Form 6-K Files Dataset: Foreign Private Issuer Current Reports from EDGAR

The Form 6-K Files Dataset is the complete raw-as-filed archive of every Form 6-K and Form 6-K/A submission furnished to the SEC's EDGAR system by foreign private issuers (FPIs) from August 1, 1995 to the present. One record is a single EDGAR submission — identified by its 18-digit SEC accession number — containing a metadata.json descriptor alongside the primary 6-K document and every non-image exhibit as filed, packaged inside monthly ZIP containers. Because FPIs do not file Forms 10-Q, 10-K, or 8-K, the 6-K stream is the only inter-annual current-disclosure channel for non-U.S. issuers registered with the SEC, carrying press releases, IFRS interim financials, general-meeting materials, dividend notices, offering exhibits, and home-country regulatory announcements. The dataset preserves the SGML envelope, exhibit structure, and EDGAR-assigned metadata needed for full-text NLP, event studies, precedent libraries, and regulatory research.

Dataset APIs

Dataset Files

What This Dataset Contains

Form 6-K is the current report required by Rules 13a-16 and 15d-16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for foreign private issuers. It is the principal mechanism by which non-U.S. issuers furnish to the SEC any material information they have already (a) made public in their home country, (b) filed with a non-U.S. stock exchange and made public by that exchange, or (c) distributed to security holders. The report is typically "furnished" rather than "filed" — a legal distinction that affects Section 18 liability and Section 11 incorporation into Securities Act registration statements.

The dataset covers every 6-K and 6-K/A submitted to EDGAR from August 1995 forward. For each accession number, the dataset ships a metadata.json descriptor plus the complete set of as-filed documents — primary report and every exhibit — with the single systematic exception of image attachments (EDGAR GRAPHIC type), which are enumerated in the metadata but excluded from the dataset. Distribution is by monthly ZIP container (YYYY/YYYY-MM.zip) containing TXT, JSON, HTML, and PDF files. Because 6-K is a conduit for home-country disclosure rather than a U.S.-prescribed content template, the informational weight of the record usually resides in the exhibits — press releases, interim or semi-annual financial statements, notices of general or extraordinary shareholder meetings, underwriting and subscription agreements, legal opinions, management commentary, regulatory announcements, and analogous home-jurisdiction documents — rather than in a long narrative cover report. Form 6-K/A records amend a previously furnished 6-K and share the same folder layout, metadata schema, and SGML document structure as an original 6-K.

Content Structure of a Single Record

What one record represents

One record in the Form 6-K Files Dataset is a single EDGAR submission of Form 6-K or Form 6-K/A, identified by its 18-digit SEC accession number. On disk, a record is a folder extracted from a monthly ZIP archive: form-6k-files/2025/2025-10.zip unpacks to 2025-10/<accession-no>/, one directory per filing. Each folder holds exactly one metadata.json and the set of as-filed documents that made up the original EDGAR submission, with the single systematic exception of image attachments (EDGAR GRAPHIC type), which are enumerated in the metadata but excluded from the dataset. Folder names are the accession number with hyphens stripped (0001193125-25-260916 becomes 000119312525260916). Document filenames inside the folder are preserved verbatim from the filer and are not renamed to any normalized scheme.

Container packaging

The dataset is distributed as monthly ZIP containers partitioned under a YYYY/YYYY-MM.zip scheme. A representative month (October 2025) holds 2,318 accession-number folders totaling 97 MB compressed and about 757 MB on disk. The file-type mix is overwhelmingly .htm (roughly two HTML documents per filing on average in that month), exactly one metadata.json per folder, a small minority of .pdf attachments (quarterly press releases, shareholder lists, management commentary), and the occasional .txt attachment used for oversized text exhibits. The dataset contains TXT, JSON, HTML, and PDF files.

The metadata.json descriptor

metadata.json is the structured index for the record and the stable entry point that consumers should key on, since on-disk filenames are filer-specific. Its top-level fields describe the submission itself:

• formType — 6-K or 6-K/A.
• accessionNo — hyphenated SEC accession number (e.g. 0001193125-25-260916).
• id — stable internal identifier for the record.
• filedAt — ISO-8601 timestamp with timezone offset (e.g. 2025-10-31T16:55:55-04:00).
• periodOfReport — report-period date declared on the cover.
• description — EDGAR form description, e.g. Form 6-K - Report of foreign issuer [Rules 13a-16 and 15d-16].
• linkToFilingDetails — URL of the primary 6-K document on EDGAR.
• linkToHtml — URL of the EDGAR filing index page.
• linkToTxt — URL of the full SGML submission .txt on EDGAR.
• linkToXbrl — typically empty for 6-K.
• dataFiles — typically an empty array; reserved for structured data exhibits when present.
• seriesAndClassesContractsInformation — typically empty; reserved for series/class data primarily relevant to investment-company filings.

Two arrays carry the most substantive structure: documentFormatFiles and entities.

documentFormatFiles[] — the attachment index

documentFormatFiles is an ordered array of per-attachment descriptors that enumerates every document in the original EDGAR submission, regardless of whether it was unpacked into the per-record folder. Each entry carries:

• sequence — EDGAR <SEQUENCE> number inside the submission (the primary document is always sequence 1).
• size — byte length of the attachment (as a string).
• documentUrl — EDGAR URL of the attachment; its final path segment is the filer-supplied filename.
• description — the filer's short description, e.g. "6-K", "PRESS RELEASE", "LEGAL OPINION".
• type — EDGAR exhibit-type code: 6-K for the primary report; EX-1.1, EX-1.2, EX-4.x, EX-5.x, EX-10.x, EX-16.x, EX-51, EX-99.1 and siblings for exhibits; GRAPHIC for images; or an empty string for the trailing entry that points at the full submission .txt.

