U.S. Securities And Exchange Commission Adopts Amendments To E-Proxy Rules

On February 22, 2010, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") published final amendments, initially proposed in October 2009, to its notice and access proxy rules, or "e-proxy" rules. The SEC's e-proxy rules require all companies subject to the proxy rules under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to post their proxy materials on their websites and to send a Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials ("Notice"), either alone (the "notice-only option") or accompanied with a full set of proxy materials, to their shareholders. The amendments are effective March 29, 2010.

Although companies have experienced significant cost savings in using the notice-only option due primarily to reduced printing costs, statistics have shown lower shareholder response rates when that option is used, perhaps due to confusion among some investors as to how the e-proxy process works. By permitting issuers (and other persons soliciting proxies) to better communicate