Form F-X Files Dataset

The Form F-X Files dataset is a structured collection of every EDGAR submission of Form F-X — the SEC's "Appointment of Agent for Service of Process and Undertaking" prescribed under 17 CFR 249.250 — together with its amendment variant Form F-X/A. One record represents one acceptance of one F-X or F-X/A filing, identified by its 18-digit EDGAR accession number, and contains a normalized JSON descriptor of the submission alongside the rendered F-X document as EDGAR disseminated it. Filers are non-U.S. parties — most commonly Canadian issuers using the Multijurisdictional Disclosure System (MJDS), foreign tender-offer bidders, and exempt foreign financial institutions filing under Securities Act Rule 489 — designating a U.S.-resident agent in connection with a specific SEC registration, tender offer, or initial annual report. Coverage runs from March 2001 to the present, organized into monthly ZIP containers.

Dataset APIs

Dataset Files

What This Dataset Contains

The dataset captures the full population of electronically filed Form F-X and Form F-X/A submissions on EDGAR. Form F-X itself is a procedural rather than financial instrument: it does not register securities, disclose financial results, or convey ownership. It functions as a jurisdictional consent device that must accompany a defined set of registration and tender-offer filings made by foreign filers — most prominently the Canadian Multijurisdictional Disclosure System forms (F-7, F-8, F-9, F-10, F-80), the Canadian annual report on Form 40-F, and tender-offer schedules where a foreign bidder, target, or class of foreign securities is involved. Form F-X is therefore a short, highly templated legal document that pairs with a substantive primary filing and binds the foreign filer to U.S. service of process and federal- and state-court jurisdiction for matters arising out of that filing. Form F-X/A is the amendment variant, filed to correct, replace, or update an existing F-X — typically to substitute a successor U.S. agent, refresh the named agent's contact details, or correct identifying information about the filer or the related registration.

Each record is delivered as an accession-named folder containing a metadata.json descriptor and the per-document attachments from the original EDGAR submission. The unit of analysis is the filing event, not the foreign issuer, the U.S. agent, or the related registration statement; all three of those entities are surfaced as fields inside the record. Records are organized into monthly ZIP containers under YYYY/YYYY-MM.zip, each unzipping into a single month-named directory that holds one accession-named subfolder per filing. The dataset spans March 2001 to present and includes file types TXT, JSON, HTML, and PDF; image files from the original EDGAR submission are deliberately excluded.

Content Structure of a Single Record

Each accession folder is named after the 18-digit accession number with the dashes stripped (for example 000119312525216558 for accession 0001193125-25-216558) and contains exactly two structural layers:

1. A metadata.json descriptor that captures the filing in normalized, machine-readable form: header information, party identifiers, document inventory, and links back to the live EDGAR copies.
2. The Form F-X document itself, delivered as an HTML file under its original EDGAR filename. The HTML body is preceded by the SGML document wrapper that EDGAR prepends to every attachment (<DOCUMENT>, <TYPE>, <SEQUENCE>, <FILENAME>, <DESCRIPTION>, <TEXT> tags), which encloses a self-contained rendered F-X with sections A through G and a signature block.

In practice, modern F-X submissions resolve to the JSON descriptor plus a single HTML rendering; plain-text bodies appear in older submissions, and PDFs occasionally appear when filers attached an executed signature page or other supporting page as a scanned exhibit.

metadata.json — field-by-field structure

The descriptor sits at the top of the accession folder and acts as the authoritative structured view of the filing.

Top-level fields:

• formType — "F-X" for original appointments, "F-X/A" for amendments.
• accessionNo — dashed EDGAR accession (e.g. "0001193125-25-216558").
• effectivenessDate — filing effectiveness date in YYYY-MM-DD form.
• filedAt — acceptance timestamp with timezone offset (e.g. "2025-09-25T10:09:19-04:00").
• description — human-readable label, consistently "Form F-X - Appointment of Agent for Service of Process and Undertaking".
• linkToFilingDetails — direct URL to the primary F-X HTML document on sec.gov.
• linkToTxt — URL to the full SGML submission text file as packaged by EDGAR.
• linkToHtml — URL to the EDGAR filing index page (*-index.htm).
• linkToXbrl — empty string; F-X carries no XBRL.
• id — 32-character hex hash unique to the record.
• documentFormatFiles — array of document descriptors, one per attached document. Each item carries sequence (e.g. "1" for the F-X HTML, blank for the complete submission text), size (bytes as a string), documentUrl, type (e.g. "F-X"), and an optional description.
• dataFiles — empty array (no R-files or financial data are associated with F-X).
• seriesAndClassesContractsInformation — empty array (the series/classes/contracts framework does not apply to F-X).
• entities — array of party objects participating in the filing.