Filer-supplied filenames vary widely across filing agents — Donnelley submissions use d66396d6k.htm / d66396dex<N>.htm, while other agents and issuers use patterns like ea0263057-6k_maxsmaking.htm, f6k_103125.htm, form6-k.htm plus ex99-1.htm, or tm2529364d1_6k.htm. The reliable way to locate the primary 6-K on disk is therefore to scan documentFormatFiles[] for type == "6-K" and match the final path segment of documentUrl against files in the folder; the same scheme locates specific exhibits (e.g. type == "EX-99.1" for press releases). sequence in metadata and the <SEQUENCE> value inside each SGML document wrapper correspond one-to-one.

entities[] — filer identification block

entities is normally a single-element array describing the foreign private issuer; multi-entity filings (joint filers, successor-issuer structures) can produce multiple entries. Each entity carries:

• cik — Central Index Key of the registrant.
• companyName — issuer name with role parenthetical, e.g. Oculis Holding AG (Filer).
• type — the form type associated with this entity.
• sic — Standard Industrial Classification code plus human-readable label (e.g. 2834 Pharmaceutical Preparations).
• act — governing Securities Act reference (34 for the Exchange Act).
• fileNo — SEC Commission File Number (e.g. 001-41636).
• filmNo — EDGAR film number assigned at acceptance.
• irsNo — IRS Employer Identification Number; often 000000000 for foreign issuers with no U.S. EIN.
• fiscalYearEnd — four-digit MMDD fiscal-year-end marker (e.g. 1231 for December 31).
• stateOfIncorporation — EDGAR code, overwhelmingly a non-U.S. jurisdiction for 6-K filers (e.g. V8 Switzerland, F4 Cayman Islands, K3 Israel).
• tickers — array of ticker symbols associated with the issuer's registered securities (e.g. ["OCS", "EBAC", "EBACU", "OCSAW"]), which for foreign issuers frequently includes ADR, warrant, unit, and predecessor-SPAC tickers.

Document-level anatomy: the SGML envelope

Every .htm file in a record — the primary 6-K and each exhibit — is wrapped in the legacy EDGAR SGML document envelope that structures the submission as a concatenation of <DOCUMENT> blocks:

          1
          <DOCUMENT>
        

          2
          <TYPE>6-K
        

          3
          <SEQUENCE>1
        

          4
          <FILENAME>d66396d6k.htm
        

          5
          <DESCRIPTION>6-K
        

          6
          <TEXT>
        

          7
          <HTML>...body HTML...</HTML>
        

          8
          </TEXT>
        

          9
          </DOCUMENT>
        

Exhibits use the same envelope with a different <TYPE> tag (EX-1.1, EX-5.2, EX-99.1, etc.). The header fields (<TYPE>, <SEQUENCE>, <FILENAME>, <DESCRIPTION>) replicate the corresponding documentFormatFiles[] entry; the body between <TEXT>...</TEXT> is the actual HTML rendering of the document. Parsers that assume the file begins with a DOCTYPE or <html> root must strip the leading SGML header lines and the trailing </TEXT></DOCUMENT> closers before feeding the content to an HTML parser.

The primary 6-K document

The primary document — whose documentFormatFiles[].type equals 6-K — is typically a short HTML document containing, in order:

1. SEC cover page. Boilerplate "UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION / Washington, D.C." header; the title "FORM 6-K"; the statutory caption "REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-16 OR 15d-16 UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934"; report month and year; issuer name, country of organization, and principal executive office address; Commission File Number; and the check-box indicating whether the issuer files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
2. Transmittal narrative. A short paragraph identifying what the 6-K is furnishing — e.g. an underwritten public offering, a semi-annual financial report, a shareholder-meeting notice, a regulatory announcement, or a reference document — and frequently tying the exhibits back into a registration statement (Form F-3, Form F-1, or S-8) into which the 6-K is incorporated by reference.
3. Exhibit Index. A table enumerating each exhibit by number, description, and (sometimes) hyperlink.
4. Signature block. Pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, with the issuer name, signatory name and title, and date.

Cover-plus-body content is frequently under 20 KB; the informational weight of the record typically resides in the exhibits.

Exhibits

Exhibits sit as siblings of the primary document in the same folder, each in its own .htm file (or occasionally .pdf or .txt), each individually wrapped in its own SGML <DOCUMENT> envelope. Exhibit classes commonly observed in the dataset include:

• EX-99.1 and related EX-99.x — the most common 6-K exhibit class: press releases, interim or half-year financial results, MD&A, shareholder-meeting notices and materials, proxy-equivalent documents, and other home-country public disclosures.
• EX-1.1, EX-1.2 — underwriting agreements and subscription agreements for public or registered-direct offerings.
• EX-4.x — instruments defining the rights of security holders (indentures, warrant agreements, ADR deposit agreements).
• EX-5.x — legal opinions on the validity of securities, typically from home-jurisdiction counsel (Swiss, Cayman, Irish, Israeli, etc.), used when a 6-K supplies a validity opinion into an effective shelf registration.
• EX-10.x — material contracts.
• EX-16.x — auditor letters, typically in the context of auditor changes.
• EX-51 — asset-level or Regulation AB-style disclosure exhibits, seen occasionally.

