The National Investors Relations Institute and the Securities Industry Association have petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission to delay the starting date of the new Regulation Fair Disclosure rule. The rule, which is planned to go into effect next month, puts the burden on companies to distribute "material" information, such as earnings revisions or management changes, to the public instead of just to select analysts, with the idea that such a rule would reduce investment professionals' potential trading advantages. The two trade groups have been opposed to the regulation from the beginning, and they now have requested that the rule's effective date be postponed until late December in order to allow companies time to properly prepare for compliance.