SEC 执法部门宣布更新执法手册

美国证券交易委员会执法部门今天宣布对其执法手册进行重大更新。这些更新强调了委员会对该部门调查的公平性、透明度和效率的持续承诺。其中包括调查程序的变化，旨在提高该部门实践的一致性和统一性，并提高效率，以支持委员会保护投资者、维护公平、有序和高效的市场以及促进资本形成的使命。执法手册上次修订于 2017 年，今后将每年进行审查。
“这是一个重要且迟来的步骤，它建立在执法部门对透明度、公平性和流程的承诺的基础上，同时确保其仍然能够履行其使命，”美国证券交易委员会主席保罗·S·阿特金斯 (Paul S. Atkins) 表示。 “我赞扬瑞安法官和工作人员对手册的修订工作，以及他们对今后继续审查手册以确保其程序保持最新、有效和相关性的承诺。”
“美国证券交易委员会修改后的《执法手册》旨在澄清并增强公众对我们如何执行联邦证券法的理解，”美国证券交易委员会执法部门主任玛格丽特·A·瑞安 (Margaret A. Ryan) 表示。 “我们对执法手册的更新确保了更大的一致性，反映了该部门的最佳实践，并提高了我们的员工代表投资者开展关键任务工作的能力。”
执法手册的更新包括以下方面的变化：
确保统一的 Wells 流程：更新后的执法手册强调 SEC 工作人员与潜在受访者和被告之间进行公开、知情和深思熟虑的对话的重要性，目的是产生更好的结果，并确保公平、及时地解决调查和可能的执法行动建议。 - 为了鼓励这种对话并促进 Wells 流程的一致性，《执行手册》更新规定，Wells 通知的接收者通常会在四个星期内提交 Wells 意见。该更新还就如何使威尔斯提交的内容对工作人员和委员会最有帮助提供了指导。更新后的《执行手册》规定，威尔斯会议将在收到威尔斯提交的材料后四个星期内安排，会议将包括该部门的一名高级领导成员。 - 更新后的《执法手册》中规定的流程和时间表旨在确保该司迅速采取行动，以实现委员会的三部分任务，同时也让受执法调查影响的各方更快地了解工作人员是否会建议结束调查
化或执法行动，并帮助确保有效利用委员会资源。
促进同时考虑和解建议和豁免请求：更新后的《执行手册》反映出，委员会最近恢复了之前的做法，即允许和解方要求委员会同时考虑和解提议以及要求委员会豁免自动取消资格和因基本执行行动而产生的其他附带后果的任何相关请求。通过让 SEC 行动的潜在各方更清楚地了解和解的附带影响，这些更新可以节省委员会的资源，提高其流程的透明度，并通过提高调查解决的效率来保护投资者。
执法手册的其他更新：更新后的执法手册详细介绍了该司评估合作的框架，包括合作对民事处罚的影响。它还包括：旨在鼓励更加一致的内部合作的变更、有关正式命令流程的更新、向刑事当局移交的更新框架，以及旨在使《执法手册》符合该部门当前最佳实践的其他变更。

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement today announced significant updates to its Enforcement Manual . These updates underscore the Commission’s ongoing commitment to fairness, transparency, and efficiency in the investigations conducted by the Division. They include changes to investigative procedures that are intended to enhance consistency and uniformity in the Division’s practices and to create greater efficiencies in support of the Commission’s mission to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation. The Enforcement Manual, which was last revised in 2017, will undergo yearly reviews going forward.
“This is an important and long-overdue step that builds on the Division of Enforcement’s commitment to transparency, fairness, and process while ensuring it remains able to fulfill its mission,” said SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins. “I applaud Judge Ryan’s and the staff’s work on revisions to the manual and their commitment to a continued review of the manual going forward to ensure its procedures remain current, effective, and relevant.”
“The SEC’s modified Enforcement Manual seeks to clarify, and enhance the public’s understanding of, how we enforce the federal securities laws,” said Margaret A. Ryan, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “Our updates to the Enforcement Manual ensure greater uniformity, reflect the Division’s best practices, and improve our staff’s ability to carry out the mission-critical work they do on behalf of investors.”
Updates to the Enforcement Manual include changes in the following areas:
Ensuring a uniform Wells process: The updated Enforcement Manual emphasizes the importance of open, informed, and thoughtful dialogue between SEC staff and potential respondents and defendants, with the goal of producing better outcomes and ensuring the fair and timely resolution of investigations and recommendations of possible enforcement actions. - To encourage this dialogue and facilitate greater consistency in the Wells process, the Enforcement Manual updates provide that recipients of a Wells notice will ordinarily receive four weeks to make Wells submissions. The update also gives guidance on what makes a Wells submission most helpful to the staff and the Commission. The updated Enforcement Manual provides that Wells meetings will be scheduled within four weeks of receipt of a Wells submission and will include a member of senior leadership within the Division. - The processes and timelines set out in the updated Enforcement Manual are intended to ensure that the Division acts promptly to achieve the Commission’s three-part mission while also allowing parties affected by an enforcement investigation to learn more quickly whether the staff will recommend closure of an investigation or an enforcement action, as well as help ensure efficient use of Commission resources.
Facilitating simultaneous consideration of settlement recommendations and waiver requests: The updated Enforcement Manual reflects that the Commission recently restored its prior practice of permitting a settling party to request that the Commission simultaneously consider an offer of settlement and any related request for a Commission waiver from automatic disqualifications and other collateral consequences that result from the underlying enforcement action. By providing potential parties to an SEC action with greater visibility into the collateral effects of a settlement, these updates conserve Commission resources, enhance the transparency of its processes, and protect investors by driving significant efficiencies in the resolution of investigations.
Additional Updates to the Enforcement Manual: The updated Enforcement Manual details the Division’s framework for evaluating cooperation, including the impact of cooperation on civil penalties. It also includes: changes intended to encourage more consistent internal collaboration, updates regarding the formal order process, an updated framework for referrals to criminal authorities, and other changes intended to conform the Enforcement Manual to current best practices within the Division.