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Continuing Disclosures

Continuing Disclosures

Who Submits Continuing Disclosure?
Continuing disclosures may be submitted to the MSRB by municipal securities issuers, obligated persons or agents acting on behalf of an issuer or obligated person.

What Continuing Disclosure Information May Be Submitted?
Continuing disclosures consist of documents identified in Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 15c2-12 and Rule 15Ga-1, as well as voluntary disclosures.  

  • SEC Rule 15c2-12 disclosures. Issuers and obligated persons submit these disclosures based on contractual agreements established when a bond is issued. The agreements entered into under SEC Rule 15c2-12 apply to most new issues of municipal securities. Such disclosures are classified by the type of information they contain. 
  • SEC Rule 15Ga-1 disclosures. Municipal securitizers file certain disclosures related to municipal asset-backed securities on Form ABS-15G in compliance with Rule 15Ga-1.
  • Voluntary document disclosures.  Some issuers and obligated persons make additional information about their bonds available after the initial issuance, either under contractual arrangements or as a matter of practice. Voluntary disclosures also are classified by the type of information they contain. 

All documents and data submitted are made available to the public on the MSRB's Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA®) website and on a subscription basis.    

How Are Continuing Disclosures Submitted?
EMMA® Dataport provides a web-based submission portal for manually submitting disclosure documents and related indexing information. Alternatively, submitters may make submissions using electronic computer-to-computer streaming connections. For instructions, please refer to the User Manuals and Specifications section below.

 

How Can a Submitter Register to Make a Continuing Disclosure Submission? 
Any person submitting disclosure documents must establish password-protected accounts with the MSRB that provide access to the submission service through an authentication system known as MSRB Gateway.

What Information Must Be Submitted with a Document?
Continuing disclosure document submitters provide indexing information to identify the category of disclosure document they are submitting and the securities to which the document relates. In addition, submitters provide the document date, the period covered by the document and contact information for the person submitting the document or the issuer and/or obligated person. 

What is the Format for Submitting Continuing Disclosure Documents?
All documents submitted to the MSRB must be word-searchable PDFs, configured to permit documents to be saved, viewed, printed and electronically retransmitted.

Do Issuers of 529 Plans and Local Government Investment Pools Submit Continuing Disclosure Documents?
As with many new issues of municipal bonds, continuing disclosure agreements are entered into under SEC Rule 15c2-12 in connection with 529 plans and local government investment pools. The issuer or its agent submits SEC Rule 15c2-12 disclosures to the MSRB pursuant to such agreement, and also may submit any additional voluntary disclosures.

During What Hours Can Continuing Disclosures Be Submitted?
Submissions can be made throughout the day, subject to the right of the MSRB to take the submission service off-line between 3:00 a.m. EST and 6:00 a.m. EST each day for required maintenance or upgrades or at other times as needed to ensure the integrity of EMMA® and its systems. The MSRB provides advance notice of any planned periods of unavailability and endeavors to provide information on the MSRB website as to the status of the submission interface during unanticipated periods of unavailability. Check the MSRB system status page.

Additional Information

FAQs About Continuing Disclosure Submission Service 

User Manuals and Specifications

MSRB Support 
For assistance, contact MSRB Support at 202-838-1330 or MSRBsupport@msrb.org
Live Support: 7:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. ET 
Email Support: 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. ET