Canadian securities regulators have issued revised proposals for a new regulatory regime for venture issuers that would impose less onerous disclosure obligations and governance requirements on smaller, start up firms.

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) Thursday published a second version of a proposed rule that aims to streamline governance and disclosure requirements for venture firms. The first version was published in July 2011.

The revised version published Thursday incorporates a number of changes from the original version of the rule — the biggest being that the regulators would still require venture firms to produce quarterly reports. In the initial proposals, the CSA was going to do away with the three- and nine-month reports, and just require firms to report every six months. Now, it would require interim financial reports at each of the three-, six- and nine- month periods.

The reporting required at those interim periods wouldn’t be as extensive as it is for senior issuers, but the CSA says an interim report including quarterly highlights will be necessary, and the CEO and chief financial officer will have to certify those reports.

The new proposals also include a range of changes to various other elements of the proposed rule, including changes to executive compensation disclosure requirements, modifying the test for determining when an acquisition is considered a major acquisition, enhancing prospectus disclosure requirements about use of proceeds, revising definitions, enhancing guidance in several areas and clarifying certain requirements, among other things.

“Industry and investor feedback is an important part of ensuring that proposed rules will be effective and reflect the needs and expectations of regulators, market participants and investors,” said Bill Rice, chair of the CSA and chair and CEO of the Alberta Securities Commission. “As regulators, we recognize the importance of the venture market in Canada’s capital markets and strive to balance promoting efficiency within the capital markets with ensuring that investors receive the information they need to make informed decisions.”

The new proposals are out for comment until December 12.