NEW WEB-BASED SERVICE NOW AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS ON THE DISCLOSURE OF SIGNIFICANT SHAREHOLDINGS

[16728] November 18, 2003 TO: COMPLIANCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE No. 99-03 EMERGING MARKETS ROUNDTABLE INTERNATIONAL MEMBERS No. 42-03 PRIMARY CONTACTS - MEMBER COMPLEX No. 100-03 SEC RULES MEMBERS No. 157-03 SMALL FUNDS MEMBERS No. 67-03 RE: NEW WEB-BASED SERVICE NOW AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS ON THE DISCLOSURE OF SIGNIFICANT SHAREHOLDINGS The Investment Company Institute is pleased to announce a new service that will replace and, in some important ways, expand upon the Institute’s Foreign Investing Guide. The new service is an online service called Linklaters Blue Flag® Shareholding Disclosure and is now available to full Institute members through members.ici.org. An introductory slide presentation prepared by Linklaters describing the new service is attached. The new service is part of Linklaters Blue Flag®, which is the online service offered by the London-based law firm Linklaters designed to assist legal and compliance departments in researching information.1 It provides general descriptions for investors on disclosure obligations, thresholds, methods and timing notifications, regulatory pre-notifications and approvals, takeovers and foreign ownership restrictions. Blue Flag® Shareholding Disclosure includes these key features: • Content is updated quarterly. • The service includes daily news bulletins from local counsel around the world on the latest regulatory changes. • The service is available via the Internet. 1 The Institute has provided members since 1999 with access to the Blue Flag® Funds module that describes the rules and regulations governing the distribution of mutual fund shares in thirty-six countries around the world. The Institute has added Blue Flag® Shareholding Disclosure to its subscription. 2 • The service includes a summary matrix of the disclosure rules for each jurisdiction and hyperlinks to more detailed information. Linklaters attorneys are available for clarifications about information on these sites at no charge and follow-up advice relating to the topics covered at their normal billing rates. If you have other questions, comments or suggestions about this service, contact me at jchoi@ici.org or (202) 326-5810. For questions on access to ICINet or Blue Flag®, contact Jamie Kodey at jkodey@ici.org or (202) 326-5933. You can access this new service through the members website by clicking on the Guides to Foreign Marketing and Investing under the Legal Guides header of the Legal or International sections. To obtain a password for the members website, please contact Jamie Kodey as described above. We encourage you to make use of this online service. Jennifer S. Choi Associate Counsel Attachment (in .pdf format)