SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Final Rule:
Mandated Electronic Filing and Website Posting for Forms 3, 4 and 5
The accelerated Section 16(a) filing requirement that took effect in August, 2002 makes electronic filing even more valuable.37 Finally, investors clearly want electronic access to these forms.38 Many investors believe that reports of directors' and executive officers' transactions in company equity securities provide useful information as to management's views of the performance or prospects of the company and that more timely and transparent access to reports will be even more useful.
Filers will benefit from changes to the electronic filing system specifically designed to make electronic filing easier while continuing to provide speedy, secure and reliable transmission, as discussed below. We note that many companies help their insiders or submit the insiders' filings on their behalf. We encourage this practice to facilitate accurate and timely filing. Our objective, however, is to create a system that insiders can use relatively easily themselves, particularly as an insider is legally responsible for filing regardless of who submits a filing on the insider's behalf