Entities array

Almost every F-X carries two entries in entities: one tagged (Filed by) and one tagged (Subject) in the companyName field. Frequently the same legal entity appears in both roles, because a foreign issuer typically files Form F-X about itself in connection with its own registration statement. In other cases the filer and subject differ — for example when a parent files on behalf of a subsidiary registrant, or when a foreign tender-offer bidder files about a target.

Each entity object can carry the following sub-fields:

• cik — Central Index Key.
• companyName — issuer/filer name with the (Filed by) or (Subject) role suffix in parentheses.
• type — filing role / form type (e.g. "F-X").
• irsNo — IRS employer identification number; commonly "000000000" for non-U.S. filers that have not been assigned one.
• fiscalYearEnd — MMDD string (e.g. "1231"); often absent.
• stateOfIncorporation — SEC state/country code. Canadian provinces dominate (A0 Alberta, A1 British Columbia, A6 Ontario), reflecting the Multijurisdictional Disclosure System's role in driving F-X volume.
• sic — SIC code with description (e.g. "6311 Life Insurance", "1040 Gold and Silver Ores"); absent for some filers such as income trusts.
• tickers — array of ticker symbols, often containing both U.S. ADR and home-market listings; absent for non-listed entities.
• act — Securities Act under which the related registration is made (commonly "33"); typically appears on the Subject entity.
• fileNo — SEC file number tying the F-X to its related registration (e.g. "333-290499" for a 333- shelf registration); typically appears on the Subject entity.
• filmNo — EDGAR film number assigned to the related registration; typically appears on the Subject entity.

The pairing of act, fileNo, and filmNo on the Subject entity is the programmatic link from an F-X record to the substantive registration statement it supports.

The Form F-X document — section-by-section anatomy

Each HTML attachment opens with the EDGAR SGML wrapper:

          1
          <DOCUMENT>
        

          2
          <TYPE>F-X
        

          3
          <SEQUENCE>1
        

          4
          <FILENAME>...fx.htm
        

          5
          <DESCRIPTION>F-X
        

          6
          <TEXT>
        

          7
          <HTML>...</HTML>
        

          8
          </TEXT>
        

          9
          </DOCUMENT>
        

Inside <TEXT> sits the rendered Form F-X using table-based HTML, checkbox glyphs (☐ empty, ☑ / ☒ checked), and a fixed lettered structure. The body always follows the same ordered scheme:

• A. Identification of the filer. Name of the issuer or person filing the form — the foreign party making the appointment.
• B. Filing-type checkboxes. A checkbox indicating whether the submission is an original or an amended filing, and a paper-filing checkbox for the (now rare) case of paper submission.
• C. Identification of the related filing. Four sub-fields tying the F-X to its substantive companion: name of the registrant; form type of the related filing (typically one of F-7, F-8, F-9, F-10, F-80, 40-F, or a tender-offer schedule); the SEC file number assigned to that filing; and the name of the party that filed it.
• D. U.S. agent block. Name and full street address of the U.S.-resident person or entity appointed as agent for service of process, together with telephone number. This is the operative legal designation that the form exists to record.
• E. Stipulation and undertaking. A short legal recital in which the filer undertakes to appoint a successor agent if the named agent ceases to act, to forward any process served on the agent, and to amend the F-X to reflect any change in agent or agent address.
• F. Consent to service and jurisdiction. The filer's irrevocable consent to be served through the named agent and to submit to the jurisdiction of U.S. federal and state courts for any action arising out of, or related to, the related filing or the securities to which it pertains.
• G. Signature block. Signature, printed name, title, jurisdiction (place of signing), and date. Where the filer is an entity, the signing officer's capacity is identified; where the filer is a natural person, the individual's signature appears directly.

The HTML is laid out for visual rendering rather than for parsing: checkboxes are character entities, item labels are typeset in tables, and signatures are usually represented as typewritten names rather than images (image files are excluded from the dataset). For programmatic use, the structurally clean facts — filer identity, related form, file number, filer/subject CIK, dates — are reliably available in metadata.json, while the agent name, agent address, telephone, and signatory details live exclusively in section D and the signature block of the HTML body and require document-level parsing.

Document filename conventions

The HTML filename is the original EDGAR document name as supplied by the filer's filing agent, and varies by submitter. Common patterns include dXXXXXXdfx.htm (Donnelley), tmXXXXXXX_fx.htm (Toppan Merrill), dpXXXXXX_fx.htm (Davis Polk), eaXXXXXXXXX-fx_*.htm (EdgarAgents), formfx.htm (Newsfile), and generic forms such as formf-x.htm. The filename is not a stable key; the accession number (folder name) and accessionNo field in metadata.json are the canonical identifiers.

Included content

A record includes the structured filing descriptor (metadata.json) and every document attached to the original EDGAR submission, in the documents' native formats, except image files. For the overwhelming majority of modern F-X submissions this resolves to a single rendered HTML document; in older filings the body may be present as a plain-text document, and occasional ancillary attachments may appear as PDF. The documentFormatFiles array enumerates everything the original EDGAR submission contained, even where the dataset only retains a subset.