Exhibit count per filing ranges from zero (a minimal 6-K that is just a cover and one-paragraph body) to seven or more (an offering 6-K such as the Oculis Holding AG example, which bundles an underwriting agreement, subscription agreement, two legal opinions, and a press release alongside the primary document).

GRAPHIC attachments

Graphics — logos, charts, and signature images embedded in exhibits — are listed in documentFormatFiles[] with type == "GRAPHIC" but are excluded from the dataset; the dataset's scope omits image binaries to keep the archive compact. The practical consequence at the document level is that HTML exhibits which reference images (for example a Swiss law firm's opinion letter that opens with <IMG SRC="g66396g1031014830344.jpg" ALT="LOGO"> for its letterhead) contain dangling image references whose targets are listed in the metadata but are not part of the dataset. The metadata entry for each graphic still carries sequence, size, documentUrl, description, and type, so a downstream consumer can reconstruct the list of missing binaries or fetch them directly from EDGAR via documentUrl.

File-format distribution within a record

HTML dominates inside a record: both the primary 6-K and most exhibits are .htm wrapped in SGML. PDF appears as an occasional exhibit format, most often for richly formatted home-country materials — full quarterly or interim reports, presentation decks, investor packs, shareholder registers. Plain .txt is rare inside the per-record folder and generally only appears for oversized text-formatted exhibits; the combined SGML submission .txt for the whole filing is referenced in documentFormatFiles[] (as a trailing entry with empty type) and via linkToTxt, but is excluded from the dataset. JSON is used exclusively for the single metadata.json descriptor per record.

Amendments: Form 6-K/A

Records with formType == "6-K/A" are amendments to a previously furnished 6-K. Structurally they are indistinguishable from an original 6-K: same accession-folder layout, same metadata.json schema, same SGML-wrapped primary document and exhibit array. The differences are semantic — the primary document typically includes an "Explanatory Note" describing the purpose of the amendment (to correct, restate, add, or withdraw exhibits or narrative content), and the exhibit list is re-presented in its amended form. Amendments do not supersede the original 6-K in the dataset; both the original and the /A are retained under their own accession numbers.

Format evolution since 1995

The dataset begins on 1995-08-01, shortly after EDGAR became mandatory, and spans three decades of format evolution:

• 1995 to the late 1990s — paper-derived ASCII/SGML era. Early 6-K submissions are almost entirely plain-text .txt documents inside the SGML envelope, with tabular content rendered as fixed-width ASCII. Exhibits are similarly ASCII, and graphics are absent or represented as GRAPHIC placeholders without HTML image references. The internal logical structure (cover page, narrative, exhibit index, signature) is the same, but rendered in monospace text.
• Late 1990s to mid-2000s — HTML adoption. EDGAR permitted HTML-formatted documents and filers migrated progressively, first for exhibits (particularly press releases) and then for the primary 6-K. The SGML <DOCUMENT> envelope remained; the <TEXT> body transitioned from raw ASCII to <HTML>-wrapped content.
• Mid-2000s to 2010s — HTML-dominant with PDF attachments. HTML became the near-universal format for primary reports and common exhibits. PDF emerged as the preferred format for the underlying home-country documents — full annual reports, interim reports, proxy statements — that 6-K filers routinely re-furnish to the SEC.
• 2010s to present. The current norm is HTML primary plus a mix of HTML and PDF exhibits.

The regulatory substance of Form 6-K has also drifted. Exhibit-type conventions have expanded as foreign issuers increasingly use 6-K as the delivery vehicle for offering materials (underwriting agreements, legal opinions, press releases accompanying takedowns) for incorporation by reference into F-series shelf registrations. Offering-related 6-K filings tend to be multi-exhibit bundles; routine periodic or announcement 6-Ks tend to be single-document or single-press-release filings.

Interpretation notes

• Key on metadata, not filenames. Because filer-supplied filenames are not normalized, any pipeline that wants the primary report should read metadata.json, filter documentFormatFiles[] to the entry with type == "6-K", and resolve the corresponding file in the folder by matching the final path segment of documentUrl. The same logic applies to locating specific exhibit types.
• Exhibit types are the primary semantic axis. The type field in documentFormatFiles[] is far more informative for classification than either the filename or the filer's free-text description. Type codes follow EDGAR conventions (EX-99.1, EX-1.1, etc.) and are stable across filing agents.
• Graphics are referenced but excluded from the dataset. Consumers that render exhibits faithfully must either accept dangling image references or fetch the GRAPHIC entries directly from their EDGAR documentUrl. Text extraction, entity extraction, and downstream NLP are unaffected.
• SGML wrapper matters for parsers. Each .htm file is HTML inside an SGML envelope, not raw HTML. Strip the leading <DOCUMENT> / <TYPE> / <SEQUENCE> / <FILENAME> / <DESCRIPTION> / <TEXT> header and the trailing </TEXT></DOCUMENT> closers before HTML parsing.
• Incorporation by reference. 6-K filings frequently incorporate their exhibits by reference into previously effective F-3, F-1, or S-8 registration statements. The primary 6-K body typically names the registration statement and identifies which exhibits are being incorporated, which is informationally important for linking the 6-K record back to the registration chain.
• periodOfReport is not the event date. periodOfReport is the cover-declared report period, often the filing date or the end of the month/quarter being reported — not necessarily the date of the underlying material event disclosed in the exhibits. Event dates (e.g. the pricing date of an offering) typically appear inside the exhibit text (press-release datelines, agreement execution dates) rather than in structured metadata.
• Issuer-specific variation is high. Because 6-K relays home-country disclosure conventions, record composition varies more by issuer nationality and filing agent than the U.S. domestic current report (Form 8-K) does. A Japanese issuer's periodic 6-K bundle looks structurally different from a Cayman-domiciled biotech's offering-related 6-K, even though both conform to the same EDGAR envelope and metadata schema.

