Form 15F-15D Files Dataset

The Form 15F-15D Files Dataset is a complete archive of EDGAR submissions in which a foreign private issuer (FPI) certifies the suspension and termination of its Section 15(d) periodic reporting duty under Rule 12h-6 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. A single record is one EDGAR accession — either an original 15F-15D certification or an amendment 15F-15D/A — captured at the per-accession folder level, bundling a normalized metadata.json filing header with the original HTML certification document. The dataset is filed by foreign private issuers in their own name (signed by a duly authorized officer such as the CEO, CFO, or general counsel) and covers every such filing made on EDGAR from the June 4, 2007 effective date of Rule 12h-6 to the present, distributed as monthly ZIP containers organized by year and calendar month.

Update Frequency
Daily
Updated at
2026-04-15
Earliest Sample Date
2007-06-01
Total Size
852.8 KB
Total Records
204
Container Format
ZIP
Content Types
HTML, JSON, TXT, PDF
Form Types
15F-15D, 15F-15D/A

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Dataset Index JSON API

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Dataset Files

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What This Dataset Contains

The dataset captures every Form 15F-15D and Form 15F-15D/A submission made to EDGAR since Rule 12h-6 took effect in June 2007. Form 15F is the SEC certification by which a foreign private issuer terminates its Securities Exchange Act registration and reporting obligations under Rule 12h-6, and the form-type label 15F-15D specifically certifies the suspension of the duty to file reports under Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. It is one of three Form 15F variants: 15F-12B and 15F-12G cover the parallel termination paths under Sections 12(b) and 12(g). Form 15F is the foreign-private-issuer counterpart to the Form 15 family used by domestic issuers (15-12B, 15-12G, 15-15D); the dataset is restricted to the 15F-15D and 15F-15D/A form types and does not include domestic Form 15 variants.

The /A suffix denotes an amendment that restates a previously filed 15F-15D certification when the issuer needs to correct, supplement, or supersede the original — most commonly to fix the recorded holder count, the rule-reliance checkbox selections, the class-of-securities description, or signature defects. Each amendment is itself a complete cover page and carries its own accession; it does not transmit a redline. The filing's substantive purpose is narrow: it asserts that the issuer satisfies one or more of the enumerated suspension provisions and identifies the class of securities for which the reporting duty is being suspended. There are no financial statements, no MD&A, and no exhibits in the conventional sense; the entire disclosure is a one- to two-page cover-page certification followed by a signature.

The dataset is shipped as ZIP containers partitioned by year and calendar month (e.g., 2025/2025-02.zip). The file types found in the dataset are HTML, JSON, TXT, and PDF; in practice the certification is delivered as HTML for nearly all modern filings, with occasional plain-text submissions in the earliest years and the rare PDF cover sheet on amendments. Image files are excluded from the dataset by design. Foreign-private-issuer deregistrations under Rule 12h-6 are infrequent events, so containers are typically small and many calendar months may be sparsely populated.

Content Structure of a Single Record

What one record represents

A single record in the Form 15F-15D Files dataset is one EDGAR submission filed under form type 15F-15D or its amendment variant 15F-15D/A, captured at the accession-number granularity. Each record bundles two layers of content: a normalized metadata.json describing the EDGAR filing header and document inventory, and the original EDGAR-attached document payloads — almost always a single SGML-wrapped HTML certification, with image attachments excluded per the dataset definition. The unit of record is the per-accession folder; it is not the issuer (one issuer can file an original plus one or more amendments) and it is not the calendar-month container that holds it.

The on-disk layout uses one folder per accession number, named with the 18-digit accession with dashes stripped. EDGAR accession 0000950103-25-002125, for example, becomes the folder 000095010325002125/, containing metadata.json and the EDGAR-assigned document file(s) such as dp224994_15f15d.htm.

