Confidential Treatment In SEC Filings
Earlier this year the SEC adopted amendments to Regulation S-K as required by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (“FAST Act”) (see HERE). Among other changes, the amendments allow companies to redact confidential information from most exhibits without filing a confidential treatment request (“CTR”), including omitting schedules and exhibits to exhibits. Likewise, the amendments allow a company to redact information that is both (i) not material, and (ii) competitively harmful if disclosed without the need for a confidential treatment request. The enacted amendment only applies to material agreement exhibits under Item 601(b)(10) and not to other categories of exhibits, which would rarely contain competitively harmful information.
Since the rule change took effect, the SEC has streamlined its procedures for granting CTRs and for applying for extended confidential treatment on previously granted orders. The amendments to the CTR process became effective April 2, 2019.
This blog begins with a discussion of the procedures for seeking confidential treatment, followed by a