Who Files or Publishes This Dataset, and When

Every record in the dataset is a submission to EDGAR by a foreign private issuer (FPI) to furnish the SEC with material information the issuer has already made public, filed, or distributed outside the United States. Form 6-K is the FPI's sole inter-annual disclosure vehicle; it sits alongside the annual report Form 20-F (or Form 40-F for Canadian MJDS issuers).

Filer population: foreign private issuers

Only issuers that meet the definition of "foreign private issuer" under Rule 3b-4(c) of the Exchange Act use Form 6-K. Rule 3b-4 treats any non-U.S. issuer (other than a foreign government) as an FPI unless BOTH of the following are true:

• more than 50% of outstanding voting securities are held of record by U.S. residents, AND
• at least one business-contacts prong is met: a majority of executive officers or directors are U.S. citizens or residents, more than 50% of assets are in the United States, or the business is principally administered in the United States.

FPI status is tested on the last business day of the second fiscal quarter. An issuer that fails the test must transition to the domestic regime (Form 10-K, Form 10-Q, 8-K, Regulation 14A, Section 16) starting the first day of the next fiscal year and stops furnishing 6-Ks.

The dataset spans a wide range of foreign entity types: U.K. plcs, European SEs and SAs, Canadian corporations (often MJDS filers), Japanese kabushiki kaisha, Cayman- and BVI-incorporated operating companies, Israeli and Bermudan holding companies, Chinese VIE structures listed via ADRs, and Latin American sociedades anónimas. It excludes foreign governments (which use Form 18-K), registered investment companies (N-series forms), and asset-backed issuers (Form 10-D).

Statutory trigger: Rules 13a-16 and 15d-16

Form 6-K is required by two parallel rules under the Exchange Act:

• Rule 13a-16 applies to FPIs with a class of securities registered under Section 12 (typically ADRs or ordinary shares listed on a U.S. exchange).
• Rule 15d-16 applies to FPIs subject to periodic reporting under Section 15(d) because of an effective Securities Act registration statement, without a Section 12 registration.

Both rules impose an identical obligation: the issuer must promptly furnish on Form 6-K any material information it:

• makes or is required to make public under the law of its jurisdiction of domicile or incorporation,
• files or is required to file with a foreign stock exchange on which its securities trade (and that is made public by the exchange), or
• distributes or is required to distribute to its security holders.

The SEC does not enumerate the topics. The trigger is the issuer's own disclosure activity abroad; the content mix reflects foreign disclosure regimes rather than a U.S.-style item list.

"Furnished" rather than "filed"

Form 6-K is furnished, not filed, a distinction with two practical consequences:

• Section 18 of the Exchange Act, which imposes civil liability for false or misleading statements in documents "filed" with the Commission, does not attach to furnished 6-Ks the way it attaches to filed 10-Ks or 20-Fs.
• A furnished document is not automatically incorporated by reference into Securities Act registration statements (Forms F-1, F-3, F-4) for Section 11 liability purposes. Incorporation occurs only when the registration statement or the 6-K itself expressly says so. Issuers routinely furnish 6-Ks containing interim financials with explicit incorporation language to support an active shelf registration, while leaving routine 6-Ks outside the registration record.

Timing: promptly after home-country disclosure

Rules 13a-16 and 15d-16 require furnishing "promptly" after the underlying information is made public, filed with the foreign exchange, or distributed to security holders. There is no fixed deadline analogous to the four-business-day rule for domestic Form 8-K. In practice, "promptly" means the same business day or within a few business days, adjusted for time zones and English-translation requirements. General Instruction C to Form 6-K permits English translations, English versions, or fair and accurate English summaries where the original is in another language.

Because timing is obligation-driven rather than event-enumerated, 6-K pacing mirrors each issuer's home-country cadence: U.K. issuers under DTR 4 typically furnish two interim 6-Ks per year; Canadian issuers furnish quarterly interim materials; HKEX-listed issuers follow Hong Kong's interim and quarterly disclosure schedule.

Typical triggering events

Common materials furnished on Form 6-K include:

• press releases and regulatory announcements issued in the home jurisdiction,
• IFRS half-year interim reports and home-country quarterly results,
• notices and results of annual and extraordinary general meetings, proxy circulars,
• dividend declarations, record dates, and distribution mechanics,
• acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, and material contracts,
• changes in senior management, board, or statutory auditors,
• home-country filings such as U.K. DTR notifications, Canadian continuous disclosure, AMF notices in France, and BaFin filings in Germany,
• rights offerings, takeover circulars, and shareholder communications,
• operational or production reports required by the home exchange.

Form 6-K/A amendments

Form 6-K/A amends a previously furnished 6-K. Typical uses include correcting an earlier document, restating interim financial information, adding an English translation to a foreign-language furnishing, attaching referenced exhibits, or updating incorporation-by-reference language to pull the 6-K into an active registration statement. The amendment is furnished, not filed, unless it expressly states otherwise.

