The Canadian Securities Administrators are publishing for a 90-day comment period revised rules for insider reporting requirements.

The new rules for NI 55-101 Exemption from Certain Insider Reporting Requirements would provide exemptions for the requirements to file insider trading reports for certain executives, including those who aren’t in charge of a business unit, and those who don’t routinely come into possession of non-public material information.

Firms would also be required to maintain lists of executives that are exempt from the requirements, and those that must comply.

The rules also contain a new requirement for reporting issuers to maintain policies to monitor and restrict the trading activities of its insiders; among other changes.

The CSA says that the changes are designed to improve the effectiveness of the insider reporting system by better focusing the insider reporting requirement on meaningful information that is important to the market. The regulators have already granted many exemptions, primarily to large financial institutions, which have hundreds of nominal vice presidents with no real power or access to inside information.

The CSA predicts the principal benefits will be: enhanced deterrence against unlawful insider trading, since the insider reporting obligation will now focus more closely on insiders who routinely have access to material undisclosed information; increased market efficiency, since the trading activities of “true” insiders may be obscured under the current system by the large volume of insider reports filed by persons who are statutory insiders but who do not routinely have access to material undisclosed information; and, a significant reduction in the regulatory burden associated with insider reporting on insiders, issuers and the securities regulatory authorities.

Comments are due by August 13.