Excluded or separate content

Image attachments from the original EDGAR submission (signature scans, logo images, embedded graphics) are omitted. The complete SGML submission file (*.txt) is referenced via linkToTxt and documentFormatFiles but is not redistributed inside the container — only the per-document attachments are. There are no XBRL instance documents, no R-files, no financial data tables, and no series/classes/contracts metadata, because Form F-X has none.

The substantive companion filing — the F-7, F-8, F-9, F-10, F-80, 40-F, or tender-offer schedule that the F-X supports — is a separate EDGAR submission with its own accession number and is not part of the F-X record. It is reachable only through the act/fileNo/filmNo triplet on the Subject entity and must be retrieved from the corresponding form-specific dataset or directly from EDGAR.

Amendments (F-X/A)

F-X/A submissions appear as their own records, keyed by their own accession numbers. They are not patches against a prior F-X and do not carry a structured pointer to the original; the connection is reconstructed by joining on the Subject entity's cik plus the related filing's fileNo. The most common amendment triggers are:

• substitution of the U.S. agent (typically when an issuer moves between corporate-services providers, or when an existing agent is renamed or absorbed through industry consolidation);
• updates to the named agent's address or telephone;
• corrections to filer identifying information or to the identification of the related filing in section C.

To reconstruct an issuer's current agent of record, all F-X and F-X/A filings for that issuer must be ordered by filedAt and the most recent appointment treated as controlling.

Evolution of required content and form structure

Form F-X has been comparatively stable since EDGAR began accepting it electronically. The lettered A-through-G structure was already in place at the start of dataset coverage. Material changes that affect what a record contains include:

• The introduction and refinement of the Multijurisdictional Disclosure System, which gave Forms F-7 through F-10, F-80, and 40-F their current shape and made F-X the standard appointment vehicle for Canadian issuers — the population that dominates F-X filings throughout the dataset.
• The phase-out of paper filings: the paper-filing checkbox in section B is a vestige of the period when foreign filers could submit certain documents in paper, and is essentially never selected in modern records, all of which are electronic.
• Refinements to the consent-to-jurisdiction language in sections E and F to reflect updated SEC instructions, without altering the lettered structure or the identifying fields in sections A, C, D, and G.
• Growing use of F-X/A as agents have changed names through corporate consolidation in the corporate-services industry, prompting many issuers to file successor-agent amendments.

Evolution of data format

Form F-X submissions originally arrived as plain-text documents wrapped in the EDGAR SGML envelope. That text-era heritage is still visible in the <DOCUMENT> / <TYPE> / <SEQUENCE> / <FILENAME> / <DESCRIPTION> / <TEXT> wrapper that prefixes each attachment. As HTML adoption became universal across EDGAR through the 2000s, F-X attachments transitioned to rendered HTML using table-based layout and checkbox character entities, which is the prevailing format today. PDF attachments occasionally appear, particularly for older filings or for filings that bundled an executed signature page as a scanned exhibit.

Interpretation notes

• The accession folder name is the dashless 18-digit accession; metadata.json.accessionNo is the dashed version. They identify the same filing.
• The Filed-by and Subject roles encoded in companyName are the most reliable way to distinguish the filer from the issuer when they differ. When they coincide — the typical case for an issuer-filed F-X — the same company name appears twice with different role suffixes.
• The link from an F-X record to its substantive companion filing runs through the Subject entity's fileNo (and filmNo), not through any field on the Filed-by entity. Joining datasets on this triplet is the canonical way to associate appointment-of-agent records with the underlying registration statements or tender-offer schedules.
• The agent's name, address, and telephone — the operative content of the form — live exclusively in section D of the HTML body and are not lifted into metadata.json. Any analysis that ranks or tracks U.S. agents must parse the HTML.
• Checkbox state in section B is encoded as Unicode glyphs rather than as form controls, so determining whether a filing is original or amended from the document body alone requires character-level inspection. The formType field in metadata.json resolves the same question structurally.
• IRS numbers of "000000000" should be treated as "not assigned" rather than as a literal identifier; they reflect that most F-X filers are non-U.S. entities without an EIN.

Who Files or Publishes This Dataset, and When

Who files the record

Each Form F-X is filed by a non-U.S. party that is required, in connection with a specific SEC submission, to designate a person located in the United States as its agent for service of process under U.S. federal securities law. The filer is almost always one of:

• a foreign issuer of securities (most often Canadian),
• a foreign tender-offer bidder,
• a foreign bank, insurance company, or other exempt foreign financial institution subject to Rule 489,
• a non-U.S. natural person required to appoint an agent in respect of a particular submission, or
• a foreign auditor, expert, or service provider whose consent or report is filed and who is required to make itself amenable to U.S. process.

