Government Shutdown Impacts SEC Operations

As a result of the federal government shutdown, if you would like Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission (Corp Fin) to consider a request for acceleration of the effective date of a pending registration statement or qualification of a pending offering statement, effective December 26th you should contact Larry Spirgel at (202) 551-3851. For similar requests for the Division of Investment Management (IM Division), please contact Bill Kotapish at (202) 551-6756.  After 5:30 p.m. on the 26th of December, Corp Fin and the IM Division will not be in a position to act upon any such requests until the SEC receives appropriations to fund its operations.

Starting December 27th, there be a very a limited number of staff members in the Corp Fin and the IM Division that will be available to answer questions relating to fee calculations for filings, and to respond to emergency situations involving market integrity and investor protection, including law enforcement, but they will not generally be available to respond to other questions. If you require assistance in calculating a fee for a filing you will make during the shutdown period, submit your request and contact information to CFEmergency@sec.gov or IMEmergency@sec.gov, as appropriate.

The SEC is required under federal law and regulations to cease its regular activities and its ability to respond to other questions is be limited by those regulations. Regardless of the SEC’s operating status, EDGAR will accept registration statements, offering statements and other filings; however, during a shutdown the SEC will not be able to declare registration statements effective, nor qualify Form 1-A offering statements.

Additional information is available from the Division of Investment Management and the FAQs issued by the Division of Corporation Finance.