Container and per-record file inventory

Within each monthly ZIP container, every accession folder contains exactly one metadata.json plus the document payloads extracted from the EDGAR submission. The complete-submission SGML wrapper file — the .txt listed by EDGAR alongside every accession — is referenced from metadata.json via linkToTxt and is enumerated in the documentFormatFiles[] inventory, but it is not bundled inside the ZIP. Only the individual <DOCUMENT> payloads (the HTML certification and any supplementary document) are retained on disk. Consumers needing the raw SGML wrapper must fetch it from EDGAR using the URL preserved in the metadata.

metadata.json shape

metadata.json carries the filing-header information in a flat JSON object with the following top-level fields:

  • formType — either 15F-15D or 15F-15D/A.
  • accessionNo — canonical dashed EDGAR accession number; pairs with the folder name (sans dashes).
  • filedAt — full ISO-8601 timestamp with timezone offset, capturing acceptance time on EDGAR.
  • effectivenessDate — the date on which the suspension takes effect, typically one business day after filedAt.
  • description — human-readable form description, e.g. Form 15F-15D - Suspension of duty to report for foreign private issuers [Section 13 and 15(d)].
  • linkToFilingDetails — direct URL to the primary HTML certification document (the same file shipped in the folder).
  • linkToTxt — URL of the complete SGML-wrapped submission text file on EDGAR (not bundled).
  • linkToHtml — URL of the EDGAR filing-index HTML page.
  • linkToXbrl — empty string for this form family.
  • id — 32-character hex internal identifier.
  • documentFormatFiles[] — array of <DOCUMENT> descriptors from the EDGAR submission.
  • entities[] — array of party blocks from the EDGAR header.
  • seriesAndClassesContractsInformation[] and dataFiles[] — present but empty for this form family; reserved for fund-style filings and structured data exhibits.

Each entry in documentFormatFiles[] carries sequence, description, type, size (bytes, stored as a string), and documentUrl. sequence "1" is the certification HTML; the wrapper .txt appears with a single-space sequence and a single-space type, and is not present on disk. Only entries whose sequence parses as an integer correspond to real attachments inside the folder.

entities[] mirrors the EDGAR header block for every party on the filing — typically just the filer. Each entity record carries:

  • cikCentral Index Key with leading zero-padding stripped.
  • companyName — issuer name with a parenthesised role tag appended (e.g., (Filer)).
  • act — Exchange Act designation (34).
  • type — form type duplicated at the entity level.
  • stateOfIncorporation — EDGAR jurisdiction code; heavily skewed to non-US codes by definition (e.g., D5 for Brazil, M2 for Bermuda, K3 for the Cayman Islands), since Form 15F is reserved for foreign private issuers under Rule 12h-6.
  • sicSIC code concatenated with its human-readable label.
  • fileNo, filmNo — EDGAR file number and film number.
  • fiscalYearEndMMDD.
  • irsNo — IRS employer identification number; many foreign filers report 000000000.

Document file anatomy and SGML wrapping

The certification document ships as an SGML-wrapped HTML fragment — the raw <DOCUMENT> block lifted directly from EDGAR's complete-submission .txt. Each file therefore opens with bare EDGAR header tags before the actual HTML root:

1 <DOCUMENT>
2 <TYPE>15F-15D
3 <SEQUENCE>1
4 <FILENAME>dp224994_15f15d.htm
5 <DESCRIPTION>FORM 15F-15D
6 <TEXT>
7 <HTML>
8 ... cover page ...
9 </TEXT>
10 </DOCUMENT>

Parsers must either strip the <DOCUMENT>, <TYPE>, <SEQUENCE>, <FILENAME>, <DESCRIPTION>, and <TEXT> preamble before handing the payload to a standard HTML parser, or use a tolerant parser that ignores the leading bare tags and the closing </TEXT></DOCUMENT> tail. The HTML inside is presentation-heavy: every <P> carries inline STYLE declarations, the body is set in 10pt Times New Roman, and <!-- Field: ... --> comments mark page-rule and pagination regions. There is no XBRL or other structured tagging anywhere in the document.

Cover-page content structure

The HTML body reproduces the standard Form 15 cover page in a fixed order:

  1. Issuer header. The legal name of the foreign private issuer, the principal-office address (street, city, country), and a contact telephone number. The name on the cover page may differ slightly from the EDGAR companyName because the cover page often uses the issuer's local-language registered name while EDGAR records its registered transliteration.
  2. Title-of-class block. Free-text identification of every class of securities for which the reporting duty is being suspended. Typical entries include common or ordinary shares with par-value notation, plus sponsored American Depositary Shares evidenced by ADRs, with the deposit ratio specified (e.g., "each representing one common share").
  3. Rule-reliance checkbox table. A table enumerating the suspension provisions of Rules 12g-4, 12h-3, 15d-6, and 15d-22, each with a checkbox. The checked-versus-unchecked state is encoded as the Unicode glyphs &#9746; (ballot box with check) versus &#9744; (empty ballot box). The provisions enumerated are Rule 12g-4(a)(1), Rule 12g-4(a)(2), Rule 12h-3(b)(1)(i), Rule 12h-3(b)(1)(ii), Rule 15d-6, and Rule 15d-22(b). The selected combination identifies the legal basis on which the issuer is suspending its reporting duty.
  4. Holders-of-record count. A free-text line stating the approximate number of record holders of each class as of a recent date. This number is the eligibility evidence under Rule 12h-6 (and the parallel domestic thresholds in Rules 12g-4 and 12h-3) and is one of the most analytically valuable fields on the page.
  5. Signature block. One or more authorized officers' typed names, titles, and the date of execution. Foreign private issuers commonly sign with both a CEO and a COO or finance officer.