Important distinctions and edge cases

• FPIs do not file Forms 10-K, 10-Q, or 8-K, are not subject to Regulation 14A proxy rules, and their officers, directors, and 10% holders are exempt from Section 16 reporting under Rule 3a12-3. Form 6-K is an issuer-level regime; directors and officers of FPIs do not separately file Forms 3, 4, or 5.
• Foreign governments use Form 18-K; registered investment companies use N-series forms; asset-backed issuers use Form 10-D. None appear in this dataset.
• Voluntary 6-K furnishings occur in practice, typically to support an active shelf or to extend U.S.-investor parity with home-market disclosure, even when the underlying information was not strictly required to be made public abroad.
• Former FPIs that fail Rule 3b-4 at the annual test date stop furnishing 6-Ks at the start of the next fiscal year; the dataset may show their 6-K history ending, followed by domestic filings from the same CIK.
• The dataset begins in August 1995, reflecting EDGAR-era electronic furnishing. Rules 13a-16 and 15d-16 and the paper Form 6-K predate EDGAR, but pre-EDGAR paper furnishings are not included.

How This Dataset Differs From Similar Datasets or Filings

Form 6-K is the current-report vehicle for foreign private issuers. Users most often confuse it with the domestic current-report form (8-K), with the FPI annual reports it supplements (20-F, 40-F), with domestic periodic reports that FPIs do not file (10-Q, 10-K), with FPI Securities Act registration statements that can incorporate 6-Ks by reference (Form F-1, F-3, F-4), and with sibling datasets that cover the same filings in a different shape or scope (Form 6-K Items Dataset, Form 8-K Files Dataset, EDGAR full-text search and filings-query APIs).

Form 8-K (domestic current-report analogue)

The closest functional neighbor. Both carry event-driven disclosures — earnings, management changes, material agreements, investor communications — but the regimes diverge. Form 8-K is triggered by a closed list of enumerated items (1.01 through 9.01) with a four-business-day deadline and prescribed content per item. Form 6-K has no item taxonomy; it is triggered whenever the issuer makes information public at home, files it with a foreign exchange, or distributes it to security holders, and is due "promptly" rather than within a fixed window. Filer populations are disjoint: 8-K is domestic-only, 6-K is FPI-only. Use the Form 8-K Files Dataset for domestic current reports and this dataset for the FPI side; they are complements, not substitutes.

Form 20-F (FPI annual report)

The annual periodic report for the same FPI population. Overlap is the issuer set; the content and cadence differ. 20-F is a once-a-year filing with audited financials, full business description, risk factors, MD&A, and governance sections. 6-Ks are short, event-driven furnishings of whatever the issuer released abroad between annual cycles. Use 20-F datasets for structured annual disclosure; use this dataset for interim results, press releases, AGM notices, and mid-year events from the same issuers.

Form 40-F (Canadian MJDS annual report)

The annual-report alternative to 20-F for eligible Canadian issuers under the U.S.–Canada Multijurisdictional Disclosure System. Canadian filers who use 40-F also furnish 6-Ks to wrap SEDAR+ and Canadian exchange releases onto EDGAR, so a meaningful slice of this dataset is Canadian MJDS material. Scope difference: 40-F is the annual baseline; 6-K is the inter-annual current-disclosure stream. A Canadian cross-listed corpus needs both.

Form 10-Q and 10-K (domestic periodic reports)

FPIs do not file 10-Qs or 10-Ks. The quarterly interim-results content a domestic issuer places in a 10-Q is, for FPIs, typically furnished inside a 6-K (often with an interim financial statements exhibit). Overlap is subject matter only; form, structure, and filer differ. Interim FPI financials live in this dataset, not in any 10-Q dataset; domestic quarterly data will not appear here. The boundary is jurisdictional.

Form F-1, F-3, F-4 (FPI Securities Act registration statements)

No content overlap, but a critical legal linkage: F-3 shelf registrations frequently incorporate designated 6-Ks by reference, converting those 6-Ks from furnished material (limited Section 18 exposure) into filed material subject to Section 11 liability. Users assessing heightened-liability 6-Ks or tracing prospectus-level disclosures need the F-series cover pages and incorporation language, which this dataset does not carry.

Form 6-K Items Dataset (structured sibling)

Identical source universe — every 6-K and 6-K/A on EDGAR — but different representation. The Items dataset applies a derived classification (6-K has no official item taxonomy) to expose press releases, interim financials, material contracts, AGM notices, and similar content types as structured fields. This form-6k-files dataset delivers the raw submission as filed: primary document plus every non-image exhibit in native HTML, TXT, PDF, or JSON, inside ZIP containers, preserving layout and exhibit fidelity. Use Items for counting and aggregating classified content; use this dataset for full-text NLP, custom exhibit extraction, filing-level audits, and model training on raw documents. They are designed to be used together.

Form 8-K Files Dataset (same shape, different scope)

Same packaging, file-type mix, and raw-as-filed philosophy, but restricted to the domestic 8-K corpus. Zero filing overlap; near-total overlap in data-engineering shape (ZIP containers, per-accession metadata, HTML/TXT/PDF/JSON, image files excluded). The selection rule is purely jurisdictional: domestic current reports from 8-K Files, FPI current reports from this dataset. Pair them when a workflow needs current disclosures across both populations in a consistent delivery format.

EDGAR full-text search and filings-query APIs

Same underlying EDGAR submissions, different delivery model. Query surfaces return hits per request, are rate-limited, and deliver individual documents or URLs without guarantees of historical completeness. This dataset ships the full 6-K and 6-K/A history from August 1995 forward as compressed containers with consistent metadata for bulk processing, local indexing, and reproducible research. Use the query APIs for narrow lookups, recent-filing monitoring, or targeted keyword search; use this dataset for corpus-scale longitudinal analysis or training over the full 6-K history.

