Capital Markets & Securities Law Watch

On June 30, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance (the Division) revised two and eliminated one of its Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (C&DIs) related to the disclosure of environmental proceedings under Item 103 of Regulation S-K. These changes updated Questions 105.01 and 105.03 pursuant to the August 2020 modernization of Items 101, 103, and 105. The Division also withdrew its previous guidance that administrative or judicial proceedings arising under “local provisions” in Item 103(c)(3) encompass environmental actions brought by a foreign government.

On May 16, 2025, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued new and revised Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (C&DIs) regarding public utility securitizations. These C&DIs were issued following a no-action letter issued to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association that clarified certain ambiguities related to Rule 192 under the Securities Act of 1933, the securitization conflicts-of-interest rule.

On April 11, 2025, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued six new Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (C&DIs) regarding (i) clawback-related checkboxes on the cover page of Form 10-K and (ii) disclosure required by Regulation S-K Item 402(w)(2). These C&DIs provide crucial guidance for listed issuers on reporting corrections of errors in financial statements and analyzing the implications for executive compensation recovery.

The SEC staff also added a C&DI addressing whether target companies in de-SPAC transactions may suspend their Section 15(d) reporting obligations after closing.

On March 20, 2025, the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (the SEC) Division of Corporation Finance issued new guidance that permits Form S-3 registration statements that are not automatically effective upon filing, typically used by issuers that are not well-known seasoned issuers (WKSIs), to be declared effective after the issuer files its Annual Report on Form 10-K but before filing the proxy statement containing information required by Part III of Form 10-K (Part III Information) that was properly omitted from the issuer’s timely filed Form 10-K.

On February 11, 2025, the staff (the Staff) of the Division of Corporation Finance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) issued updated and new Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (C&DIs) related to Schedules 13D and 13G under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act).

The SEC’s staff in the Division of Corporate Finance issued a new C&DI on April 6, 2020, clarifying that registrants unable to incorporate Form 10-K Part III information by reference within the allotted 120-day window following the end of the filer’s fiscal year may use the 45-day relief granted by the SEC’s earlier COVID-19 Order (the Order) as long as the 120-day deadline falls within the relief period specified in the Order and the registrant meets the conditions of the Order. 

On March 31, 2020, the SEC released two new compliance and disclosure interpretations (CD&Is) clarifying how the SEC’s COVID-19 order, issued March 4, 2020 (the COVID-19 Order), which granted conditional relief to companies affected by coronavirus, interfaces with the standard Form 12b-25 notice for late filings.