SEC Proposes Amendments To Foreign Private Issuer Reporting

On February 13, 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed to amend foreign issuer reporting requirements on Form 20-F under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The SEC also proposed to amend the exemption for foreign issuers under Rule 12g3-2(b) of the Exchange Act. The following is a summary of the proposals, which will be subject to a 60-day comment period following their publication.

Foreign Issuer Reporting Amendments

The SEC's proposed amendments would:

• Allow reporting foreign issuers to assess their foreign issuer status once a year, at the end of their second fiscal quarter, rather than on a continuous basis.