Texas Administrative Code › Title 7 - BANKING AND SECURITIES › Part 7 - STATE SECURITIES BOARD › Chapter 101 - GENERAL ADMINISTRATION › Section 101.2 - Classification of Regulatory Standards

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Rules. Rules are
				regulatory standards adopted and promulgated as herein required and shall be
				considered the highest level of policy applied by the Board.
(b) Written administrative guidelines.
				Written administrative guidelines are of the same level of policy as rules and
				will be adopted in the same manner and have the same effect as rules.
(c) Forms. Forms are regulatory standards
				adopted for the purpose of implementing the Texas Securities Act by prescribing
				initial basic requirements for completing various applications and reports
				filed with the Commissioner. The forms required by the Commissioner are set
				forth in Chapter 133 of this title (relating to Forms) and have the same force
				and effect as rules.
(d) Preliminary
				administrative suggestions. The commissioner may also adopt preliminary
				administrative suggestions which will represent those standards which are newly
				developed, only recently reduced to writing, in the process of being modified,
				or otherwise considered by the commissioner to be not yet suitable for general
				application and promulgation and publication as rules or written administrative
				guidelines. Such preliminary administrative suggestions may be implemented at
				any time without publication or other notice and may be immediately applied by
				the commissioner in the public interest or for the protection of
				investors.
(e) Opinions. Statements
				made and opinions expressed orally or in writing by personnel of the State
				Securities Board in response to inquiries or otherwise, and not specifically
				identified and promulgated as rules, shall not be considered regulatory
				standards of the Board and shall not be considered binding upon the
				Commissioner in connection with specific adjudications undertaken by the
				Commissioner thereafter. The Commissioner may refuse to answer any question
				based upon a hypothetical fact situation.
(f) Interpretations by General Counsel.
(1) The Board's General Counsel may respond
				to inquiries concerning interpretations of the Texas Securities Act or these
				sections, provided sufficient relevant facts are given and the situation is not
				hypothetical. The General Counsel may refuse to respond to any inquiry.
				Responses to inquiries may take the following forms:
(A) an opinion that no exemption appears
				available in the specific fact situation;
(B) an opinion that the availability of
				specific exemption(s) is questionable or doubtful in the specific fact
				situation;
(C) an opinion that,
				under the facts as stated by the inquiring party, a specific exemption appears
				to be available; this opinion must be followed by a caveat that:
(i) the agency does not grant nor confer the
				exemption in question;
(ii) the
				exemption's availability depends entirely upon the full compliance with the
				language of the exemption;
(iii) the
				Texas Securities Act, §4006.153, places the burden of proof on the party
				claiming the exemption; and
(iv)
				opinions expressed are not binding upon civil litigants in future
				proceedings;
(D) an
				explanation of relevant provisions of the Texas Securities Act or Board
				rules;
(E) a statement that no
				interpretation will be expressed with regard to a given fact situation;
				or
(F) a statement that the staff
				of the State Securities Board will recommend no action to require registration
				in the specific fact situation.