SEC Exempts Insiders of Certain Foreign Issuers from Reporting Requirements

The SEC exempted the directors and officers of foreign private issuers ("FPI") based in Australia, India or Singapore from filing required insider-transaction reports, provided they comply with comparable home-country disclosure rules.

In its Order, published in the Federal Register, the SEC added the three countries to the list of "qualifying jurisdictions" exempt from SEA Section 16(a) ("Disclosure: Directors, Officers, and Principal Stockholders"). The SEC said the exemptive relief was "available to directors and officers of an FPI that is either (i) incorporated or organized in a ‘‘qualifying jurisdiction’’ and subject to a ‘‘qualifying regulation’’ of the same jurisdiction or (ii) incorporated or organized in a qualifying jurisdiction but subject to a qualifying regulation of a different jurisdiction" 

The relief remains subject to additional conditions, including that any report filed under a qualifying regulation must be made available in English to the public within no more than two business days of its posting.