FINRA proposed amending the Code of Arbitration Procedure for Customer Disputes and the Code of Arbitration Procedure for Industry Disputes to require parties to use the FINRA Office of Dispute Resolution's Party Portal ("Party Portal") to submit documents and view their arbitration case information in most instances. One exception is that FINRA would permit pro se customers to use the Party Portal, but would not require them to do so.
The proposal would also require a party to use the Party Portal to file and serve correspondence relating to discovery requests, but would not permit a party to file documents produced in response to discovery requests through the Party Portal. Finally, under the proposed rule change, FINRA would permit the parties to a mediation proceeding to use the Party Portal on a voluntary basis, but it would not be required.
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