For 15F-15D filings invoking Rule 12h-6, the cover page may also include narrative attestations that the issuer has maintained a primary listing on a designated foreign securities exchange in its home jurisdiction for the prescribed period, that average daily U.S. trading volume falls below the rule's quantitative threshold, and that the issuer has filed required Exchange Act reports for the look-back period preceding the certification. These attestations sit immediately above the signature block and are presented as numbered items keyed to the rule's conditions.

Included content

A record always includes:

  • metadata.json describing the filing header, document inventory, and entity block.
  • The primary HTML certification document (sequence 1 in documentFormatFiles[]).
  • Any supplementary EDGAR-attached document of type HTML, TXT, or PDF.

Excluded or separate content

A record does not include:

  • The EDGAR complete-submission .txt SGML wrapper (referenced in metadata.json only).
  • Image attachments such as signature scans or letterhead graphics.
  • XBRL or inline-XBRL data; linkToXbrl is always empty and dataFiles[] is always empty for this form family.
  • Series-and-class contract metadata; seriesAndClassesContractsInformation[] is always empty.

Amendments

A 15F-15D/A filing is a stand-alone, complete restatement of the certification, not a delta. Each amendment carries its own accession number, its own metadata.json, and its own HTML cover page reproducing every cover-page element in full. There is no machine-readable link from the amendment back to the original certification within metadata.json; the connection must be inferred from shared entities[].cik, the class-of-securities text, and the proximity of filedAt dates. Amendments are typically filed to correct holder-count figures, change which Rule 12g-4 / 12h-3 / 12h-6 / 15d-6 boxes are checked, refine the class-of-securities description, or fix signature errors. The formType field in metadata.json is the authoritative discriminator between an original certification and its amendment.

Structural and format consistency over time

Form 15F was adopted by the SEC in March 2007 as part of the Rule 12h-6 deregistration framework for foreign private issuers, and the dataset window begins in June 2007 immediately following its effectiveness. The form's required content has remained substantively stable since adoption: the same cover-page structure, the same rule-reliance checkbox table, the same holder-count line, and the same signature requirements have applied throughout. Filings have been made on EDGAR exclusively as electronic submissions from the start. The dominant document format across the entire series is HTML; plain-text and PDF variants appear only sporadically.

Interpretation notes for parsing

  • Folder name to accession mapping. Folder names are the accession with dashes stripped; reintroducing dashes after the first 10 and 12 digits reconstructs the canonical nnnnnnnnnn-nn-nnnnnn form used in accessionNo.
  • SGML preamble. Every certification HTML file begins with bare <DOCUMENT>, <TYPE>, <SEQUENCE>, <FILENAME>, <DESCRIPTION>, and <TEXT> tags before the <HTML> root, and ends with </TEXT></DOCUMENT>. Strip these or use a tolerant parser; do not assume a clean HTML document.
  • Checkbox extraction. The rule-reliance state lives in the Unicode glyphs &#9746; (checked) and &#9744; (unchecked) inside the cover-page table. Locate each rule label cell and read the adjacent glyph to recover the legal basis. The metadata.json does not encode this; it must be parsed from the HTML body.
  • Holders-of-record extraction. The numeric holders of record count is embedded in narrative text on the cover page, not in a structured field. Its position relative to the class-of-securities block is consistent but issuer-specific in wording.
  • Issuer geography. entities[].stateOfIncorporation uses EDGAR's two-character country codes for non-US jurisdictions. Filings with US codes are atypical for this form family and usually indicate a former foreign private issuer that has redomiciled.
  • Document sequence filtering. When iterating documentFormatFiles[], retain only entries whose sequence parses as an integer; entries with a single-space sequence describe the SGML wrapper, which is not present on disk.
  • Container fan-out. Containers are typically small. Pipelines should not assume large per-container record counts and should not treat sparsely populated months as anomalies.
  • Amendment linkage. Pairing an amendment to its original requires joining on entities[].cik and the cover-page class-of-securities text, since metadata.json does not record an explicit predecessor accession.

