The Ontario Securities Commission is working on a full-scale redesign of its Web site.

The OSC has a new test Web site up and running at: http://test.osc.gov.on.ca/index_en.jsp Fans of securities regulators’ Web sites may notice that the OSC test site looks remarkably like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s site: http://www.sec.gov/index.htm

However, Eric Pelletier, manager media relations at the OSC, insists that the resemblance is purely coincidental. He says that the OSC is “probably not consciously” mimicking the SEC’s design. “The layout is quite standard and designed to make information quickly available,” he says.

Pelletier says the OSC doesn’t have an formal launch date in mind for the new site. “Some adjustments have been requested so [it’s] going to be a little while more before we launch the new site officially,” he says. But, in the meantime, he reports that it’s operating the new and existing sites in parallel.

“I think the information is much better organized and gives more flexibility to how you use the site,” he says. “But [we] would certainly welcome any comments or criticisms on the site while we are testing it.”