National Instrument 44-101 – Short Form
Prospectus Distributions has been amended
to enable more issuers to use Canada’s shortform
prospectus system by relying on their
existing continuous disclosure record, which
is readily available to the public through the
System for Electronic Document Analysis and
Retrieval. The short-form prospectus system
allows an issuer: (i) to file an abbreviated form
of prospectus, which incorporates its publicly
filed disclosure documents by reference; and
(ii) to access the capital markets efficiently
through a shortened regulatory review period.
The short-form system was previously accessible
to only senior issuers with substantial market
capitalization. However, the amendments
eliminate the two-year seasoning period for an
issuer following its initial public offering, and
the minimum market capitalization requirements
of the previous rule. As a result of this
significant broadening of the qualification
requirements, smaller issuers are now able to
efficiently access the public capital markets
through the short-form prospectus system
provided they have filed an annual informa-