The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), now NYSE Euronext, and NASD, the private-sector regulator of the US’s securities industry, last Friday jointly released proposed guidelines to help member companies identify principles to take into account when developing supervisory systems and procedures for electronic communications that "are reasonably designed to achieve compliance with applicable <US> federal securities laws and self-regulatory organization rules."
The two self-regulatory organisations (SROs) say "Given the pace of technological innovations in electronic communications, and the breadth of possible communications subject to review, NASD and NYSE are issuing this Joint Request for Comment to solicit comments from members and other interested parties on proposed Joint Guidance regarding the review and supervision of electronic communications."
The 12-page document, "Review and Supervision of Electronic Communications", from the SROs is seeking comments from member organisations and other interested parties regarding the review and supervision of all electronic communications including e-mail, instant messaging and text messaging. Whilst the guidance does not claim to address every regulatory issue, the SROs have tried to cater for future developments and have consulted industry experts and member firms’ technology specialists, in addition to including their own experiences in electronic communication supervision.
In 1998, the SROs dropped the requirement that every communication between trading parties had to be supervised and authorised, allowing instead a selective, risk-based supervision of communications. These latest guidelines expand on this policy and outline the written procedures, the requirement for message categorisation, identification of those responsible for review of communications, and the frequency, method and documentation of reviews. The guidelines review period ends July 13th.
Whilst, at this stage, these guidelines are only in draft format for review, and are specific to US trading markets, they form a useful template for all involved in the regulatory supervision development in any country. | 
