FINRA Rule 9320

FINRA Rule 9320 itself has no independent operative text — it functions as the architectural boundary marker delineating the record transmission and scheduling management subsection within the 9300 series.

FINRA Rule 9320 sits within the 9300 Review of Disciplinary Proceeding by National Adjudicatory Council and FINRA Board; Application for SEC Review series as the structural header for the two-rule record transmission and scheduling flexibility subsection. It was adopted as part of the original Code of Procedure by SR-NASD-97-28 effective August 7, 1997 and has been maintained as the subsection header through all subsequent amendments to the rules within it.

The Two Rules Within FINRA Rule 9320's Subsection

FINRA Rule 9321 — Transmission of Record — establishes the mandatory twenty-one-day deadline within which OHO must assemble and prepare an index to the official record, transmit the record and index to the NAC, and serve copies of the index on all parties following the filing of a notice of appeal under FINRA Rule 9311 or a notice of call for review under FINRA Rule 9312. 

The rule also requires that the Hearing Officer who participated in the disciplinary proceeding, or the Chief Hearing Officer, certify that the transmitted record is complete. 

The certified record transmission is the threshold act that enables NAC appellate review to begin — the NAC cannot assess whether the Hearing Panel's findings are supported by substantial evidence or whether its legal conclusions are correct without access to the complete official record as defined by FINRA Rule 9267. 

The twenty-one-day deadline reflects a careful balance between the urgency of transmitting the record to enable prompt appellate review and the administrative complexity of assembling and indexing a potentially voluminous record in complex multi-respondent cases. OHO may be directed by Counsel to the NAC to complete the transmission under FINRA Rule 9313(a)(1) if specific issues arise with record completeness or index preparation.

FINRA Rule 9322 — Extensions of Time, Postponements, Adjournments — establishes the scheduling flexibility framework for NAC appellate proceedings — the appellate counterpart to FINRA Rule 9222's scheduling flexibility framework for OHO disciplinary proceedings. 

The rule grants the NAC, the Review Subcommittee, a Subcommittee, an Extended Proceeding Committee, and Counsel to the NAC the authority to extend or shorten filing periods and postpone or adjourn appellate hearings for good cause shown, at any time prior to the issuance of the NAC's decision under FINRA Rule 9349. The rule includes the same investor harm consideration that FINRA Rule 9222 includes — the potential harm to the investing public from delay is one of the five factors that must be considered when evaluating postponement or adjournment requests. 

An important structural protection for parties under FINRA Rule 9322 is that Counsel to the NAC may shorten a briefing period or postpone or adjourn a hearing only with the consent of all parties — a more demanding standard than the general good cause requirement applicable to the adjudicative bodies themselves. This consent requirement prevents Counsel from using administrative scheduling authority to compress the parties' preparation time without their agreement.

The Record Transmission Phase in the Appellate Lifecycle

The rules within FINRA Rule 9320's subsection govern the critical transitional phase between the initiation of NAC appellate review — through FINRA Rule 9311 party appeal or FINRA Rule 9312 call for review — and the constitution of the appellate panel under FINRA Rule 9331. The twenty-one-day record transmission window under FINRA Rule 9321 means that the NAC has the complete certified official record within approximately three weeks of appeal filing, enabling the Subcommittee appointed under FINRA Rule 9331 to begin its substantive appellate review promptly after appointment.

The record index that OHO prepares and serves on all parties under FINRA Rule 9321 is the navigation tool that enables efficient appellate briefing — parties writing their appellate briefs under FINRA Rule 9347 reference the record by the index designations established in the transmitted record, enabling the Subcommittee and ultimately the full NAC to locate specific documents, transcript pages, and exhibits without searching through the full record.

The FINRA Rule 9322 Scheduling Framework in the Appellate Context

The scheduling flexibility framework of FINRA Rule 9322 operates within a more distributed authority structure than FINRA Rule 9222's OHO counterpart — where the Hearing Officer has unified scheduling authority over all OHO proceedings. In the NAC appellate context, scheduling authority is distributed among the NAC itself, the Review Subcommittee, the Subcommittee hearing the appeal, the Extended Proceeding Committee if applicable, and Counsel to the NAC — with Counsel having more limited authority than the adjudicative bodies given the parties' consent requirement for schedule shortening.

This distributed authority structure reflects the different institutional organization of NAC appellate proceedings compared to OHO disciplinary proceedings. OHO proceedings have a single Hearing Officer with unified case management authority under FINRA Rule 9235. NAC appellate proceedings have multiple institutional actors — the Review Subcommittee for initial review, the Subcommittee or Extended Proceeding Committee for substantive appellate consideration, the full NAC for formal decision, and Counsel for administrative management — each with its own scheduling authority appropriate to its specific role.

Examination Relevance and Key Takeaways

FINRA Rule 9320 is tested on the Series 24 General Securities Principal examination as the subsection header for the record transmission and appellate scheduling framework — understanding its structural role is prerequisite to navigating the relationship between FINRA Rule 9321's twenty-one-day record transmission obligation and FINRA Rule 9322's appellate scheduling flexibility provisions.

The key points to retain are these: FINRA Rule 9320 is the subsection header for the two-rule record transmission and scheduling flexibility cluster within the 9300 series — it has no independent operative text but organizes FINRA Rules 9321 and 9322; FINRA Rule 9321 requires OHO to assemble, index, transmit, and certify the complete official record to the NAC within twenty-one days of a FINRA Rule 9311 appeal or FINRA Rule 9312 call for review filing; FINRA Rule 9322 grants the NAC, its subcommittees, and Counsel to the NAC scheduling flexibility through the same good cause framework as FINRA Rule 9222's OHO counterpart — including the five-factor analysis for postponement and adjournment requests — with the important protection that Counsel to the NAC may shorten filing periods or postpone hearings only with the consent of all parties; and the rule was adopted as part of the original 1997 Code of Procedure and has been maintained as the subsection header through all subsequent amendments.