Boundary summary

This dataset is distinct on three axes simultaneously: regime (FPI current-report only — not domestic, not periodic, not registration), representation (raw as-filed documents and exhibits — not parsed items, not structured tables), and delivery (complete historical corpus in bulk containers — not an on-demand query surface). Adjacent datasets complement it: 20-F and 40-F for the annual baseline, the Items dataset for structured queries over the same filings, the 8-K Files dataset for the domestic analogue, and F-3 filings for incorporation-by-reference context. None substitute for the raw, full-population 6-K archive.

Who Uses This Dataset

The 6-K corpus is where foreign private issuers furnish event-driven disclosure between annual reports, spanning earnings releases, interim financials, dividend notices, meeting materials, transaction announcements, and home-country regulatory filings. Different professions touch different slices of the primary document, exhibits, and metadata.

Quantitative researchers covering ADRs and FPIs

Systematic equity teams use the 6-K stream as the text-signal source that stands in for the 10-Qs FPIs never file. They parse the primary report and press-release exhibits to extract tone, numeric surprises versus consensus, and event-type tags, then align those features with ADR and local-line returns for event studies and drift strategies. Full-corpus delivery matters because feature engineering requires backfills with identical parsing logic from 1995 forward. The cik, filedAt, entities[].sic, and country-of-incorporation fields drive industry bucketing and regional exposure controls.

Equity research analysts on ADR and dual-listed issuers

Fundamental analysts treat the 6-K as the working substitute for quarterly reporting. Daily work pulls interim income statements, segment tables, and cash-flow reconciliations attached directly to the 6-K, plus press-release exhibits carrying guidance and order-book figures. Analysts also extract dividend schedules and meeting materials to maintain payout calendars. Peer-group modeling requires pulling the same exhibit type from dozens of comparable FPIs at once; HTML exhibits carry the narrative, PDF attachments carry the reviewed home-country interim statements.

Securities counsel and disclosure teams at FPIs

In-house and external counsel search the corpus for drafting precedents when preparing a 6-K covering an interim dividend, executive departure, consent solicitation, or tender offer. The relevant artifacts are the cover narrative on the primary 6-K, the event-specific exhibit, and attached board resolutions or legal opinions. entities[].sic and country metadata restrict the precedent set to comparable issuers; historical depth back to 1995 captures disclosure shifts around IFRS adoption, Sarbanes-Oxley, and MJDS refinements.

Litigation consultants and forensic accountants

Plaintiff- and defense-side experts build disclosure chronologies for Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 actions against FPIs. The work requires the full text of every 6-K during the class period: primary-document narrative, press-release exhibits, interim financial exhibits, and home-jurisdiction correspondence. PDF exhibits are critical because home-country filings are often attached in PDF and must be diffed line-by-line against same-day English press releases to test consistency across 6-Ks and the 20-F.

M&A and capital markets bankers

Deal teams advising on cross-border transactions read every transaction-related 6-K a target has furnished: placements, buybacks, convertibles, scheme documents, prospectus supplements, and material contract summaries. For comparables, bankers pull acquisition and divestiture 6-Ks from same-SIC FPIs to benchmark size, pricing, and deal mechanics. The load-bearing artifacts are the primary 6-K cover description and transaction exhibits such as offering circulars, underwriting agreements, and shareholder circulars.

Index providers, credit analysts, and ESG vendors

Index teams watch 6-K exhibits for rights issues, stock splits, and free-float changes that trigger float-adjusted weight recalculations. Credit analysts parse interim financial exhibits to refresh covenant-compliance and leverage views for issuers outside the 10-Q universe. ESG vendors mine press-release and meeting-material narratives for board-composition changes, say-on-pay outcomes reported at home, and environmental-incident statements. All three backfill full history whenever methodology changes.

NLP, LLM, and retrieval teams

Teams training domain language models and building RAG systems value the corpus for structured EDGAR metadata paired with unstructured filing text, substantial multilingual content, mixed formats (HTML, PDF, TXT), and stable accession-level document IDs. Typical applications are classifiers separating primary report from exhibit, event-type taggers (earnings, dividends, M&A, governance), and retrieval indices over FPI disclosure. Raw bytes matter for tokenization, layout parsing, and OCR pipelines; JSON metadata provides clean supervised labels without a separate EDGAR scrape.

Academic and regulatory researchers

Law, accounting, and finance researchers use the corpus for cross-jurisdictional disclosure studies: completeness of home-country material furnished to the SEC, MJDS versus non-MJDS filing cadence, 6-K response to home-country regulatory reforms, and the interaction between 6-K and 20-F content. Research designs combine filing-date, CIK, country, and SIC metadata with exhibit text at population scale; reproducibility norms favor a dated bulk snapshot over ad hoc retrieval.

Data engineers building FPI-disclosure products

Platform teams treat the dataset as a bulk-ingest source. The pipeline unpacks each accession ZIP, parses JSON metadata into a filings table keyed on accession, cik, filedAt, entities[].sic, state, and country, normalizes primary-document HTML into a text-search column, and stores exhibits as typed blob references. The container shape maps cleanly to a warehouse load and supports parallel extraction; daily refreshes plug into the same schema.

Investor relations teams at FPIs

IR teams benchmark their own disclosure cadence against peers by pulling every 6-K from a defined peer set over one or two reporting years, then comparing event mix, length, language coverage, and exhibit structure of earnings releases, dividend notices, and governance communications. The press-release exhibit and the primary 6-K cover description carry most of the comparative signal; interim-financial exhibits inform segment-reporting conventions.

Across groups, the shared requirement is population-scale access to the primary 6-K, its exhibits, and clean accession-level metadata in a container that can be ingested once and queried repeatedly.