Who Files or Publishes This Dataset, and When

Who files

Each record is an EDGAR submission by a foreign private issuer (FPI) certifying termination of its Section 15(d) reporting duty under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, in reliance on Rule 12h-6. The issuer files in its own name, signed by a duly authorized officer (commonly the CEO, CFO, or general counsel). Underwriters, depositaries, transfer agents, and U.S. affiliates do not file on the issuer's behalf.

To qualify as an FPI, the issuer must satisfy the definition in Securities Act Rule 405 and Exchange Act Rule 3b-4(c): a non-U.S. issuer (other than a foreign government) that does not have both (i) more than 50% of its voting securities held of record by U.S. residents and (ii) any of a U.S.-majority board or executive team, a majority of assets in the U.S., or principal U.S. business administration.

Domestic U.S. issuers cannot use any Form 15F variant; they file Form 15 with the appropriate Rule 12g-4, Rule 12h-3, or Rule 15d-6 box checked. Foreign governments are not FPIs and do not use this form. Registered investment companies deregister on Form N-8F.

Where 15F-15D fits among Form 15F sub-types

Form 15F has three EDGAR accession sub-types, distinguished by the reporting obligation being terminated:

15F-15D therefore covers FPIs whose only remaining U.S. reporting obligation is the Section 15(d) duty triggered by a past registered offering (commonly of ADSs, ordinary shares, or debt).

Regulatory framework: Rule 12h-6

Section 15(d) automatically imposes periodic reporting on any issuer whose Securities Act registration statement becomes effective, and that duty persists regardless of whether a U.S. trading market remains. Before 2007, FPIs could only suspend Section 15(d) reporting through the narrow holder-count mechanisms of Rule 12h-3 and Rule 15d-6 — which, given U.S. street-name holdings through depositary arrangements, were often unworkable.

The Commission adopted Rule 12h-6 in Release No. 34-55540 (March 21, 2007), effective June 4, 2007, creating a substituted-compliance path under which an FPI can permanently terminate Exchange Act reporting if it maintains a primary trading market abroad and shows limited U.S. market interest. Form 15F, with its three sub-types, was adopted in the same release as the certification vehicle.

What triggers a 15F-15D filing

The filing is event-driven and elective. It is generated when an FPI affirmatively decides to certify out of Section 15(d) reporting and represents that it satisfies the Rule 12h-6 conditions on the certification date. The principal conditions certified to are:

  • Reporting history — at least 12 months as an Exchange Act reporter, with all required reports filed and at least one Form 20-F (or equivalent) filed.
  • No recent registered offering — no Securities Act-registered U.S. offering during the prior 12 months, other than limited carve-outs (employee plans, dividend reinvestment, conversions, exercises, business combinations).
  • Primary trading market — at least 55% of worldwide trading volume in the subject class occurred in one or two non-U.S. jurisdictions over a recent 12-month period (Rule 12h-6(f)).
  • Limited U.S. interest — either U.S. average daily trading volume no greater than 5% of worldwide ADTV over a recent 12-month period, or fewer than 300 holders of record worldwide or in the U.S., depending on the rule branch invoked.
  • Subject class identification — the class being suspended is identified, and any classes remaining subject to Section 13(a) or 15(d) are disclosed.
  • Public notice — the issuer publishes notice in the United States of its intent to terminate reporting before filing the Form 15F (Rule 12h-6(h)).

Effectiveness and timing

Filing is not the same as termination. Under Rule 12h-6(d):

  • On filing, the issuer's Section 13(a) and 15(d) reporting duties for the subject class are immediately suspended.
  • Termination becomes effective 90 days after filing, unless the Commission denies the certification or the issuer withdraws it. If denied or withdrawn during the 90-day period, suspended reporting duties revive and the issuer must promptly file any reports that would have been due.

After day 90, the Section 15(d) obligation as to the subject class is permanently terminated. A subsequent registered U.S. offering can give rise to a fresh reporting duty that the prior 15F-15D does not cover.

Form 15F-15D/A is the amendment, used to correct or supplement a previously filed certification (for example, revised holder counts, corrected class identification, or responses to staff comments). Amendments are not the mechanism for withdrawal; withdrawal is handled separately and itself reinstates prior reporting duties.

