by Francesco Tallarico and Andrea Kruyne of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP

On February 28, 2013, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published amendments to National Instruments 41-101 General Prospectus Requirements (NI 41-101), 44-101 Short Form Prospectus Distributions (NI 44-101), 44-102 Shelf Distributions and 81-101 Mutual Fund Prospectus Disclosure(collectively, the Amendments). In addition, amendments to the related companion policies for each of the foregoing National Instruments were published. The Amendments come into effect on May 14, 2013.

The Amendments are intended to

by Cristian O. Blidariu and Rene R. Sorell of McCarthy Tétrault LLP

In the wake of a disciplinary panel’s reasons given in 2012 in Re Northern Securities (Northern Securities),¹ the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) has issued fresh guidance on the compliance and supervision responsibilities of IIROC-regulated personnel.

According to IIROC Notice 12-0379 (Notice) issued in mid-December, 2012, compliance is not to be viewed

by Michael A. Feder, Rene R. Sorell, and Caroline R Zayid of McCarthy Tétrault LLP

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) recently issued Staff Notice 51-720, Issuer Guide for Companies Operating in Emerging Markets (Guide).¹ The Guide should be of interest to all companies that have operations or business in China (or any other emerging market) and that are listed on a Canadian exchange. It should also be of interest to officers and directors of such companies.

Ellen Bessner’s guest column in Investment Executive newspaper (December, 2012 edition) asks why the OBSI cannot be fair to the “Street”.

In her column, Ellen looks at recent investigative reports received by investment and mutual fund dealers from the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) recommending that payments be made to satisfy client complaints, the consequences of rejecting these recommendations and the perceived imbalances of power between clients and dealers – all from her vantage point as a securities litigation lawyer who defends dealers and advisors.

Writes Ellen: “While protecting the investing public is a good thing, smearing the reputation of an entire dealer is not … it would be better if regulators and, in particular, OBSI could treat both the industry and clients fairly and with respect.”

To read Ellen’s column from the December 2012 issue of Investment Executive, please click here.

Source: Stikeman Elliott Canadian Securities Law Blog

In the U.S., trading halts occur based on trigger levels of 10%, 20% and 30% drops of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, calculated at the beginning of each quarter using the previous month’s average closing value. The NYSE thresholds for Q4 2012 are 1,350 points, 2,700 points and 4,050 points respectively.

For days when Canadian markets are open and American markets are closed, IIROC has published related triggers based on drops in the S&P/TSX Composite Index. The TSX trigger levels are: Level 1 (10%) – 1,250 points; Level 2 (20%) – 2,450 points and Level 3 (30%) – 3,700 points, and result in trading halts ranging from 30 minutes to the balance of the trading session, depending on the time of day and magnitude of the market decline.

For more information,

by Carole Turcotte of Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP

In the late nineties, the Bre‐X scandal caused the worldwide reputation of Canada’s mining industry to suffer a huge blow as information disclosed in press releases by Bre‐X Minerals Ltd. (“Bre‐X”), a Calgary‐based company, regarding its discovery in Indonesia of the world’s largest gold deposit was revealed to be untrue. It is said that investors lost an estimated six billion dollars in this scheme. Nevertheless, investors continued to invest in Canadian mining companies and more interest was recently generated when the Quebec government unveiled its Plan Nord.

Although the Canadian Securities Administrators (the “CSA”) created a new set of rules for mining disclosure and looked more closely at the disclosure documents filed by mining companies after the Bre‐X scandal, the review process has never been as rigorous as it has been in the last few months for mineral exploration companies.