Specific Use Cases

Concrete workflows built on the raw-as-filed 6-K submissions, their SGML-wrapped exhibits, and the per-accession metadata.json descriptor.

Quarterly-gap earnings signal for ADRs

Load every EX-99.1 press-release exhibit and interim-financials exhibit from 2010 through the current month for a universe filtered by entities[].sic and entities[].stateOfIncorporation. Run numeric extraction over revenue, EPS, and guidance tables, tag each filing with filedAt as the event timestamp, and join to ADR returns on entities[].tickers. Output is a post-announcement drift factor for FPIs that never file 10-Qs, refreshed whenever a new monthly ZIP lands.

Section 10(b) disclosure chronology

For a named defendant, filter all records where entities[].cik matches and filedAt falls inside the class period. Extract the primary 6-K narrative and each exhibit (including PDF interim reports and home-country correspondence) and diff them against same-day English press releases. Output is an exhibit-by-exhibit chronology with sequence numbers, byte sizes, and text hashes suitable for an expert report under Rule 10b-5.

F-3 incorporation-by-reference tracing

Scan primary 6-K documents for registration-statement references (F-3, F-1, S-8 file numbers) and flag filings where specific exhibits are named as incorporated by reference. Cross-link each flagged accessionNo with its entities[].fileNo to build a map of which 6-Ks have been elevated from furnished to filed status for Section 11 liability analysis. Output is a linkage table feeding prospectus-level disclosure review and a heightened-liability exhibit list.

Underwriting-agreement precedent library

Restrict to records where documentFormatFiles[] contains type == "EX-1.1" or EX-1.2 alongside EX-5.x legal opinions, grouped by stateOfIncorporation (Switzerland V8, Cayman F4, Israel K3, etc.). Extract underwriting discounts, lock-up terms, and indemnification clauses from each exhibit. Output is a searchable precedent corpus for capital-markets counsel drafting a new FPI takedown off an effective shelf.

Auditor-change monitoring

Pull every record where documentFormatFiles[] carries a type in the EX-16.x family, sorted by filedAt. Parse the auditor letter and the primary 6-K transmittal to capture predecessor firm, successor firm, effective date, and any disagreement language. Output is a running auditor-change feed for the FPI population, analogous to Item 4.01 monitoring on the domestic side, feeding credit-risk dashboards and PCAOB research.

Index-event detection for float rebalancing

Filter EX-99.1 exhibits and primary-document narratives for rights-issue, stock-split, share-buyback, and placement language using a keyword-plus-ML classifier. Tie each hit to entities[].tickers and periodOfReport, then feed to the float-adjustment engine. Output is a same-day corporate-actions queue for index weight recalculations across FPIs, covering events that never appear in U.S. domestic 8-K streams.

Multilingual FPI language model pretraining

Strip the SGML envelope (<DOCUMENT>/<TYPE>/<TEXT> wrappers) from every .htm document across the 1995-to-present archive, OCR the PDF exhibits (home-country annual and interim reports), and bucket documents by entities[].stateOfIncorporation to balance language mix. Pair each document with accessionNo, exhibit type, and sic as supervised labels. Output is a pretraining corpus with stable document IDs and clean exhibit-type tags for classifier and retrieval training.

Canadian MJDS cross-listing coverage

Restrict to records with stateOfIncorporation codes for Canadian provinces and pair each record with that issuer's 40-F. Index the 6-K exhibits that repackage SEDAR+ and TSX releases, tagged by periodOfReport and exhibit type. Output is a consolidated Canadian cross-listed disclosure timeline combining annual 40-F baseline with the inter-annual 6-K current-report stream.

Peer-set IR benchmarking

For an issuer plus a defined peer set (matched on sic and country), pull all records over a one- or two-year window, classify primary-document cover descriptions and EX-99.x exhibits into event types (earnings, dividend, AGM, governance), and tabulate cadence, exhibit count, and page length per peer. Output is a comparative IR scorecard showing where the issuer over- or under-discloses relative to structurally similar FPIs.

Bulk warehouse ingest for an FPI-disclosure product

Unpack each monthly ZIP into object storage, parse every metadata.json into a filings table keyed on accessionNo with columns for cik, filedAt, periodOfReport, formType, sic, stateOfIncorporation, and a tickers array. Resolve each documentFormatFiles[] entry to a stored blob reference typed by exhibit code, normalize primary-document HTML into a full-text column, and expose the result through a search and RAG layer. Output is a queryable FPI disclosure product refreshed as each new monthly container is released.

Dataset Access

The Form 6-K Files Dataset is accessible in three ways: a public JSON index for discovery and monitoring, a single archive download for the full dataset, and per-month container downloads for incremental retrieval. The dataset covers 6-K and 6-K/A filings from August 1995 to present, with monthly ZIP containers holding TXT, JSON, HTML, and PDF files. Each filing is organized by accession number and includes a metadata.json plus the primary 6-K document and any exhibits (image files excluded). An API key from sec-api.io is required for the authenticated download endpoints.

Dataset Index JSON API

Endpoint: https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-6k-files.json

Returns dataset-level metadata (name, description, updatedAt, earliestSampleDate, totalRecords, totalSize, formTypes, containerFormat, fileTypes) along with the full dataset datasetDownloadUrl and a containers array. Each container entry includes its key (e.g. 2025/2025-10.zip), size, records, updatedAt timestamp, and a ready-to-use downloadUrl. Poll this endpoint to detect which monthly containers changed in the most recent refresh and download only the updated ones. This endpoint does not require an API key.

