Securities Regulation Daily Wrap Up, FORMS AND FILINGS—SEC grants exemption from some rules that otherwise mandate use of XBRL, (Sep 14, 2026)
The Commission said XBRL used in some forms mostly exists to inform SEC staff or is duplicative such that an exemption may ease burdens on firms.
The Commission announced that it granted exemptive relief from filing or submitting XBRL data in certain forms used by securities markets intermediaries. The Commission’s exemptive order said the forms targeted by the relief are primarily used to inform agency staff about compliance matters or are otherwise duplicative of other filings and submissions.
Specifically, the Commission granted exemptive relief to firms under Exchange Act Section 36(a)(1) from filing or submitting Inline XBRL on the following forms: Form CA-1 (except Exhibit H), Form 1 (except Exhibit I), Form X-17A-5 Part III, Form 17-H, and the CCO report.
The Commission, under Exchange Act Section 36, has wide latitude to exempt certain activities from federal securities regulations if the “exemption is necessary or appropriate in the public interest, and is consistent with the protection of investors.”
According to the Commission's order, Inline XBRL or eXtensible Business Reporting Language, helps financial institutions and regulators analyze companies’ and securities firms’ filings and submissions but may be “less useful” in the case of the forms targeted for eased reporting requirements by the exemption. Moreover, the order explained that the selected filings and submissions contain “individually tailored information” such that it is difficult for the agency to maintain standardized data tags for them. In some instances, the order said the electronic data would be duplicative.
“What these forms share in common is that they are specific to market intermediaries and are primarily used by the Commission to assess whether an entity registered as a market intermediary meets the relevant standards–including legal, financial, and operational standards–necessary to comply with the Exchange Act,” said the order.
In a press release issued several days after the exemptive order was dated, SEC Chair Paul S. Atkins suggested that the resulting exemption was part of a larger effort at the agency to shed “immaterial requirements” that may burden market participants without corresponding material benefits for investors.
“This exemptive order–which provides commonsense relief without sacrificing investor protection–will reduce compliance costs and enable market participants to more efficiently allocate resources, including to support or enhance their operations and existing compliance obligations,” said Atkins.
The filing and submission requirements being eased now were originally put in place via a final regulation adopted during the Biden Administration on December 16, 2024. Then-SEC Chair Gary Gensler said the requirements were intended to “updat[e] our requirements for the digital age.” The accompanying press release explained that, previously, firms were allowed to make covered filings and submissions on paper.
The current SEC had already extended the compliance dates for some of the December 2024 requirements before issuing the exemptive order.
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