The Ontario Securities Commission has issued a staff notice regarding the launch of the National Registration Database, scheduled for March 31.

It advises that there are a number of issues resulting from the launch and the preparation of the launch that registrants and applicants for registration will need to be aware of.

Enrolment forms for registrant firms must be completed and received by the Canadian Depository for Securities no later than February 10, in order to be registered to use the NRD by March 31.

There will be a “freeze period, starting March 7, during which time OSC staff will be unable to process registration applications through the NRD. Therefore, applications received between March 7 and March 31 will be processed outside the NRD. Applications not approved on the OSC’s current database before March 7, and not ready for conversion on that date, will have to be filed again using the NRD.

OSC staff advises that applications for registration filed after February 5 may not be processed prior to the NRD freeze period and therefore may have to be refiled on NRD.

Also, due to the implementation of the NRD, applicants may experience a delay in turnaround times for processing applications normally available. “These delays are due to the current registration renewal process being dealt with outside of the NRD and to the time required to prepare data for conversion to the NRD,” it says.