Form F-X is the appointment vehicle; Form F-X/A is the amendment vehicle. The U.S. agent named in section D is not the filer — major corporate-services firms (CT Corporation, Cogency Global, Puglisi & Associates) appear repeatedly as agents but never as filers.

The filer population is defined by non-U.S. status combined with a triggering SEC submission, not by industry or size. Canadian issuers dominate because the Multijurisdictional Disclosure System (MJDS) routes substantially all eligible Canadian SEC reporting through F-X-paired forms. Non-Canadian filers appear primarily through cross-border tender offers, Securities Act registrations by foreign private issuers, and Rule 489 filings.

The dataset distinguishes a (Filed by) entity from a (Subject) entity. The filer is the appointing party; the subject is the registrant or party in respect of whose substantive submission the appointment is made. In typical issuer-self cases the two coincide. They diverge when a parent appoints on behalf of a registering subsidiary, when a bidder appoints in respect of a target, or when a depositary's F-6 references a foreign deposited-securities issuer.

Triggering submissions

Form F-X has no independent existence — it accompanies, or precedes, a specific substantive filing. The qualifying triggers fall into four groups.

MJDS forms (Canadian issuers). The largest single class of F-X filings supports MJDS forms adopted in 1991:

• Form F-7 — Canadian rights offerings into the U.S.
• Form F-8 — Canadian exchange offers and business combinations.
• Form F-9 — Investment-grade Canadian debt or preferred (now largely subsumed into F-10 use).
• Form F-10 — General Securities Act registrations by eligible Canadian issuers, including shelf registrations.
• Form F-80 — Exchange offers and business combinations involving Canadian target securities.
• Form 40-F — Annual report for Canadian MJDS issuers. Only the first 40-F by a registrant must be paired with an F-X; subsequent annual 40-F filings rely on the appointment already on file.

State-of-incorporation codes in the entities array (A0 Alberta, A1 British Columbia, A6 Ontario, etc.) reflect the Canadian skew.

Securities Act registrations by other foreign issuers.

• Form F-1, Form F-3, Form F-4 by a foreign private issuer that is not yet a Section 13 or Section 15(d) reporter and has no prior F-X on file. Where an F-X is already on file, a fresh F-X is generally not required for each new registration.
• Securities Act Rule 489 filings by foreign banks, foreign insurance companies, and similar foreign financial institutions whose securities are exempt from registration but which must nevertheless appoint a U.S. agent on Form F-X to engage in covered U.S. offering activity.
• Form F-6 for American Depositary Receipts, typically filed by a depositary bank where the foreign issuer of the deposited securities has not previously appointed an agent.

Cross-border tender-offer schedules. Form F-X is required from foreign filers in connection with Schedules TO (and predecessor 14D-1) and Schedule 13E-3 when the bidder is a non-U.S. person, or when an MJDS issuer-bid or third-party-bid is made on Form F-8 or F-80. The F-X is filed by the foreign bidder (or, where the rules so require, by the foreign target).

Non-issuer foreign filers. Non-U.S. natural persons, foreign auditors, foreign experts, and other foreign signatories file F-X in narrow contexts where SEC rules extend the agent-appointment requirement to the individual or service provider in connection with a registered offering or report.

When the form is required

Form F-X is event-driven, not periodic. Three timing rules apply.

Concurrent with the related filing. For MJDS forms (F-7, F-8, F-9, F-10, F-80), a first-time Form 40-F, F-1/F-3/F-4 by a foreign private issuer with no prior F-X, F-6 ADR registrations, and tender-offer schedules involving foreign parties, the F-X must be submitted at or before the time of the related filing. The dataset's act, fileNo, and filmNo fields on the Subject entity tie the F-X to that companion submission, and filedAt timestamps typically sit immediately adjacent.

Before covered U.S. activity (Rule 489 filers). For foreign banks, foreign insurance companies, and similar exempt foreign financial institutions covered by Rule 489, the F-X must be on file before the filer engages in the covered U.S. offering activity. The appointment is a precondition to U.S. market activity, not merely an attachment.

Promptly upon any change (Form F-X/A). Section E of every F-X commits the filer to amend the form whenever the appointment changes. Form F-X/A is filed to substitute a successor U.S. agent (after resignation, acquisition, or change of corporate form), update the agent's name following corporate consolidation among service providers, update the agent's address or contact information, or correct identifying information about the filer or the related registration. There is no codified day-count deadline, but the substantive obligation is to keep an effective appointment continuously on file, so F-X/A filings are made promptly. The section E undertaking is the proximate cause of essentially all F-X/A activity in the dataset.

Effectiveness and persistence. Form F-X is effective on filing — it requires no staff review, declaration of effectiveness, or post-effective amendment. The effectivenessDate matches the filing date. Once filed, an F-X carries forward and supports the filer's subsequent periodic reporting until amended; recurring annual reports (40-F) do not each spawn a new F-X.

