SEC reopens comment period on 11 rules following technical glitch

The SEC has reopened the public comment period for 11 rule proposals and one request-for-comment after discovering a technical glitch that prevented some comments from being posted.

The Internet submission form the SEC provides to allow members of the public to comment on rule proposals appeared to work correctly but sometimes failed to complete all the steps required to automatically store, submit and post comments, according to an Oct. 7  from the SEC.

The commission offered little detail about the nature of the problem but said it could have appeared as early as June 21, 2021. The glitch affected, as far as the SEC can tell, fewer than 200 comment letters, out of the 25,000 unique comments filed during that period, Reuters reported.

Most of the affected comments were submitted in August, but the commission suggests that anyone who submitted public comments using the Internet comment form should check the comments section of the relevant rule proposal and use the links posted with the original rule proposal or the list of links included in the posted notice that the comment period had been reopened.

Comments will be open for 14 days after the notice appears in the Federal Register.

See the table below for the titles and identifying numbers of the rule proposals affected.