WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed to update its rules for administrative proceedings to provide more flexibility to parties and improve the availability of documents to the public.
One set of proposed changes to the commission's Rules of Practice would adjust the timing of hearings and other deadlines in the administrative hearing process and would provide parties with the ability to use depositions and other information discovery tools. It would also clarify some of the rules, such as on the admissibility of hearsay, the commission said.
The other set of changes would require documents in administrative proceedings to be submitted electronically so that they are more readily available to the public.
The goal of the proposed changes is to provide flexibility in the administration proceeding process, while still ensuring it will be timely and efficient, the commission said.
"The proposed amendments seek to modernize our rules of practice for administrative proceedings, including provisions for additional time and prescribed discovery for the parties," SEC Chair Mary Jo White said in the notice released on Thursday.
The SEC pursues muni enforcement actions through litigation as well as administration proceedings, the latter of which have drawn criticism from lawyers recently as providing a home field advantage for the SEC because it uses its own administration law judges.
The SEC suggested the rule changes apply to any proceeding that has begun after their effective date, but asks for comments on whether the rule changes should apply to pending or docketed cases.
The commission asked for public comments to be submitted to it within 60 days after the proposal is published in the Federal Register.
