SEC Proposes Electronic Filing of Insider Ownership Reports, Adopts Standardized Options Exemptions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2002-178

Washington, D.C., December 18, 2002 — The Securities and Exchange Commission took the following actions at its open meeting today:

Proposed Electronic Filing of Insider Ownership Reports

The Commission voted to propose:

• the mandatory electronic filing of change of beneficial ownership reports required to be filed by officers, directors and principal security holders under Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and
   
• Web site posting of such reports by issuers with corporate Web sites.

These changes are required by Section 16(a)(4) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by Section 403 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

With these rules, insider ownership information would be publicly accessible substantially sooner than has generally been the case in the past. Electronic filing and Web site posting of this information would provide more timely and transparent access to the information these reports contain. The proposal will be available for public comment for 45 days following publication in the Federal Register.

Adopted Standardized Options Exemptions

The Commission adopted rules providing new exemptions under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for most standardized options. The rules, which become final upon their publication in the Federal Register, will:

• exempt standardized options issued by registered clearing agencies and traded on a registered national securities exchange or an automated quotation system of a registered national securities association from all provisions of the Securities Act, other than the Section 17 antifraud provision, as well as from the registration requirements of Section 12 of the Exchange Act; and
   
• clarify that a security futures product that is cleared by a registered clearing agency and traded on a registered national securities exchange or an automated quotation system of a registered national securities association is exempt from the registration requirements of Exchange Act Section 12(g).

The rules will ensure comparable regulatory treatment of standardized options and security futures products.

The full text of detailed releases concerning each of these items will be posted to the SEC Web site as soon as possible.