Navigating Trump administration executive orders impacting regulatory freezes at key agencies.
By Sean Berkowitz, Kevin Chambers, Danielle Conley, Alice Fisher, Roman Martinez, Nicholas Lloyd McQuaid, and Jonathan Su
Securities and Exchange Commission
- The EOs do not specifically affect the SEC in a way that will have an immediate, significant effect on public companies and other market participants.
- The Regulatory Freeze Pending Review EO will nonetheless likely delay effectiveness of the SEC’s pending EDGAR Next initiative and at least some of the other rules that the SEC adopted in late 2024, most of which are administrative or technical in nature, including changes to structured data filing requirements, technical amendments to rules and forms under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act, changes to the “customer protection rule” that applies to broker-dealers, and amendments to certain reporting requirements by certain registered open-end funds, closed-end funds, and exchange-traded funds.
- The directive in the Ending the Weaponization of Federal Government EO would result in a review of SEC enforcement investigations related to cryptocurrency, cybersecurity, ESG, and other matters.
Federal Trade Commission — HSR Filings
- The Federal Trade Commission is not an executive agency, but rather an independent agency
- The EOs do not automatically apply to the FTC, although the new Chair sought approval from the Commission to adhere to the diversity EO
- The HSR rules have gone through notice-and-comment rulemaking and, absent additional action by the Commissioners (which remains possible) or a court entering an injunction delaying their implementation, the HSR rules will take effect on February 10, 2025
- The Chair has not yet sought approval from the other Commissioners to delay or alter the effective date of the rules