Form CRS Delivery Rule
Rule 204-5 · 17 CFR 275.204-5
Delivery of Form CRS
Read the current text at the source ↗Guide: Form ADV Annual Updating Amendment: Deadline, What to Update and Interim Amendments
Guide: How to Register as an RIA: SEC or State Registration, Form ADV and Timeline
Guide: Form CRS Requirements for Investment Advisers
Guide: The Fiduciary Duty of Investment Advisers: Care, Loyalty and Disclosure
- Applies to
- SEC-registered investment adviser
- Effective
- September 10, 2019
- Last amended
- April 15, 2022
When this applies
Applies only to an adviser with retail investors. A retail investor is a natural person, or their legal representative, seeking services primarily for personal, family or household purposes. An adviser with only institutional clients has no Form CRS obligation.
What the rule says
A description of the source text.
Requires a registered adviser to deliver Form CRS, the relationship summary, to each retail investor: before or at the time of entering into an advisory contract; to an existing client who opens a new account, is recommended a rollover, or is offered a new service; and within 30 days upon a retail investor's request. The current version must be posted prominently on the adviser's website, and any changes to it must be communicated to existing retail investor clients within 60 days after the amendment is required to be made. 84 FR 33631 (12 July 2019), amended at 87 FR 22447.
What it requires
Luna's plain-English reading, not the Commission's words.
- 01The rollover recommendation trigger catches firms that think of Form CRS as an onboarding document.
- 02Thirty days to answer a request; sixty, counted from when the amendment was required, to communicate a change. Two different clocks.
- 03Rule 204-2(a)(14) keeps the delivery records, so a delivery you cannot evidence is a books and records problem as well as a Form CRS one.
What examiners find
Luna's observations, not a Commission publication.
- Delivered at onboarding and never again, through rollovers and new services.
- An outdated version on the website while the current one is on file.
- No record of when it was delivered to whom.
Topics
Source last checked against the regulator's copy on October 14, 2026. That date is written by an automated check, not by hand.
Luna Compliance is software, not a law firm. This page is not legal advice and reading it creates no attorney-client relationship. Where this page and the regulator's copy differ, the regulator's governs.