Wind Energy America, Inc., Exchange Act Rel. 62894, September 13, 2010
Time since appeal filed – 6 months 28 days
Time since last brief – 3 months 12 days
Wind Energy appealed Finra's decision to remove it from the OTC Bulletin Board quotation service. Finra did so because the company failed to file an annual or quarterly report three times in two years. Finra rules require removal if these conditions are met. The Commission upheld the Finra action.
Finra Rule 6530 requires companies quoted on the bulletin board to timely file their annual and quarterly reports with the Commission as a condition of continued quotation. One of the late reports was filed 56 minutes late which under Commission rules rendered it one day late. The deadline for filing is established by Commission Reg S-T.
Issuers are held to a strict compliance standard for meeting their listing requirements. The Commission noted that removal from the quotation service is not an irreparable harm to the company because other markets exist (such as the OTC pink sheets) on which the securities may trade. It noted that the public interest in seeing that investors have timely information outweighs any inconvenience to current shareholders.