Important distinctions

  • A domestic issuer suspending Section 15(d) reporting files Form 15 with the Rule 12h-3 or Rule 15d-6 box checked, never Form 15F-15D.
  • An FPI whose subject class is listed on a U.S. exchange terminates Section 12(b) registration on Form 15F-12B; one whose class is registered under Section 12(g) uses Form 15F-12G. 15F-15D is only correct when the duty being ended is Section 15(d) standing alone.
  • Form 25 delists a security from a national securities exchange; it does not terminate Exchange Act reporting.
  • An FPI relying on the older Rule 12h-3 or Rule 15d-6 holder-count mechanisms files Form 15, not Form 15F. EDGAR submission-type tagging is occasionally imperfect, so the dataset can include Form 15-style filings that EDGAR routed under the 15F-15D submission type.

The dataset begins on the June 4, 2007 effective date of Rule 12h-6 (consistent with the 2007-06-01 earliest sample date) and is intentionally small because each eligible FPI files at most once per class, the eligibility tests are restrictive, and FPIs with U.S. listings exit via 15F-12B rather than 15F-15D.

How This Dataset Differs From Similar Datasets or Filings

Form 15F-15D sits between two narrow reporting tracks: the Form 15 family (terminating or suspending Exchange Act obligations) and the Form 15F family (foreign private issuer deregistration under Rule 12h-6). The comparisons below focus on the closest neighbors and the precise statutory action that distinguishes each.

Form 15F-12B — FPI termination of Section 12(b) registration

Same form, different submission type. Form 15F-12B terminates registration of securities listed on a U.S. national securities exchange (NYSE, Nasdaq, NYSE American), invoking Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act. Form 15F-15D instead suspends Section 15(d) reporting duties that arose from a registered public offering, with no exchange-listing component. Both rely on the Rule 12h-6 eligibility tests (home-country primary listing, U.S. average daily trading volume thresholds, record holder counts), but they cut off different statutory hooks. An FPI that is both exchange-listed and 15(d)-reporting may file both.

Form 15F-12G — FPI termination of Section 12(g) registration

Form 15F-12G terminates registration of equity securities registered under Section 12(g) — the holder-count/asset-size regime applied to unlisted equity (typically OTC ADRs or equity that crossed U.S. holder thresholds). Distinctions from 15F-15D:

  • 12(g) is a registration regime; 15(d) is a reporting regime triggered by a registered offering.
  • 15F-12G applies where registration arose from holder counts; 15F-15D applies where reporting arose from a Securities Act registration statement.
  • Deregistration of a 12(g) class under Rule 12h-6 frequently auto-suspends related 15(d) duties, so 15F-15D is filed less often than 15F-12G.

All three submission types (15F-12B, 15F-12G, 15F-15D) share the underlying Form 15F, instructions, and certification framework; only the cover-page submission code differs. This dataset isolates 15F-15D and 15F-15D/A only.

Form 15-12B / 15-12G / 15-15D — domestic-issuer counterparts

The non-FPI Form 15 family performs the same three actions for domestic issuers under Rules 12g-4, 12h-3, and 12d2-2:

  • Form 15-12B — domestic termination of Section 12(b) registration.
  • Form 15-12G — domestic termination of Section 12(g) registration.
  • Form 15-15D — domestic suspension of Section 15(d) reporting.

The direct structural parallel to 15F-15D is Form 15-15D: same statutory provision, same suspension effect, but Rule 12h-3 eligibility (generally fewer than 300 record holders, or 1,200 for banks/BHCs) instead of the FPI-specific Rule 12h-6 tests. Domestic 15-15D filings vastly outnumber 15F-15D filings because the FPI population eligible under 12h-6 is small. Decision rule: if the issuer is an FPI invoking Rule 12h-6, use 15F-15D; otherwise 15-15D.

Form 20-F and Form 6-K — the ongoing FPI reporting that 15F-15D ends

These are the periodic and event-driven reports that a successful 15F-15D filing terminates:

  • Form 20-F — FPI annual report (the FPI analog to Form 10-K).
  • Form 6-K — FPI current/interim furnishing of material home-jurisdiction disclosures.

20-F and 6-K are content-heavy, recurring datasets covering the active reporting period; 15F-15D is a single terminal-event record marking the cutoff. Researchers building FPI histories use 20-F/6-K for substantive disclosure and 15F-15D to identify the end date.

