The Canadian Investor Relations Institute (CIRI) today announced the publication of the third edition of Standards and Guidance for Disclosure, a handbook for public companies.

The book is a practical investor relations tool that describes practices that should be used by public companies to avoid selective disclosure, and includes a model disclosure policy template that companies can use as a draft for their own disclosure policies.

Public companies must balance the needs of their investors in terms of the content, format, frequency and method of disclosure and their own need to achieve business goals, tell their story, protect confidential information and obey the law. CIRI recommends that the investors’ needs be considered paramount in creating corporate disclosure policies. This document was created to address that need.

Toronto Stock Exchange recommends that issuers adopt a disclosure policy to help them comply with their disclosure requirements. “We commend CIRI for this initiative,” said Eleanor Fritz, Director Compliance & Disclosure at TSX, “which should assist issuers in developing their own ;olicy.” Recent regulatory changes, such as Ontario’s Bill 198 (statutory civil liability in the secondary market) are referenced.

Tom Merinsky, CIRI Chair and Vice President Investor Relations for Finning Inc., noted, “CIRI developed this guide to help its members stay current and take a leadership role in their companies on key disclosure issues.”

CIRI’s Standards and Guidance for Disclosure and accompanying Model Disclosure Policy was first published in 1998. It was updated in 2001 and 2003, and is also available in French. It is provided free to CIRI members and is available to others for $250 (or $300 to receive an additional copy of the Policy itself in MS Word) by ordering from http://www.ciri.org/resources/library/ciri_publications/