Jason Comerford
Apr 10, 2012
By Tim Wilbur for Lexpert Blog
Last week, US President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act into law. What effect will this new Act, with a goal to make it easier for startups and small businesses to raise funds, have on Canadian companies?
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP has posted an update on their website that gives a detailed breakdown of the legislation and how it may impact companies in Canada.
Although it still remains to be seen how all of the provisions will play out, since the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) must now make specific rules based on the legislative changes, the Act has bipartisan support for removing bureaucratic government barriers to job creation.
But some groups feel the new Act may re-open the door to conflicts of interest that have plagued Wall Street and fraudulent activity like what occurred in the dot-com bubble in the 1990s.
Jason Comerford, a partner at Osler’s New York office, says the new Act may also be a harbinger of a more liberalized securities regulation environment in the US: “The JOBS Act is significant not only for the specific changes that it introduces but because it marks a bit of a shift away from the trend of increased regulation and disclosure and compliance obligations that characterize Sarbanes–Oxley and the Dodd Frank era. I think really it shows a concern of US Congress that too much regulation could stifle the growth of smaller and emerging companies and ultimately harm more than help the economy, really that one size fits all securities regulation might not work.”
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For the full text of this Lexpert Blog entry, click here.
For our full Update on the JOBS Act (Major Reforms Enacted to Stimulate Public and Private Capital Raising in the United States), click here.