On April 30, 2010 National Instrument 55-104 Insiders Reporting Requirements and Exemptions (NI-55-104) came into effect. The highlights of the instrument include the following:

• The instrument will see the filing deadline shortened from 10 to 5 calendar days with a six month transition period.
• The criteria for determining who is a reporting insider has been updated and may result in a decrease to the number of reporting insiders within an issuer.
• The new rules have created some additional reporting transactions such as retroactive filings, post conversion beneficial ownership and reports associated with related financial instruments.
• The rules surrounding grants from stock based compensation programs allows the option for issuers to file issuer grant reports within 5 days of the grant rather than insiders filing individual reports. This is not a requirement for the issuer therefore insiders should verify what the issuer’s policy will be in this regard.

The instrument and the companion policy can be viewed in their entirety by visiting any of the securities commission websites or via this link.

CSA Staff Notice 55-315 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about National Instrument 55-104 Insider Reporting Requirements and Exemptions (NI 55-104)

This notice sets out a number of FAQs that were received and are related to the new insider reporting regime contained in NI 55-104 and includes a number of examples of arrangements and transactions together with examples of how to report these arrangements and transactions. You can find the complete notice HERE.