§230.159A. Certain definitions for purposes of section 12(a)(2) of the Act.
17 C.F.R. § 230.159A
Definition of seller for purposes of section 12(a)(2) of the Act. For purposes of section 12(a)(2) of the Act only, in a primary offering of securities of the issuer, regardless of the underwriting method used to sell the issuer's securities, seller shall include the issuer of the securities sold to a person as part of the initial distribution of such securities, and the issuer shall be considered to offer or sell the securities to such person, if the securities are offered or sold to such person by means of any of the following communications:
Any preliminary prospectus or prospectus of the issuer relating to the offering required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424 (§ 230.424) or Rule 497 (§ 230.497);
Any free writing prospectus as defined in § 230.405 (Rule 405) relating to the offering prepared by or on behalf of the issuer or used or referred to by the issuer and, in the case of an issuer that is an open-end management company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-1 et seq.) or a separate account (as defined in Section 2(a)(14) of the Securities Act) (15 U.S.C. 77b(a)(14)) registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 on §§ 239.17a and 274.11b of this chapter (Form N-3), §§ 239.17b and 274.11c of this chapter (Form N-4), or §§ 239.17c and 274.11d of this chapter (Form N-6), any summary prospectus relating to the offering provided pursuant to § 230.498 (Rule 498) or § 230.498A (Rule 498A), respectively;
The portion of any other free writing prospectus (or, in the case of an issuer that is an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 or a business development company as defined in section 2(a)(48) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-2(a)(48)), any advertisement pursuant to Rule 482 (§ 230.482)) relating to the offering containing material information about the issuer or its securities provided by or on behalf of the issuer; and
Any other communication that is an offer in the offering made by the issuer to such person.
Definition of by means of for purposes of section 12(a)(2) of the Act.
For purposes of section 12(a)(2) of the Act only, an offering participant other than the issuer shall not be considered to offer or sell securities that are the subject of a registration statement by means of a free writing prospectus as to a purchaser unless one or more of the following circumstances shall exist:
The offering participant used or referred to the free writing prospectus in offering or selling the securities to the purchaser;
The offering participant offered or sold securities to the purchaser and participated in planning for the use of the free writing prospectus by one or more other offering participants and such free writing prospectus was used or referred to in offering or selling securities to the purchaser by one or more of such other offering participants; or
The offering participant was required to file the free writing prospectus pursuant to the conditions to use in Rule 433 (§ 230.433).
For purposes of section 12(a)(2) of the Act only, a person will not be considered to offer or sell securities by means of a free writing prospectus solely because another person has used or referred to the free writing prospectus or filed the free writing prospectus with the Commission pursuant to Rule 433.
Notes, amendments, and revision history
Amendments
[70 FR 44805, Aug. 3, 2005, as amended at 74 FR 4584, Jan. 26, 2009; 85 FR 26093, May 1, 2020]
Authority
Authority: 15 U.S.C. 77b, 77b note, 77c, 77d, 77f, 77g, 77h, 77j, 77r, 77s, 77z-3, 77sss, 78c, 78d, 78j, 78 l, 78m, 78n, 78o, 78o-7 note, 78t, 78w, 78 ll (d), 78mm, 80a-8, 80a-24, 80a-28, 80a-29, 80a-30, and 80a-37, and Pub. L. 112-106, sec. 201(a), sec. 401, 126 Stat. 313 (2012), unless otherwise noted. Section 230.151 is also issued under 15 U.S.C. 77s(a). Section 230.160 is also issued under Section 104(d) of the Electronic Signatures Act. Section 230.193 is also issued under sec. 943, Pub. L. 111-203, 124 Stat. 1376. Sections 230.400 to 230.499 issued under secs. 6, 8, 10, 19, 48 Stat. 78, 79, 81, and 85, as amended (15 U.S.C. 77f, 77h, 77j, 77s). Sec. 230.457 also issued under secs. 6 and 7, 15 U.S.C. 77f and 77g. Section 230.502 is also issued under 15 U.S.C. 80a-8, 80a-29, 80a-30.
Amendments
[55 FR 18322, May 2, 1990, as amended at 62 FR 53954, Oct. 17, 1997; 63 FR 9642, Feb. 25, 1998]
Amendments
[70 FR 44805, Aug. 3, 2005, as amended at 74 FR 4584, Jan. 26, 2009; 85 FR 26093, May 1, 2020]