Dated Record
Menu

Updated 6 November 2026

Which date is which, in the official record

Event date, disclosure date, effective date and publication date: how official records use them, disclosure deadlines, and how to build a sourced timeline.

Kinds of dates

  1. As of dates in statistics and official data

    What reference periods, release dates, revisions and as of labels mean in official statistics and legal databases, with US, UK, Canada and India examples.

  2. Effective date versus commencement date

    How laws carry several dates, from assent to commencement, entry into force, application and compliance, with UK, Canada, Germany, EU and US examples.

  3. Event date versus disclosure date

    Why official records carry two dates, the day something happened and the day it was made public, with examples from the US, EU, Canada and Australia.

Disclosure timing

  1. Disclosure deadlines compared

    Side by side: how the US, EU, UK, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore time the disclosure of material events by listed companies.

  2. Form 8-K timing explained

    How the US Form 8-K four business day clock works, when it starts, what the cover page date means and how EDGAR decides the filing date.

  3. MAR inside information timing explained

    How EU and UK MAR time the disclosure of inside information, when delay is allowed and what changed for protracted processes in 2026.

Building a timeline

  1. How to build a sourced timeline

    A method for building a timeline from filings, laws and statistics: which date to record, how to write it, and how to cite the version you read.

  2. ISO 8601 dates explained

    What the ISO 8601 date standard covers, how YYYY-MM-DD and UTC offsets work, and how the RFC 3339 and W3C profiles apply it on the web.