[U.S. SEC Plans to Ease Listing Rules for Small Businesses to Boost IPO Market] According to Jintou News, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is planning to facilitate small companies' listings by reducing mandatory disclosure requirements and scaling compliance standards based on company size. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins stated in a speech prepared for an event at the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday that this move could increase the IPO pipeline and revitalize the roster of publicly listed companies. The proposed revisions include providing companies with at least a two-year (instead of just one-year) "transition period" to gradually meet listing rule requirements, such as phased disclosure of information to investors and submission of other reports. The agency will also re-evaluate the criteria for defining small businesses to ease their burden. Atkins noted that the last major adjustment to the criteria for defining company size was two decades ago and lamented that the number of publicly listed companies has decreased by about half compared to thirty years ago. "Our regulatory framework should provide IPO opportunities for companies at all stages of growth and across all industries," he said, emphasizing that compliance costs "may disproportionately impact certain companies."