Regulatory framework

Form F-X sits at the intersection of three layers of authority.

17 CFR 249.250 — the prescribing rule. 17 CFR 249.250, promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, is the operative regulation that prescribes Form F-X as the SEC's official "Appointment of Agent for Service of Process and Undertaking" and identifies which filers must use it. The dataset's description field reflects the official title from this rule.

Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 489. The Securities Act of 1933 supplies the registration regime for the substantive filings (F-1 through F-10, F-80, F-6, MJDS instruments) to which F-X attaches as the appointment of agent. Securities Act Rule 489 (17 CFR 230.489) independently requires certain exempt foreign banks, foreign insurance companies, and similar foreign financial institutions to appoint a U.S. agent on Form F-X.

Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Exchange Act supplies the appointment authority attached to Form 40-F and other Exchange Act filings by foreign issuers, and to tender-offer schedules under Sections 13(d), 13(e), and 14(d). Section 13/15(d) reporting status is also what determines, for many foreign private issuers, whether an existing F-X already satisfies the obligation for a new registration.

The Multijurisdictional Disclosure System. The MJDS, adopted jointly by the SEC and Canadian securities regulators in 1991, created Forms F-7 through F-10, F-80, and 40-F as standard reporting vehicles for eligible Canadian issuers and made Form F-X their routine companion. MJDS is administrative (a set of SEC adopting releases and form instructions) but is the single largest driver of the F-X filer population.

Important distinctions

• Filer vs. agent. The filer is the foreign appointing party. The U.S. agent named in section D consents to act but does not sign as registrant.
• Filer vs. registrant. When F-X supports another party's registration (parent for subsidiary, bidder for target, depositary for deposited-securities issuer), the F-X filer and the related-filing registrant differ; the dataset records this through the two-entity entities pattern.
• F-X is not a registration. It does not register securities, does not make the filer an Exchange Act reporter, and confers no compliance status. It is a jurisdictional consent and appointment device.
• 20-F filers do not, as a class, file F-X. A foreign private issuer reporting on Form 20-F is not required to maintain an F-X solely by reason of its 20-F status. F-X obligations for non-MJDS foreign private issuers arise from specific Securities Act registrations or tender-offer involvement. By contrast, MJDS issuers on Form 40-F must have an F-X on file from their first 40-F.
• U.S. domestic issuers never file F-X. Issuers organized in any U.S. state or territory are residents for service-of-process purposes by definition.
• Amendments are independent records. F-X/A filings receive new EDGAR accession numbers and appear as full new dataset records. Reconstructing the current agent of record requires ordering all F-X and F-X/A filings for the issuer by filedAt and treating the latest as controlling.
• Filed, not furnished. Form F-X is filed with the Commission and is part of the public file; misstatements carry the liability consequences attached to filed documents.
• No XBRL. F-X carries no financial facts; the trigger is legal and procedural, not financial-reporting-driven.

Historical scope

Form F-X took its modern shape with the adoption of the MJDS in 1991, which made it the standard appointment vehicle for Canadian filers. Rule 489 independently extends the same Form F-X requirement to certain exempt foreign financial institutions. EDGAR began accepting electronic F-X submissions in the late 1990s; dataset coverage runs from March 2001 to the present. Pre-EDGAR paper F-X filings exist in the SEC's historical paper records but are outside this digital corpus. The paper-filing checkbox in section B of the form body is a vestige of that earlier period and is effectively never selected in modern records.

How This Dataset Differs From Similar Datasets or Filings

Form F-X is a one-page appointment of a U.S. agent for service of process by a non-U.S. person, filed under 17 CFR 249.250 as a jurisdictional precondition to certain SEC registrations, tender offers, and continuous reporting. The most useful comparisons fall into three groups: (1) its near-twin Form F-N, (2) the substantive parent filings that trigger F-X (MJDS forms F-7/F-8/F-9/F-10/F-80, Form 40-F, and the F-1/F-3/F-4 series), and (3) adjacent foreign-issuer mechanisms that look related but do not produce an F-X (Forms 20-F, 6-K, and Form ID).

Closest related filings

Form F-N (closest analog). Same form type (appointment of agent for service of process), same short structure, same content fields. The decisive difference is the trigger and filer population:

• F-N: filed by foreign banks, foreign insurers, and foreign issuers claiming the Rule 12g3-2(b) Exchange Act reporting exemption. Posture is exemption-based.
• F-X: filed concurrently with an active SEC registration, tender offer, or initial 40-F report. Posture is registration-based.

A user mapping 12g3-2(b)-exempt issuers needs F-N; a user mapping MJDS or registered foreign issuers needs F-X. The two datasets do not overlap on filers.

