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As part of the continuous effort on the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 18-2023, publishing the guidelines on the submission of digital copies of documents and reducing the number of hard copies to be filed with the SEC.

Identified documents and applications shall be required to be submitted through electronic mail or the electronic platform (eFAST). Examples of the documents and applications are the following: requests for verification of corporate status, requests for certification, requests for name verification for amendment, statements of beneficial ownership, including changes thereto (SEC Forms 23-A and 23-B), and current, annual and quarterly SEC reports (SEC Forms 17-C, 17-A and 17-Q).

Submissions made using email accounts other than those provided in SEC MC No. 18-2023 and on the website shall be considered not filed or received. Further, online submissions done not later than 11:59 PM from Monday to Friday shall be considered filed on the day of submission, while online submissions made on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays shall be considered filed on the immediately succeeding business day.

On the other hand, a reduced number of hard copies for identified documents shall be submitted to the SEC (e.g., from four [4] hard copies to two [2] hard copies). Examples are documents for registration of one-person corporations and domestic corporations, amendment of articles and by-laws, amendment of licenses, and increase of authorized capital stock.

For the complete list of documents and applications, kindly refer to the link: https://www.sec.gov.ph/forms-and-fees/list-of-documentary-requirements-and-mode-of-submission/

SEC MC No. 18-2023 shall take effect immediately on October 11, 2023. After the lapse of one year thereon, all documents shall be submitted online, and the SEC shall no longer require the submission of hard copies of documents. SEC shall retain the hard copies in accordance with its records disposition schedule, following the regulations on data privacy and the National Archives of the Philippines.

Source:

P&A Grant Thornton

Certified Public Accountants

P&A Grant Thornton is the Philippine member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd.

 

As published in SunStar Cebu, dated 12 November 2023