Canadian securities regulators extend deadlines for filings between June 2 and August 31

On May 20, 2020, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published blanket orders extending deadlines by 45 days for documents required to be filed or delivered by non-investment fund issuers between June 2 and August 31, 2020.

What you need to know

• The 45-day extension applies to the filing and delivery deadlines for documents including financial statements, management’s discussion and analysis (MD&A), annual information forms, technical reports and business acquisition reports (BARs) required to be filed between June 2 and August 31, 2020.
• Issuers with December 31 fiscal year ends will now have an additional 45 days to release Q2 2020 results.
• Issuers with March 31 fiscal year ends will now have an additional 45 days to release annual and Q1 2020 results.
• Provided that an issuer is not relying on the extension for its annual or interim filings, base shelf prospectuses expiring between June 2 and August 31, 2020 may be extended for 45 days.
• Issuers that have already relied on the CSA’s prior relief to extend deadlines occurring on or before June 1, 2020 cannot rely on the new order to further extend those deadlines.

Summary of CSA blanket relief

As a result of the blanket relief:

• TSX-listed and TSX Venture-listed issuers with December 31 fiscal year ends will now have until September 28, 2020 and October 15, 2020, respectively, to file Q2 2020 interim financial statements and MD&A
• TSX-listed and TSX Venture-listed issuers with March 31 fiscal year ends will now have until August 13, 2020 and September 14, 2020, respectively, to file annual financial statements, MD&A and annual information forms.
• TSX-listed and TSX Venture-listed issuers with March 31 fiscal year ends will now have until September 28, 2020 and October 15, 2020, respectively, to file Q1 2020 interim financial statements and MD&A.
• BARs and technical reports required to be filed between June 2 and August 31 may be filed up to 45 days following the normal filing deadline.
• Provided that an issuer is not relying on the extension for annual and interim filings, base shelf prospectuses expiring between June 2 and August 31 may be extended for 45 days.

Issuers may not file a preliminary or final prospectus for an offering of securities until they have filed all documents that would otherwise be required to be filed absent the extension.

The conditions of the relief are substantially the same as the prior relief announced by the CSA on March 23, 2020 (details of which can be found here).

Blanket orders were also published that extend deadlines for investment fund issuers.

To discuss these issues, please contact the author(s).

This publication is a general discussion of certain legal and related developments and should not be relied upon as legal advice. If you require legal advice, we would be pleased to discuss the issues in this publication with you, in the context of your particular circumstances.

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