©2006 Investment Company Institute. All rights reserved. Information may be abridged and therefore incomplete.
Communications from the Institute do not constitute, and should not be considered a substitute for, legal advice.
[20091]
July 6, 2006
TO: COMPLIANCE MEMBERS No. 31-06
INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE No. 19-06
INTERNATIONAL INVESTING SUBCOMMITTEE No. 14-06
INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE No. 15-06
PRIMARY CONTACTS - MEMBER COMPLEX No. 13-06
RE: NEW TERMS TO ACCESS BLUE FLAG RESEARCH TOOLS EFFECTIVE OCTOBER
1, 2006
As many of you know, the Institute has subscribed for the past several years to two electronic
research tools called Blue Flag Funds (BFF) and Blue Flag Shareholding Disclosure (BFSD). These
research tools, which are maintained by the London-based law firm Linklaters, provide members with
information on foreign legal requirements relating to the cross-border sale of fund shares and the
reporting of significant shareholdings.
We have restructured our terms of access to the Blue Flag research services. The new terms,
described below, take effect on October 1, 2006.
Background
BFF was introduced in 1999 as an electronic replacement for the Institute’s Guide to Foreign
Marketing Regulations. It allows users to research whether and under what circumstances shares of a
fund can be sold on a cross-border basis. It addresses topics such as whether registration or other
authorization of the fund is required and whether a prospectus is required to be filed with the local
regulatory authorities. BFF also provides information about alternative methods of distribution, such
as private placements, that may avoid requirements such as registration. BFF currently covers thirty-
eight countries.
BFSD was added in 2004 as an electronic replacement for the Institute’s Guide to Foreign
Investing. BFDS is designed to help funds comply with local rules on the disclosure of large
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shareholdings. Information for each jurisdiction is presented in a common matrix format, with
hyperlinks to the underlying rules. BFSD currently covers forty-one countries.
New Terms of Member Access
Beginning on October 1, 2006, members will no longer have access to Blue Flag through the
Institute. Instead, each member will need to determine whether to individually subscribe to Blue Flag
through Linklaters.
After extensive negotiations, Linklaters has agreed to offer ICI members a substantial discount
on subscription rates and waive its typical up-front fee for new subscribers. For ICI members:
• Annual subscriptions to BFF will be $10,000. Subscriptions include access to all 38
countries covered by BFF.
• Annual subscriptions to BFSD will be based on an “a la carte” system, where members
may subscribe to each of the countries covered by BFSD at $1,220 per country. This "a
la carte" flexibility will be particularly useful to members who may not have investments
in all of the 41 countries covered by BFSD.
To sign up for continued access to Blue Flag after October 1, contact Laura Edwards,
Commercial Assistant for Blue Flag, at 011 44 207 456 3767 or laura.edwards@linklaters.com. For
more information about Blue Flag generally, or BFF or BFSD specifically, see
http://members.ici.org/blueflagMenu.do.
If you have any other questions, please contact Brent Newton 202/326-5831 or
bnewton@ici.org) or me (202/371-5430 or rcg@ici.org).
Robert C. Grohowski
Senior Counsel - International Affairs