          1
          curl https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-6k-files.json
        

Example response:

          1
          {
        

          2
            "datasetId": "1f13365b-9ade-61d6-b2c5-02266ad3a9c8",
        

          3
            "datasetDownloadUrl": "https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-6k-files.zip",
        

          4
            "name": "Form 6-K Files Dataset",
        

          5
            "updatedAt": "2026-04-22T02:58:43.546Z",
        

          6
            "earliestSampleDate": "1995-08-01",
        

          7
            "totalRecords": 554172,
        

          8
            "totalSize": 17255386701,
        

          9
            "formTypes": ["6-K", "6-K/A"],
        

          10
            "containerFormat": "ZIP",
        

          11
            "fileTypes": ["TXT", "JSON", "HTML", "PDF"],
        

          12
            "containers": [
        

          13
              {
        

          14
                "downloadUrl": "https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-6k-files/2025/2025-10.zip",
        

          15
                "key": "2025/2025-10.zip",
        

          16
                "size": 198472193,
        

          17
                "records": 2184,
        

          18
                "updatedAt": "2025-11-01T03:14:22.000Z"
        

          19
              }
        

          20
            ]
        

          21
          }
        

Download Entire Dataset

Endpoint: https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-6k-files.zip?token=YOUR_API_KEY

Downloads the complete dataset as a single ZIP archive containing every monthly container from August 1995 to present. Use this for a one-shot bulk retrieval when you want the full corpus locally. Requires an API key.

          1
          curl -o form-6k-files.zip \
        

          2
            "https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-6k-files.zip?token=YOUR_API_KEY"
        

Download Single Container

Endpoint: https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-6k-files/2025/2025-10.zip?token=YOUR_API_KEY

Containers are monthly ZIP files keyed by year and month (e.g. 2025/2025-10.zip). Each container holds one directory per accession number, containing a metadata.json alongside the filed 6-K document and its exhibits. Pick the container URL from the containers[].downloadUrl field of the index JSON and append ?token=YOUR_API_KEY for authentication. This path is ideal for incremental syncs — download only the months that changed since your last run.

          1
          curl -o 2025-10.zip \
        

          2
            "https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-6k-files/2025/2025-10.zip?token=YOUR_API_KEY"
        

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Form 6-K?

Form 6-K is the current report required by Rules 13a-16 and 15d-16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Foreign private issuers use it to furnish the SEC with material information they have already made public in their home jurisdiction, filed with a non-U.S. stock exchange, or distributed to their security holders. It is the FPI equivalent of — but not functionally identical to — the domestic Form 8-K.

Who is required to file Form 6-K?

Only issuers that meet the definition of "foreign private issuer" under Rule 3b-4(c) of the Exchange Act, with a class of securities registered under Section 12 (Rule 13a-16) or subject to Section 15(d) periodic reporting (Rule 15d-16). Foreign governments (Form 18-K), registered investment companies (N-series forms), and asset-backed issuers (Form 10-D) do not use Form 6-K and do not appear in this dataset.

How does Form 6-K differ from Form 8-K?

Form 8-K is triggered by a closed list of enumerated items (1.01 through 9.01) with a four-business-day deadline, regardless of whether the information has been published elsewhere, and applies to domestic issuers. Form 6-K has no item taxonomy; it is triggered whenever the FPI makes information public at home, files it with a foreign exchange, or distributes it to security holders, and is due "promptly" rather than within a fixed window. The filer populations are disjoint: 8-K is domestic-only, 6-K is FPI-only.

What does a single record in this dataset represent?

One record is a single EDGAR submission of Form 6-K or Form 6-K/A, identified by its 18-digit SEC accession number. On disk, a record is a folder containing exactly one metadata.json descriptor plus the primary 6-K document and every non-image exhibit as filed, with filer-supplied filenames preserved verbatim.

What file formats are included, and are images shipped?

The dataset contains TXT, JSON, HTML, and PDF files. The primary 6-K and most exhibits are HTML wrapped in the EDGAR SGML <DOCUMENT> envelope; PDFs typically carry home-country interim reports and investor materials; JSON is reserved for the single metadata.json per record. Image attachments (EDGAR GRAPHIC type) are enumerated in documentFormatFiles[] with their EDGAR documentUrl but are excluded from the dataset; consumers that need them can fetch them directly from EDGAR.

Does this dataset contain XBRL data?

Generally no. The linkToXbrl field in metadata.json is typically empty for 6-K and the dataFiles array is usually an empty placeholder. Form 6-K is a disclosure conduit for foreign-issuer material rather than a structured-financial-data form, so XBRL instance documents are rare in the 6-K population.

What time period does the dataset cover and how is it refreshed?

The dataset begins on August 1, 1995 — shortly after EDGAR became mandatory — and extends to the present, covering both original 6-K and 6-K/A amendments. Records are organized into monthly ZIP containers (YYYY/YYYY-MM.zip); the JSON index endpoint exposes updatedAt timestamps per container so consumers can poll for changes and pull only the months that have been refreshed since their last sync.

How does the Form 6-K Files Dataset differ from the Form 6-K Items Dataset?

Both cover the identical source universe — every 6-K and 6-K/A on EDGAR — but differ in representation. The Form 6-K Items Dataset applies a derived content classification (press releases, interim financials, material contracts, AGM notices, etc.) to expose structured fields, since 6-K has no official item taxonomy. This form-6k-files dataset delivers the raw submission as filed: primary document plus every non-image exhibit in native HTML, TXT, PDF, or JSON, preserving SGML envelope and exhibit fidelity. Use Items for counting and aggregating classified content; use this dataset for full-text NLP, custom exhibit extraction, and model training on raw documents.