SEC Establishes Advisory Committee on Market Information, July 2000

Washington, DC, July 26, 2000 - The Securities and Exchange Commission announced in a  press release that it is establishing a federal advisory committee to examine issues in connection with the public availability of market information in the equities and options markets.

The Advisory Committee will be chaired by Joel Seligman, Dean of the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt stated that he hoped the Advisory Committee will be able to issue a written report containing its recommendations to the SEC by September 2001.

The Advisory Committee will also study the issues raised by the SEC in its December 1999 concept release on the regulation of market information fees and revenues. The Advisory Committee is expected to examine, among other things: the value of transparency to the markets; the effects of electronic quote generation and decimalization for market transparency; how market information fees should be determined; and the appropriate governance structures for joint market information plans.