The staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance has posted a new Compliance and Disclosure Interpretation related to the registration and reporting provisions of the Exchange Act.

The new CDI, updated Oct. 8, (Question 116.03 and Question 153.04), clarifies the staff’s view that a company wouldn’t be able to file periodic or current reports without first registering an offer and sale of securities under the Securities Act or a class of securities under the Exchange Act, assuming that the company didn’t previously have a Section 15(d) or Section 13(a) reporting obligation.

If a company’s reporting obligation has been suspended or terminated, EDGAR will continue to accept Exchange Act reports filed on a voluntary basis; the company must disclose that it is a voluntary filer on the cover of its Form 10-K or Form 20-F.

The staff issued several other CDIs related to the Exchange Act sections, rules, and forms earlier this month to replace sections of the staff’s Manual of Publicly Available Telephone Interpretations, addressing issues related to Rule 12b-25, Exchange Act registration and the mechanics of deregistration and delisting, matters related to employee benefit plans, and the CEO and CFO certifications required by Sarbanes-Oxley.