MJDS registration forms (F-7, F-8, F-9, F-10, F-80). These are the primary parent filings driving F-X submissions by Canadian issuers:

• F-7: rights offerings.
• F-8: business combinations and exchange offers.
• F-9: investment-grade debt and preferred (largely phased out).
• F-10: broad-purpose registration for larger Canadian issuers.
• F-80: business combinations/exchange offers (alternative structure to F-8).

These contain the substantive offering: prospectus, financials, terms. F-X carries none of that and exists only to perfect U.S. service of process for the same transaction. A single MJDS deal typically produces one substantive registration plus one F-X. They are complements, joined by accession-level cross-reference.

Form 40-F (MJDS annual report). The continuous-reporting analog of Form 10-K for eligible Canadian issuers, containing audited financials, Canadian-form MD&A, and SOX certifications. F-X is required at the initial 40-F filing to establish service of process for the ongoing reporting relationship; the 40-F itself is the disclosure vehicle. Use 40-F for fundamentals, MD&A, and financial-statement mining; use F-X to enumerate or audit the procedural perimeter of the 40-F filer population.

Forms F-1, F-3, F-4 (non-MJDS foreign issuer registrations). General Securities Act registrations for foreign private issuers outside the MJDS:

• F-1: long-form initial registration.
• F-3: short-form/shelf for seasoned foreign issuers.
• F-4: business combinations and exchange offers.

Each commonly carries a concurrent F-X. F-1/F-3/F-4 hold the offering economics, risk factors, and audited financials; the paired F-X holds only the agent designation. Workflows tracking foreign-issuer capital raising pull the parent forms; workflows auditing service-of-process compliance across the full foreign-issuer registration universe pull F-X and join to those parents.

Adjacent forms that do not trigger F-X

Form 20-F. Exchange Act annual report for non-MJDS foreign private issuers. Often confused with F-X-triggering forms because it is a foreign-issuer filing, but its agent-for-service requirement is satisfied within the 20-F itself (Item 19 / signature block) or through the issuer's underlying Securities Act registration, not through a standalone F-X. Consequently, F-X will not capture 20-F-only filers; the 20-F dataset is the correct source for the broader foreign-issuer reporting population.

Form 6-K. Furnishing mechanism for material home-country disclosures by foreign private issuers. It is not a registration, has no agent-of-service obligation, and never triggers an F-X. It is included here only because users new to foreign-issuer filings sometimes assume any foreign-filer form has an F-X counterpart; it does not.

Form ID. EDGAR access application producing CIK/CCC credentials for any filer, foreign or domestic. Confusion arises because both Form ID and F-X are operational and often appear early in a foreign filer's SEC footprint. The functions are unrelated:

• Form ID: technical credentialing, no public disclosure effect, filed once per filer (with rare updates).
• F-X: substantive legal designation under 17 CFR 249.250, creating a domestic point of service for U.S. legal process; re-filed or amended (F-X/A) whenever the agent, the agent's address, or the underlying registration relationship changes.

Form ID answers "who can file on EDGAR"; F-X answers "who has accepted U.S. service of process, through which agent, for which registration."

Boundary summary

The F-X dataset is narrow, procedural, and lineage-oriented. It carries no financial, offering, or narrative content (unlike F-1/F-3/F-4, F-7 through F-80, and 40-F), is tied to active registration rather than exemption status (unlike F-N), is not a general foreign-issuer reporting vehicle (unlike 20-F and 6-K), and is a legal designation rather than an EDGAR credentialing step (unlike Form ID). Its irreplaceable contributions are a clean record of agent-of-process appointments for foreign issuers entering U.S. registration regimes and a procedural index that cross-references each F-X to its parent registration. For substance, use the parent forms; for the legal-service infrastructure layer beneath them, F-X is the primary source.

Who Uses This Dataset

Form F-X creates a structured record of a foreign issuer's U.S. agent for service of process, tied to a specific registration. A small set of legal, compliance, and research functions consult it routinely.

Cross-border securities lawyers and MJDS counsel

Counsel preparing Forms F-8, F-9, F-10, F-80, 40-F, and cross-border tender offer schedules use F-X records to confirm whether an issuer has a current agent appointment, whether an F-X/A is required when the agent changes or relocates, and how the appointment maps to the underlying registration via the related fileNo/filmNo. Section D agent name and address and the Filed-by/Subject entities array drive drafting checklists and closing-binder maintenance.

Litigation and service-of-process teams

Litigation paralegals and process servers pull the most recent F-X or F-X/A to identify the currently designated U.S. agent, the section D street address, and any contact phone. The amendment history confirms the appointment has not been superseded, supporting service declarations and avoiding Hague Convention service when a domestic agent is on file.

Plaintiffs' securities attorneys

Class action and derivative-suit firms use the agent address to draft summonses and plan service at case intake, and they walk the F-X/A chain to confirm which appointment was in force during the conduct period alleged in the complaint.

