In its recent Regulatory Notice 13-04, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") announced amendments to its Customer and Industry Codes of Arbitration Procedure related to subpoenas and arbitrator orders for the production of documents and testimony. The amendments affect Subpoena Rules 12512 and 13512, as well as Order Rules 12513 and 13513. The new rules became effective on February 18, 2013, and govern all motions filed on or after the effective date.

FINRA's amendments to the rules governing subpoenas and arbitrator orders will likely result in a much greater emphasis on the use of arbitrator orders and de-emphasis of FINRA subpoenas. As FINRA itself explained, the amended rules "direct arbitrators, in most instances, to issue orders (arbitrator orders), instead of issuing subpoenas, when industry parties seek the appearance of witnesses or the production of documents from non-party firms or their employees or associated persons." The new rules do so by changing the availability of subpoenas, the allocation of costs for responding to subpoenas, the procedures for objecting to both subpoenas and orders, and the procedures for obtaining arbitrator orders.