ICI Makes Recommendations on SEC Exemptive Application Proposal

Washington, DC, December 20, 2007 - ICI believes that a recent SEC proposal, with minor modifications, would improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the agency's exemptive application process, thus allowing for fund industry innovation while still affording effective investor protections.

Background
In a November 1, 2007 proposal, the SEC proposed to require that applicants submit electronically on the agency's Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval (EDGAR) system their applications for exemptive orders under any section of the Investment Company Act. The proposal is part of a series of initiatives dating back to April 2000 designed to keep EDGAR current technologically and make it more useful to the investing public and SEC staff. The latest proposal attempts "to facilitate the efficient submission of applications by applicants, to enable the public to access them more quickly and search them more easily, and to improve the Commission's ability to track and process such applications."

ICI Position
In comments filed on December 14, ICI agrees with the SEC that the proposal should help facilitate efficiency in the submission and retrieval of applications. ICI applauded the SEC effort "to improve its ability to track and process exemptive applications, which are of vital importance to the fund industry and, ultimately, to fund investors."

ICI's letter included recommendations in four specific areas to assist in making the exemptive applications process as effective and efficient as possible:

For example, the Institute strongly believes that the SEC staff's willingness to consider exemptive applications in draft form and to grant requests for confidential treatment, when appropriate, is critical to encouraging innovation in the fund industry. ICI requested that the SEC clarify that its proposal does not to preclude the agency staff from allowing an applicant, when appropriate, to submit its request for exemptive relief in draft form.