deadline for Form MA by 45 days for municipal advisors. In order to receive the relief, the SEC stated that a municipal advisor must (i) be unable to file the annual update to Form MA for reasons related to COVID-19, and (ii) write a brief description detailing the specific challenges.