“The proposed amendments address outdated and redundant disclosure requirements while continuing to require companies to provide investors with what they need to make informed decisions,” said SEC Chair Mary Jo White.  “We are keenly interested in investors’ views on all aspects of the proposal and look forward to receiving their input as we continue to consider changes and enhancements to our disclosure requirements.” 

The measure, at 318 pages, contains numerous specific amendments, but more generally it addresses:  

* Duplicative requirements, which require substantially the same disclosures as U.S. GAAP, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), or other Commission disclosure requirements.  The Commission will consider whether to propose to delete these requirements in light of the requirements elsewhere.

* Overlapping requirements, which are related to, but not the same as U.S. GAAP, IFRS, or other Commission disclosure requirements.  For these requirements, the Commission will consider whether to:

-- Delete Commission disclosure requirements that:  require disclosures that convey reasonably similar information to or are encompassed by the disclosures that result from compliance with the overlapping U.S. GAAP, IFRS, or Commission disclosure requirements, or require disclosure incremental to the overlapping U.S. GAAP, IFRS, or Commission disclosure requirements and may no longer be useful to investors;  

-- Integrate Commission disclosure requirements that overlap with, but require information incremental to, other Commission disclosure requirements; or

-- Solicit comment on certain Commission disclosure requirements that overlap with, but require information incremental to, U.S. GAAP to determine whether to retain, modify, eliminate, or refer them to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) for potential incorporation into U.S. GAAP.

* Outdated requirements, which have become obsolete as a result of the passage of time or changes in the regulatory, business, or technological environment.  The Commission will consider whether to propose to amend these outdated requirements. The Commission will consider whether to propose to require additional disclosure of information to reduce any loss of information or increased burdens for investors.

* Superseded requirements, which are inconsistent with recent legislation, more recently updated Commission disclosure requirements, or more recently updated U.S. GAAP. The Commission will consider whether to propose to amend these superseded disclosure requirements to reflect, as applicable, the more recently updated requirements.

The SEC will be taking comment on the proposal for the next 60 days.