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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 21 / Wednesday, February 3, 2021 / Rules and Regulations use of filers EDGAR accounts.30 In addition, we are mindful that administrative actions under the proposed rule should not unduly hinder or delay the EDGAR submission process.31 We believe that Rule 15, including its notice provision, balances the need to reduce the risk of financial or personal harm to individuals from the disclosure of Sensitive PII, address potential threats, and other circumstances as described above with the need to timely disseminate EDGAR
submissions. We are therefore adopting this provision of the rule as proposed.
B. Amendment to the Delegations of the Authority of the Commission The Commission is adopting new Rule 3019 of the Rules of Organization and Program Management to delegate authority to the Director of the EDGAR
Business Office to take action under Rule 15 and two other rules in Regulation ST: i Rule 13b, to adjust the filing date of an electronic filing;
and ii Rule 202, to set the terms of, and grant or deny as appropriate, continuing hardship exemptions from the electronic submission requirements.32
This delegated authority is designed to conserve Commission resources by permitting Commission staff to carry out the Commissions efficient administration of EDGAR. The Commission staff may nevertheless submit matters to the Commission for consideration, as it deems appropriate.
III. Economic Analysis
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We have carefully considered the economic effects of final Rule 15 under Regulation ST.33 The final rule 30 See Proposing Release, supra footnote 1, at 58020.
31 Id.
32 The functions in new Rule 3019 are performed by the Director of the EDGAR Business Office or under the Directors direction by such other person or persons as may be designated from time to time by the Chairman of the Commission. Functions related to filing date adjustments pursuant to Rule 13b and continuing hardship exemptions pursuant to Rule 202 would be performed after consultation with the division or office with primary regulatory oversight for the relevant filing. See new Rule 30
19.
33 Section 2b of the Securities Act of 1933
Securities Act, Section 3f of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Exchange Act, and Section 2c of the Investment Company Act of 1940
Investment Company Act require us, when engaging in rulemaking that requires us to consider or determine whether an action is necessary or appropriate in or, with respect to the Investment Company Act, consistent with the public interest, to consider, in addition to the protection of investors, whether the action will promote efficiency, competition, and capital formation. In addition, Section 23a2 of the Exchange Act requires the Commission to consider the effects on competition of any rules the Commission adopts under the Exchange Act and prohibits the
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increases transparency for filers, investors, and other users of EDGAR by specifying the actions the Commission may take to resolve certain administrative issues. Increased transparency about Commission actions will create benefits for both filers and users, because filers and users will know the types of actions they can expect the Commission to take to promote the reliability and integrity of EDGAR submissions. However, we anticipate these benefits will be limited as Rule 15 largely codifies actions that the Commission currently takes to promote the reliability and integrity of EDGAR submissions. For the same reason, we do not expect filers to incur additional costs. Further, we anticipate that the final rule will marginally improve efficiency, but will not have a significant effect on competition or capital formation. Because we generally cannot predict the need for or extent of corrective actions the final rule will address, we cannot quantify the anticipated economic effects of future corrective actions. Furthermore, the Commission received no comments responding to the Proposing Releases request for comments on the economic analysis and any relevant empirical data, estimation methodologies, or factual support. Therefore, the analysis that follows provides primarily a qualitative assessment of the likely economic effects.
A. Economic Baseline The Commissions current processes and procedures for resolving the enumerated administrative issues listed in the final rule and discussed above serve as the baseline against which we assess the final rule. This section discusses, as it relates to this rulemaking, filers current usage of EDGAR and the Commissions processes for administering EDGAR.
Because of the variety of administrative issues that may arise in connection with EDGAR submissions, the Commission has developed procedures for identifying and addressing the issues described above, although the Commission has not published those procedures. Where possible, the Commission currently communicates with relevant filers to facilitate filer corrective disclosure to address problematic submissions. While filer corrective disclosure addresses the majority of known EDGAR submission issues, there are circumstances in which Commission from adopting any rule that would impose a burden on competition not necessary or appropriate in furtherance of the purposes of the Exchange Act.

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working with a filer does not address problematic submissions, such as when the filer is uncooperative or the Commission cannot validate a filers authorization to make submissions.
Additionally, in limited cases, the Commission has responded promptly to submission issues without first consulting relevant filers in order to avoid harm to investors and other EDGAR users who depend upon the accuracy of the information disseminated by EDGAR. For these submissions, the Commission acts expediently to minimize the time the public and the Commission are exposed to such harm. While the Commission typically notifies these filers of its actions afterwards, some filers may not know specifically why the Commission took action or the nature of the issue with the submission.
B. Costs and Benefits The final rule specifies the actions the Commission may take with respect to specific administrative issues that impact the Commissions ability to promote the reliability and integrity of EDGAR submissions. We believe the final rule will provide increased transparency about the Commissions administrative processes, which in turn may benefit filers and improve the Commissions efficiency in administering EDGAR. We believe, however, that Rule 15 would have limited economic effects because the rule largely codifies actions that the Commission may already take.
More transparency into how the Commission administers EDGAR may benefit filers in two ways. First, by specifying the types of issues for which the Commission may take action, the final rule could encourage filers to take additional actions to prevent these issues if they believe the benefits exceed the costs of preventative actions.
Second, when the Commission must act to address a problematic submission prior to notifying a filer or when an issue cannot be addressed solely by a filer corrective disclosure, the final rules formal notification requirement ensures that filers will receive timely notification of Commission action. To the extent that this requirement results in the Commission notifying filers of issues that they can correct, such as incorrect EDGAR identifiers, EDGAR
access code disputes, or potentially misleading filings, filers may be able to benefit from rectifying issues sooner than they would have prior to the rule.34
34 In addition to filers, the Commission may work with EDGAR filing agents, counsel, and other
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