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How to Search for EDGAR Correspondence

The SEC is publicly releasing comment and response letters relating to disclosure filings made after August 1, 2004, and reviewed by the Division of Corporation Finance and the Division of Investment Management (see Press Release 2005-72, May 9, 2005). For background information on what materials are released, timing, and confidential treatment, see Press Release No. 2004-89 (June 24, 2004) and Division of Corporation Finance and Investment Management Announcements dated December 1, 2011. There are no plans to release letters related to reviewed filings made prior to August 1, 2004.

There are several methods to search for these new correspondence materials. The new letter form types are upload for SEC-originated letters to filers and corresp for filer response letters outside of amended filings. Note, however, that filers often send a reply to staff as part of another filing. Such responses cannot be searched directly with the current EDGAR interface, though they will be listed on some search results pages, designated by the term "[Cover]" in the document description.

Note: To find public comment letters responding to SEC rulemaking (not associated with EDGAR filings), see Rulemaking Comment Letters.

  1. Historical Archive Search — enter type=upload into the search field (or type=corresp) together with other search strings to target appropriate filings.
    Notes: This search will display only 800 filings per search and will time-out with searches that are too broad. See Searching with EDGAR Header Fields for guidance on how to use the EDGAR filing header fields to target your search. For example, to search for either upload or corresp for 2004 use this search string and select 2004 for start and end year:
     
    form-type=upload or form-type=corresp
     
    To find letters for a given month, for example August 2006, use the following search string and be sure the start and end years include the year/month indicated:
     
    (form-type=upload OR form-type=corresp) AND filing-date=200608*
     
  2. Company Search — browse specific company filings for correspondence materials.
    Notes: Once an upload or corresp is located by other searches, you can best view the full thread of staff and filer correspondence by finding the materials in the company's chronological list of filings. This may be the best way to display related correspondence materials, since all filings that include released correspondence are identified in the document description list by the inclusion of the term [Cover] .
     
  3. EDGAR Full-Text Search: Using the Advanced Search Page menu, you can select either UPLOAD or CORRESP from the Form Type menu. You have the option of also adding a search term or phrase in the top text box and filtering by other options such as date range, company name, CIK number, or SIC Code. See, for example:
     
    http://searchwww.sec.gov/EDGARFSClient/jsp/EDGAR_MainAccess.jsp?
    search_text=CORRESP&sort=Date&formType=1&isAdv=true&stemming=
    true&numResults=10&querySic=1623&fromDate=12/01/2009&toDate=
    12/31/2010&numResults=10

     
  4. EDGAR Indexes — The EDGAR daily indexes and quarterly indexes are other resources for locating correspondence materials. Each evening, entries for the previous day's filings are compiled into three types of daily indexes — company (sorted by company name), form (sorted by form type), and master (sorted by Central Index Key [CIK]). Remember that these letters are indexed by filing date, not release date. During the initial catch-up period, these correspondence materials may not show up in the Full Index (filings through the last quarter) or even the Quarterly Indexes (updated only at the end of the quarter). The Form indexes may be the easiest to use as corresp and upload are grouped in alphabetical order. For example the daily index for May 12, 2005, shows a corresp with this url:
     
    edgar/data/356134/0000897101-04-002199.txt
     
    Append this to http://www.sec.gov/Archives/ to make this link to the full text filing:
     
    http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/356134/0000897101-04-002199.txt

Procedures for conversion and upload of paper material to an electronic format have not been finalized and may delay the release of some response material. Material subject to a rule 83 confidential treatment request are not released.


Rulemaking Comment Letters

The SEC invites comments on rulemaking releases and publishes these comments on the SEC Website. These comment letters are not associated with EDGAR filings. To find public comments responding to SEC rulemaking, look for this line under index entries on rules index pages:

Comments received are available for this proposal.

See also How to Submit Comment Letters in response to SEC rulemaking.

 

http://www.sec.gov/answers/edgarletters.htm

We have provided this information as a service to investors.  It is neither a legal interpretation nor a statement of SEC policy.  If you have questions concerning the meaning or application of a particular law or rule, please consult with an attorney who specializes in securities law.


Modified: 12/01/2011