Earlier today, the National Futures Association (NFA) launched an electronic filing system for submitting promotional materials to the NFA for review (the New Filing System). Until now, promotional materials subject to NFA review were submitted via email or regular mail. Firms that are required to provide customers with disclosure documents should note that the New Filing System is akin to the NFA’s existing Disclosure Document filing system.
The New Filing System will streamline the process for submitting promotional materials to the NFA and must be used for all promotional material submissions going forward. Promotional materials that are currently under review by the NFA will not be added to the New Filing System and their review will be completed in the manner in which the review was initiated (e.g., via email).
Like the Disclosure Document filing system, firms submitting promotional materials via the New Filing System will be able to seamlessly track their submissions through the review process. Also, the New Filing System will allow for correspondence with NFA reviewers and will provide access to previously filed materials that were submitted through the New Filing System.
Among other things, the New Filing System provides a mechanism by which large files can be identified to NFA staff (i.e., if a file is too large to be submitted through the new system this can be noted in the system and NFA staff will contact the firm with instructions for transmitting the file) as well as fields for submitting website URLs.
Although the submission and review process is being streamlined, use of the New Filing System will not affect target review completion deadlines. The NFA rules require that television and radio advertisements, as well as any other audio or video advertisement distributed through media accessible by the public, be submitted to the NFA for review at least 10 days prior to first use. The NFA also has authority to require a particular firm to submit its material for pre-review. Otherwise, submission of promotional materials to the NFA is not required, although the NFA does review materials submitted for review on a voluntary basis. The turnaround time for NFA review of such voluntary submissions is 14 days from the date of receipt.
The new electronic filing system can be found at https://www.nfa.futures.org/electronic-filing-systems/promotional-materials-filing-system.html. In order to access the New Filing System, users will need to obtain permission from their firm’s security manager.
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