Form 25 — exchange delisting

Form 25 is the notice of removal from listing under Rule 12d2-2. It ends the exchange listing and, after the 10-day or 90-day waiting period, the corresponding Section 12(b) registration. It does not suspend Section 15(d) reporting. A typical FPI exit sequence:

  1. Form 25 — delist from NYSE/Nasdaq.
  2. Form 15F-12B — terminate Section 12(b) registration under Rule 12h-6.
  3. Form 15F-12G and/or Form 15F-15D — terminate any remaining 12(g) registration or 15(d) reporting duty.

Form 25 is upstream of, and complementary to, 15F-15D; it is never a substitute.

Boundary summary

Form 15F-15D is distinct because it is, simultaneously:

  • FPI-only (Rule 12h-6), not domestic (Rule 12h-3 covers that population via 15-15D).
  • A suspension of Section 15(d) reporting, not a termination of 12(b) or 12(g) registration (handled by 15F-12B and 15F-12G).
  • A terminal certification event, not periodic disclosure (20-F, 6-K).
  • An Exchange Act reporting action, not an exchange-listing action (Form 25).

Adjacent datasets are complements, not substitutes: 20-F and 6-K provide the disclosure history that ends at the 15F-15D date; Form 25 marks any preceding delisting; 15F-12B and 15F-12G cover the registration-termination side of the same FPI deregistration event; and Form 15-15D covers the structurally parallel but legally separate domestic population.

Who Uses This Dataset

The Form 15F-15D corpus is small but sits at the intersection of cross-border securities law, ADR operations, index eligibility, and FPI lifecycle research. A narrow set of cross-border legal, capital markets, ADR, index, research, and data engineering functions use it, each reading different fields of the same record.

Cross-border securities counsel

Lawyers advising FPIs on deregistration use the corpus as a precedent library. They focus on the rule-reliance checkboxes, the recitation of the home-jurisdiction primary trading market, the US-versus-worldwide ADTV computation, and the holders-of-record count. The output is a draft Form 15F, an eligibility memo benchmarking which Rule 12h-6 prong peers used, and a sequencing plan against Form 25 delisting and Form 6-K notice.

In-house compliance and corporate secretaries at FPIs

Issuers contemplating their own deregistration use the filings to map the operational mechanics: when 20-F and 6-K duties suspend on filing, when termination becomes effective at day 90, and what survives under Rule 12g3-2(b). Key fields are CIK, state or country of incorporation, SIC, the class-of-securities description, and any 15F-15D/A amendment history. It feeds checklists for shutting EDGAR and XBRL submissions and for coordinating transfer agents and depositary banks.

Sell-side and buy-side equity analysts

Analysts covering ADRs, dual-listed equities, and emerging-market issuers treat each filing as a deregistration watchlist event. They pull CIK, filing date, class deregistered, and stated effective date to update coverage, retire models that depended on 20-F segment disclosure, and decide whether to hold, convert to local shares, or exit before the US disclosure stream ends.

Index providers and ETF compliance teams

Rules teams running ADR and global benchmarks use 15F-15D filings as early warnings that an issuer will fail SEC-registration or reporting eligibility. They watch CIK, filing date, the suspension-versus-termination basis, and the affected class to time reconstitution, notify authorized participants, and rebalance ETFs ahead of constituent removal.

ADR depositary banks and custodians

Depositary banks treat the filing as a trigger for the ADR facility itself: amendment or termination of the deposit agreement, downgrade to a Level I or 12g3-2(b) program, or wind-down with holder notices and a final cash distribution. Operations and legal teams read the certification, underlying CIK, class, and effective date to schedule holder notices, coordinate with the home-market registrar, and adjust or terminate the program.

Broker-dealer compliance and product control

These teams update security masters, recalibrate suitability and best-execution checks, and adjust margin and short-sale eligibility for ADRs that lose US-reporting status. Accession number, CIK, class, and effective date drive automated symbology updates and client-facing disclosure flags.

Academic and governance researchers

Finance, law, and economics researchers studying cross-listing premium, the bonding hypothesis, and FPI exit patterns use the closed population (every 15F-15D since June 2007) for event studies on returns, liquidity, and coverage; panel analyses by jurisdiction and SIC; and tests of how disclosure rule changes affect exit rates. Filing date, country of incorporation, SIC, class, the specific Rule 12h-6 prong, and the holders-of-record count are the workhorse fields.

