The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission has issued for public comment draft guidelines governing how corporations and partnerships file amendments to articles of incorporation, by-laws and related documents through the Electronic Application for Modification of Entity Data (eAMEND) Portal, alongside a penalty framework for late or non-submission of required amendment documents. The draft is intended to streamline requirements and procedures and to support adherence to maximum processing times under the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018. Under the proposal, eAMEND filings currently routed through “Simple Processing” would be treated as complex transactions, which must be processed within seven working days, while “Regular Processing” would be treated as highly technical transactions, which must be processed within 21 working days. Simple Processing would cover, among others, changes to corporate name, purposes, principal office address, number of directors or trustees, term of existence, and certain non-stock tax exemption provisions, and would allow an affidavit of undertaking in lieu of a monitoring clearance. For Simple Processing, applicants would pay an upfront fee equal to 100 percent of filing fees, receive a digital certificate after payment and review, and remain subject to post-evaluation before release of the original hard-copy certificate; deficiencies trigger a compliance notice with a 15-day compliance period, after which the application is cancelled if requirements are not submitted. The draft also sets graduated consequences for late hard-copy submission after payment, including a PHP 5,000 penalty for submission after 15 days but within 45 days, and nullification of the digital certificate with forfeiture of fees if hard copies are not submitted within 45 days. Comments on the draft memorandum circular are being accepted until November 17.

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