The B.C. Securities Commission has sent letters to about 700companies listed on the OTC Bulletin Board and pink sheets in theUnited States advising them that, due to their connection to B.C., theywill have to become reporting issuers in this province.
StartingSept. 15, these companies will be subject to the same reportingrequirements as companies that trade on the TSX Venture Exchange, andwill no longer to able to rely on certain exemptions from registrationand disclosure requirements.
Insiders of these companies mustalso report their trades on the System for Electronic Disclosure forInsiders (SEDI) and file personal information forms with the commission.
Thenew rules will capture any OTC issuer whose business is directed oradministered from B.C., or whose investor relations activities areconducted from B.C.
Until now, these companies have been able toexploit gaps in U.S. and B.C. regulations, enabling them to operate ina sort of no-man's land.
Under the new rules, they will be placedfirmly under the purview of the B.C. commission, which will hopefullybring some law and order to this sector of the market.
BCSCcorporate finance director Martin Eady said the letters are intended togive issuers fair notice of the new rules. He said some issuers mayfeel the new rules shouldn't apply to them.
"We're happy to discuss it," he said.
dbaines@png.canwest.com