Financial data engineers

Engineering teams at data vendors, asset managers, and research platforms ingest the metadata file and parse the HTML and PDF certifications to maintain FPI entity-state tables: currently reporting, suspended, or terminated, with the effective date. They join 15F-15D events with Form 25 delistings, Form F-X agent records, and 20-F histories to produce lifecycle datasets that feed downstream screening, analytics, and compliance systems.

Specific Use Cases

Form 15F-15D filings are terminal-event records, so the dataset powers narrow, high-leverage workflows around FPI deregistration, ADR lifecycle management, and cross-listing research.

Building an FPI deregistration precedent library

Cross-border securities counsel parse the cover-page rule-reliance table (&#9746; versus &#9744; glyphs against Rule 12g-4(a)(1), 12h-3(b)(1)(i), 12h-6, 15d-6, and 15d-22(b)) across the full corpus to benchmark which suspension prongs peer issuers invoked. Joined with entities[].stateOfIncorporation and sic, the result is a precedent table answering, for example, "which Cayman-incorporated mining issuers exited under 12h-6's quantitative ADTV prong versus the qualitative listing prong." The output feeds eligibility memos and pre-cleared draft language.

Maintaining an FPI lifecycle status table

Data engineering teams ingest metadata.json from each accession folder and emit one row per filing keyed on entities[].cik, formType, filedAt, effectivenessDate, and the parsed class-of-securities text. Joined to Form 25 delistings and prior 20-F histories, this produces an entity-state table flagging each FPI as actively reporting, suspended, or terminated as of the 90-day mark. Downstream security masters, screening tools, and compliance systems consume the resulting lifecycle feed.

ADR program wind-down scheduling

Depositary banks watch new accessions for filings that name sponsored ADSs in the title-of-class block. The class description (including deposit ratio language such as "each representing one common share"), effectivenessDate, and the issuer contact block from the cover page drive the holder-notice calendar, coordination with the home-market registrar, and the decision tree between full termination, downgrade to a Level I facility, or migration to a Rule 12g3-2(b) program.

Index and ETF reconstitution timing

Index rules teams poll the monthly ZIP containers for new 15F-15D accessions, key on cik plus the affected class, and use effectivenessDate to set removal dates ahead of the loss of SEC-reporting eligibility. The same feed triggers AP notifications and helps separate genuine deregistration removals from concurrent Form 25 delistings already captured upstream.

Holders-of-record and ADTV evidence harvesting for academic studies

Researchers studying the bonding hypothesis and FPI exit patterns extract the holders-of-record count and the Rule 12h-6 narrative attestations (primary home-jurisdiction listing, U.S. average daily trading volume) directly from the HTML cover page, since these values are not in metadata.json. Combined with stateOfIncorporation, sic, and filedAt, the panel supports event studies on returns and liquidity around the suspension date and tests of how rule changes shifted exit rates.

Amendment reconciliation for restated certifications

Because 15F-15D/A filings carry no machine-readable pointer to their predecessor, analysts reconcile amendments by joining on entities[].cik and the class-of-securities text, then ordering by filedAt. Diffing the rule-reliance checkbox state and the holders-of-record line between the original and the amendment isolates exactly what the issuer corrected (typically a holder-count restatement or a checkbox change) and produces the authoritative final certification used in legal and compliance records.

Dataset Access

The dataset is available through three endpoints: a JSON index for metadata and discovery, a full archive download, and per-container downloads for incremental access. Containers are organized as monthly ZIP archives under year/month paths (e.g. 2026/2026-04.zip).

Dataset Index JSON API: https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-15f15d-files.json

This endpoint returns dataset-level metadata (name, description, last update timestamp, earliest sample date, total records, total size, covered form types, container format, and file types) along with the full list of container files. Each container entry includes its key, size, record count, last updated timestamp, and direct download URL. Poll this endpoint to detect which monthly containers were refreshed in the latest run and download only the changed ones. This endpoint does not require an API key.