Process-agent service providers

Operations and compliance staff at commercial process-agent firms track their own books and competitors' books through the agent-name field across F-X/A amendments. The Subject-entity issuer identifiers and related-registration linkage support client portfolio management, renewal tracking against expiring registrations, and competitive intelligence on agent switches.

KYC and onboarding teams at broker-dealers and custodians

Onboarding teams handling foreign issuers, ADR programs, and cross-border tender offers verify the existence of a current F-X with a valid U.S. agent and address before opening accounts or distributing offering materials. Bulk access to the Filed-by entity, agent fields, and amendment status allows coverage checks across an entire foreign-issuer universe without manual EDGAR pulls.

Corporate secretaries and in-house counsel at foreign issuers

In-house teams monitor their own filings to confirm EDGAR acceptance, plan F-X/A amendments when the agent or address changes, and audit which historical appointments remain in force after restructurings or successor transactions.

M&A and cross-border tender offer diligence

Deal counsel on cross-border acquisitions, going-private transactions, and tender offers use the related fileNo/filmNo linkage to confirm the appointment is tied to the precise registration or schedule at hand, flagging stale or missing F-X coverage that must be remediated before closing or launch.

Capital markets and academic researchers

Analysts and academics studying MJDS utilization, cross-listing patterns, and the foreign-issuer population use the filing flow as a clean indicator of cross-border registration activity. The Subject-entities array, agent identity, and amendment history support panel datasets linking foreign issuers to their U.S. legal footprint, with coverage from March 2001 enabling long-horizon trend work.

Regulatory and enforcement researchers

Policy and enforcement-readiness analysts map which foreign issuers have effective U.S. service infrastructure, identify concentration among dominant agents-of-record, and track how appointment patterns shift in response to regulatory changes.

The dataset is narrow but load-bearing. Each user pulls a focused subset of the same record — section D agent name and address, the Filed-by/Subject entities array, the related fileNo/filmNo linkage, and the F-X/A amendment chain — for either operational lookups or longitudinal analysis.

Specific Use Cases

The dataset is consulted in narrow, repeatable workflows that key off the agent designation in section D, the Filed-by/Subject entities array, and the act/fileNo/filmNo link to a parent registration.

Resolving the current U.S. agent of record for service of process

Litigation paralegals and process servers preparing to serve a foreign issuer pull every F-X and F-X/A for the issuer's CIK, order them by filedAt, and treat the most recent record as controlling. They parse section D of the HTML body to extract the agent name, street address, and telephone, and use that block to draft the summons cover sheet and service-of-process declaration, avoiding a Hague Convention service when a domestic agent is on file.

Auditing MJDS and foreign-issuer registrations for missing or stale F-X coverage

Cross-border counsel and compliance teams join F-X records to F-7, F-8, F-9, F-10, F-80, 40-F, F-1, F-3, and F-4 datasets through the Subject entity's fileNo and filmNo. Registrations with no matching F-X, or with an F-X whose effectivenessDate predates a successor-agent change, surface as remediation items on closing checklists before a prospectus supplement, tender-offer launch, or annual 40-F is filed.

Tracking agent-of-record market share and switches across the foreign-issuer book

Process-agent service providers and competitive-intelligence analysts parse section D agent names across the full corpus, normalize them against known providers (CT Corporation, Cogency Global, Puglisi & Associates, and successor entities), and roll up filings per agent per year. Walking the F-X/A chain per Subject-entity CIK identifies client gains and losses, and renewal opportunities tied to expiring or amended parent registrations.

Building a panel dataset of foreign-issuer cross-listings from March 2001 onward

Capital markets researchers use the monthly ZIP coverage to assemble a longitudinal panel keyed on Subject cik, stateOfIncorporation (Canadian provinces dominate), sic, and tickers, joined to the related-form type and fileNo. The series supports studies of MJDS utilization, Canadian cross-listing waves, and the relationship between home-jurisdiction concentration and choice of U.S. registration vehicle.

Confirming the agent in force during a class-period or transaction window

Plaintiffs' securities attorneys and M&A diligence teams reconstruct the appointment timeline for a target issuer by sorting all F-X and F-X/A records on filedAt and identifying which agent and address were operative on a given date. The output is a dated agent history that supports complaint drafting, declarations of service, and representations and warranties about service-of-process infrastructure at signing.

KYC coverage checks across an onboarded foreign-issuer universe

Broker-dealer and custodian onboarding teams batch-validate that each foreign issuer in their book has a current F-X with a non-empty section D agent block tied to an active registration fileNo. Issuers whose most recent record is an unsuperseded F-X/A pointing to a defunct agent, or whose fileNo no longer corresponds to an effective registration, are routed for remediation before account opening or distribution of offering materials.

