《元照英美法词典》将“Safe harbor”译为“安全港”，具体解释为：

“法律解释和适用的一项规则。当成文法规定的措辞过于宽泛时，当事人只需采用某种适当的方式遵守法律就应被视为已经履行了法律义务。例如，在税法中，只要当事人尽了自己的努力以遵守法律，而这种努力可以某种可识别的形式表现出来，就不会被认为是违法。”

那么，具体到此处的“Safe harbor statement”，究竟指的是什么样的陈述或声明呢？

1995年，美国国会通过了《私人证券诉讼改革法》（Private Securities Litigation Reform Act），据此对1933年《证券法》（Securities Act of 1933）和1934年《证券交易法》（Securities Exchange Act of 1934）进行了修订，增加了有关“Safe harbor”（安全港）的规定，即1933年《证券法》第27A章和1934年《证券交易法》第21E章，二者的相关规定相同，具体见下文：

“(c) Safe harbor

(1) In general

Except as provided in subsection (b), in any private action arising under this chapter that is based on an untrue statement of a material fact or omission of a material fact necessary to make the statement not misleading, a person referred to in subsection (a) shall not be liable with respect to any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, if and to the extent that—

(A) the forward-looking statement is—

(i) identified as a forward-looking statement, and is accompanied by meaningful cautionary statements identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statement; or

(ii) immaterial; or

(B) the plaintiff fails to prove that the forward-looking statement—

(i) if made by a natural person, was made with actual knowledge by that person that the statement was false or misleading; or

(ii) if made by a business entity; was—

(I) made by or with the approval of an executive officer of that entity; and

(II) made or approved by such officer with actual knowledge by that officer that the statement was false or misleading.”

从上述规定可以看出，在因重大事实陈述不真实或遗漏确保陈述不具误导性的重大事实导致的私人诉讼中，在以下情形下，代表发行人行事之人无需就任何书面或口头前瞻性陈述承担责任：

(A)该前瞻性陈述被确定为前瞻性陈述，并附有有意义的警示性声明，其中应指明可能导致实际结果与该前瞻性陈述所载结果出现重大差异的重要因素；或该前瞻性陈述并非重要陈述；或

(B)原告无法证明，某一自然人在作出该前瞻性陈述时实际知道该陈述虚假或具有误导性；或该前瞻性陈述由某一公司高管作出或经该高管批准，与此同时该高管实际知道该陈述虚假或具有误导性。

换言之，“Safe harbor statement”其实指的就是“免责声明”，也有译为“安全港声明”。一般附在前瞻性陈述的前面，但有时也会出现在前瞻性陈述结束之后。大致格式如下所示：

“This report contains forward-looking statements made under the “safe harbor” provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements, which may be identified by terminology such as “may,” “should,” “will,” “expect,” “plan,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” or “continue,” the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, and such factors and risks include ... We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable law.”

中文为

“本报告载有前瞻性陈述，该陈述根据1934年《证券交易法》（经修订）第21E章和1995年《私人证券诉讼改革法》中的“安全港”条款作出。除有关历史性事实的陈述外，本报告所载任何陈述均视为前瞻性陈述，可通过“可能”“应该”“将要”“预期”“计划”“拟”“预计”“相信”“估计”“预测”“潜在”“目标”等词语及其否定形式或其他类似词语加以识别。前瞻性陈述涉及风险和不确定性，该等因素包括……本司并不承担更新或修订任何前瞻性陈述的义务，无论因新信息、未来事件还是其他而需更新或修订，除非适用法律另有规定。”