Example response:

Example
1 {
2 "datasetId": "1f13365b-9ae0-69f8-90b5-b40db049d826",
3 "datasetDownloadUrl": "https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-15f15d-files.zip",
4 "name": "Form 15F-15D Files Dataset",
5 "updatedAt": "2026-04-15T18:17:10.468Z",
6 "earliestSampleDate": "2007-06-01",
7 "totalRecords": 204,
8 "totalSize": 852784,
9 "formTypes": ["15F-15D", "15F-15D/A"],
10 "containerFormat": "ZIP",
11 "fileTypes": ["HTML", "JSON", "TXT", "PDF"],
12 "containers": [
13 {
14 "downloadUrl": "https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-15f15d-files/2026/2026-04.zip",
15 "key": "2026/2026-04.zip",
16 "size": 13818783,
17 "records": 3,
18 "updatedAt": "2026-04-15T18:17:10.468Z"
19 }
20 ]
21 }

Download Entire Dataset: https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-15f15d-files.zip?token=YOUR_API_KEY

Downloads the complete dataset, covering all Form 15F-15D and 15F-15D/A filings from June 2007 to the most recent refresh, as a single ZIP archive. This endpoint requires an API key, supplied either as the token query parameter or via an Authorization header.

Download Single Container: https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-15f15d-files/2026/2026-04.zip?token=YOUR_API_KEY

Downloads one monthly container ZIP listed in the index JSON's containers[] array. Use this to fetch only specific months instead of the full archive — useful for incremental syncs after detecting updates via the index API. This endpoint requires an API key.

Frequently Asked Questions

What form does this dataset cover?

The dataset covers SEC Form 15F-15D and its amendment variant Form 15F-15D/A. Form 15F-15D is the certification by which a foreign private issuer suspends and terminates its Section 15(d) periodic reporting duty under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 in reliance on Rule 12h-6.

What does one record in this dataset represent?

One record is a single EDGAR submission at the accession-number granularity, packaged as a per-accession folder containing a metadata.json filing-header file plus the original EDGAR-attached document payloads (typically a single SGML-wrapped HTML certification). The unit is the filing, not the issuer; one issuer may have an original 15F-15D plus one or more 15F-15D/A amendments, each as its own record.

Who is required to file Form 15F-15D?

Foreign private issuers (as defined in Securities Act Rule 405 and Exchange Act Rule 3b-4(c)) file Form 15F-15D in their own name, signed by a duly authorized officer such as the CEO, CFO, or general counsel. Domestic U.S. issuers cannot use this form — they file Form 15 with the Rule 12h-3 or Rule 15d-6 box checked instead. Filing is event-driven and elective: an FPI files when it affirmatively decides to certify out of Section 15(d) reporting and represents that it satisfies the Rule 12h-6 conditions.

What time period does the dataset cover?

The dataset begins on June 4, 2007 — the effective date of Rule 12h-6 — and continues to the most recent refresh. The earliest sample date in the corpus is 2007-06-01, immediately following Rule 12h-6's adoption in SEC Release No. 34-55540 (March 21, 2007).

What file format is the dataset distributed in?

The dataset is distributed as ZIP containers partitioned by year and calendar month (e.g., 2026/2026-04.zip). Inside each container, every accession folder contains exactly one metadata.json plus the EDGAR-attached document payloads. File types found in the corpus are HTML, JSON, TXT, and PDF; image files and the SGML complete-submission wrapper .txt are excluded by design.

How does Form 15F-15D differ from Form 15-15D?

Both forms suspend Section 15(d) reporting, but Form 15F-15D is the foreign-private-issuer certification under Rule 12h-6 (which uses primary-trading-market and U.S. ADTV tests), while Form 15-15D is the domestic-issuer certification under Rule 12h-3 (which uses holder-count thresholds — generally fewer than 300 record holders, or 1,200 for banks and bank holding companies). This dataset isolates the FPI form only.

How does Form 15F-15D differ from Form 15F-12B and Form 15F-12G?

All three are submission sub-types of the same underlying Form 15F, sharing instructions and the Rule 12h-6 certification framework, but each terminates a different statutory hook. Form 15F-12B terminates Section 12(b) registration for securities listed on a U.S. national securities exchange; Form 15F-12G terminates Section 12(g) registration for unlisted equity registered under the holder-count/asset-size regime; Form 15F-15D suspends a Section 15(d) periodic reporting duty arising from a past Securities Act-registered offering where the class is not (or is no longer) registered under Section 12.

When does termination actually take effect after a Form 15F-15D is filed?

Under Rule 12h-6(d), the Section 13(a) and 15(d) reporting duties for the subject class are immediately suspended on filing, and termination becomes effective 90 days after filing unless the Commission denies the certification or the issuer withdraws it. If denied or withdrawn during the 90-day window, suspended reporting duties revive and the issuer must promptly file any reports that would have been due.