Dataset Access

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

This endpoint returns the dataset's metadata, including the name, description, last updated timestamp, earliest sample date, total records and total size, the form types covered (F-X and F-X/A), the container format (ZIP), and the file types included (TXT, JSON, HTML, PDF). It also returns the download URL for the complete archive and a list of individual monthly container files, each with its own size, record count, updated timestamp, and download URL. This endpoint does not require an API key and can be polled to monitor which containers have been refreshed in the most recent run, so that only updated containers need to be re-downloaded on a daily basis.

Example response:

          1
          {
        

          2
            "datasetId": "1f13365b-9ae0-695f-9c3c-a6394fd309da",
        

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

          4
            "name": "Form F-X Files Dataset",
        

          5
            "updatedAt": "2026-05-06T02:49:56.896Z",
        

          6
            "earliestSampleDate": "2001-03-01",
        

          7
            "totalRecords": 3476,
        

          8
            "totalSize": 18365448,
        

          9
            "formTypes": ["F-X", "F-X/A"],
        

          10
            "containerFormat": "ZIP",
        

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

          12
            "containers": [
        

          13
              {
        

          14
                "downloadUrl": "https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-fx-files/2026/2026-05.zip",
        

          15
                "key": "2026/2026-05.zip",
        

          16
                "size": 142318,
        

          17
                "records": 7,
        

          18
                "updatedAt": "2026-05-06T02:49:56.896Z"
        

          19
              }
        

          20
            ]
        

          21
          }
        

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

Downloads the full Form F-X Files archive in a single ZIP, covering all filings from March 2001 to the present. This endpoint requires an API key.

Download Single Container: https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-fx-files/2026/2026-05.zip?token=YOUR_API_KEY

Downloads one monthly container ZIP rather than the full dataset. Replace the year and month segment with any container key listed in the dataset index response. This endpoint requires an API key.

Frequently Asked Questions

What form does this dataset cover?

The dataset covers Form F-X, the SEC's "Appointment of Agent for Service of Process and Undertaking" prescribed under 17 CFR 249.250, together with its amendment variant Form F-X/A. Both form types appear as full records, distinguished by the formType field in metadata.json.

What does one record in this dataset represent?

One record represents a single EDGAR submission of Form F-X or Form F-X/A, identified by an 18-digit accession number. Each record is a folder named after the dashless accession that holds a metadata.json descriptor and the rendered F-X document(s) as EDGAR disseminated them. The unit of analysis is the filing event, not the foreign issuer or the U.S. agent.

Who is required to file Form F-X?

Form F-X is filed by non-U.S. parties — most often Canadian issuers using the Multijurisdictional Disclosure System, foreign tender-offer bidders, foreign banks and insurers covered by Securities Act Rule 489, and certain foreign auditors, experts, or natural persons — when a specific SEC submission requires them to designate a U.S.-resident agent for service of process. U.S. domestic issuers never file F-X.

When must Form F-X be filed?

Form F-X is event-driven, not periodic. It must be submitted at or before the time of the related substantive filing for MJDS forms, first-time 40-F annual reports, F-1/F-3/F-4 registrations by foreign private issuers without a prior F-X, F-6 ADR registrations, and tender-offer schedules involving foreign parties. Rule 489 filers must have an F-X on file before engaging in covered U.S. offering activity, and Form F-X/A must be filed promptly whenever the agent, agent address, or underlying registration relationship changes.

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

Coverage runs from March 2001 to the present. Records are organized into monthly ZIP containers under YYYY/YYYY-MM.zip, each unzipping into a single month-named directory that holds one accession-named subfolder per filing. File types in the dataset include TXT, JSON, HTML, and PDF; image files from the original EDGAR submission are excluded.

How does Form F-X differ from Form F-N?

Both forms appoint a U.S. agent for service of process and share the same short structure, but the trigger and filer population differ. Form F-N is filed by foreign banks, foreign insurers, and foreign issuers claiming the Rule 12g3-2(b) Exchange Act reporting exemption — an exemption-based posture. Form F-X is filed concurrently with an active SEC registration, tender offer, or initial 40-F report — a registration-based posture. The two datasets do not overlap on filers.

How do I link a Form F-X record to its underlying registration statement?

The Subject entity in metadata.json.entities carries an act, fileNo, and filmNo triplet that identifies the related substantive filing. Joining datasets on this triplet is the canonical way to associate an appointment-of-agent record with the F-7, F-8, F-9, F-10, F-80, 40-F, F-1, F-3, F-4, F-6, or tender-offer schedule that the F-X supports. The companion filing itself is a separate EDGAR submission and is not redistributed inside the F-X record.

Where does the U.S. agent's name and address live in the record?

The agent's name, street address, and telephone — the operative content of the form — live exclusively in section D of the HTML body and are not lifted into metadata.json. Any analysis that ranks, tracks, or extracts U.S. agents must parse the HTML document directly.