Draft EDGAR Filer Manual (Volume II) EDGAR Filing (Version 48)

Implementation Date: October 2018

This draft Filer Manual, posted before Commission approval of potential regulatory changes in this release, is provided as a service to our filing community to assist filers, agents, and software developers in their preparation of responses to potential changes the staff anticipates. Since this is a draft manual, the SEC retains the right to change any part of the manual before the new system release is made final. In addition, the final EDGAR Filer Manual (Volume II) (Version 48) is subject to Commission approval and may be revised before approval or not approved at all. Similarly, the posting of the draft manual does not indicate Commission approval of any pending proposed changes relating to the potential changes reflected in the draft manual. The changes outlined in this draft manual, if approved, are scheduled to take effect on October 1, 2018 for non-rule based changes or on the rule effective date for changes related to SEC rules. See SEC Final Rules posted on the SEC's Public Website for information on the rule effective date. The final version of the manual will be made available, if approved by the Commission, on or about October 1, 2018, on the SEC's Public Website.

EDGAR Updates

On October 1, 2018, the following changes will be made to the EDGAR Filer Manual as part of EDGAR Release 18.3:

  • EDGAR will introduce changes that will remove the ability to access return copies of submissions if a return copy is requested. Filers are encouraged to save a copy of their submission prior to transmitting a TEST or LIVE filing. EDGAR will continue to provide Notification Information for test and live submissions. For more information on the elimination of the ability to access a return copy of EDGAR submissions, see Chapter 5 (Maintenance of Company Data), Appendix A (Glossary of Commonly Used Terms, Acronyms, and Abbreviations) and Appendix B (Frequently Asked Questions) of the “EDGAR Filer Manual, Volume I: General Information.” See Chapter 2 (Quick Guide to EDGAR Filing), Chapter 7 (Preparing and Transmitting EDGARLink Online Submissions), Chapter 8 (Preparing and Transmitting Online Submissions), Chapter 10 (Determining the Status of Your Filing), Appendix B (Frequently Asked Questions), and Appendix F (Glossary of Commonly Used Terms, Acronyms, and Abbreviations) of the “EDGAR Filer Manual, Volume II: EDGAR Filing.”
  • Submission form types N-CEN and N-CEN/A will be updated to rename the save button for Part E: Additional Questions for Exchange-Traded Funds and Exchange-Traded Managed Funds to “Save & Close This Fund.” See Chapter 8 (Preparing and Transmitting Online Submissions) of the “EDGAR Filer Manual, Volume II: EDGAR Filing.”
  • Submission form types 8-K/A, 8-K12B/A, 8-K12G3/A, 8-K15D5/A, 20-F/A, and NT 20-F/A will be updated to issue a warning, but still allow the submission to go through, if the period tag does not match the period tag of their live and accepted original filing or amendment. See Appendix A (Messages Reported by EDGAR) of the “EDGAR Filer Manual, Volume II: EDGAR Filing.”
  • EDGAR will be updated to show submission progress once an action is submitted. The progress indicator will help prevent a filer from submitting more than one copy of a submission. This update is for the following locations: Filer Web, Online Forms Management, EDGARLink Online, or EDGAR Filer Management. See Chapter 3 (Becoming an EDGAR Filer), Chapter 4 (Generating EDGAR Access Codes), and Chapter 5 (Maintenance of Company Data) of the “EDGAR Filer Manual, Volume I: General Information.” See Chapter 7 (Preparing and Transmitting EDGARLink Online Submissions) and Chapter 8 (Preparing and Transmitting Online Submissions) of the “EDGAR Filer Manual, Volume II: EDGAR Filing.”
  • EDGAR will notify filers when their submissions have possible XBRL tagging issues. Clarifying changes have been made to the following sections of Chapter 6 (Interactive Data) of the “EDGAR Filer Manual, Volume II: EDGAR Filing”:
    • Section 6.5 ‘Syntax of Instances’ and its subsections of the "EDGAR Filer Manual, Volume II: EDGAR Filing" will be updated as follows:
      • Provide an EDGAR warning (not a suspension) when certain US-GAAP and IFRS numeric reporting items are tagged incorrectly as negative
      • Provide an EDGAR warning (not a suspension) if a filing uses deprecated tags in a submission
      • Provide an EDGAR warning (not a suspension) if a filing contains custom Axis tags for purposes already served by certain existing standard taxonomy axes
    • Section 6.7.12 of the "EDGAR Filer Manual, Volume II: EDGAR Filing" will be updated to be in line with the phrasing of other Interactive Data validation descriptions. It will test whether 17 CFR § 232.405 (d)(1) through (d)(4) are followed by the Interactive Data file, and only issue a warning to the filer when the requisite ordering is not followed.

Release 18.3 will also introduce changes to the following Technical Specifications:

  • The N-PORT schema will be updated with changes including but not limited to the following:
    • Allow filers to provide “N/A” at the following locations:
      • Date Items C.9.a and C.10.e
      • Item C.2.b at both the holding and reference instrument level, and allow Item C.2.c (exchange rate) to be skipped if “N/A” is the response to Item C.2.b
      • Items C.2.c and C.2.d at the reference instrument level
      • Items C.5.a and C.5.b at both the holding and reference instrument level
    • Revise the validation for CUSIPs and ISINs, including allowing filers to provide “N/A”
    • Allow filers to report up to 1,000 reference instruments for convertible debt under Item C.9.f.iii
    • Allow filers to report up to 100 counterparties and their LEIs for Item C.11.b.i
    • Increase the ticker field size to 40 characters and remove ticker spaces prohibitions throughout the Form
    • Add “Other” as an option to Items C.11.f.i.1 and C.11.f.i.2
    • Add an ISO code field to Item C.11.c.v at the holding and reference instrument levels 
    • The data format for decimal fields will change from Decimal (36,12) to Decimal (24)

    In addition, EDGAR will prevent the dissemination of submission form type NPORT-P and its variants if there is a period date of August 31, 2019 or earlier.

    For more information, see the updated “EDGAR Form N-PORT XML Technical Specification” document available on the SEC's Public Website (https://www.sec.gov/info/edgar/tech-specs).

  • The N-CEN schema will be updated with the following change:
    • The data format for decimal fields will change from Decimal (36,12) to Decimal (24)

    For more information, see the updated “EDGAR Form N-CEN Technical Specification” document available on the SEC’s Public Website (https://www.sec.gov/info/edgar/tech-specs).

EDGAR Release 18.3 will also implement a number of other changes that do not impact the EDGAR Filer Manual, which are detailed in the Release Notes.