(The news featured below is a selection from the news covered in the Federal Securities Law Reporter.)

SEC Announces Fee Rates

The SEC announced that the fees that public companies and other issuers pay to register their securities with the Commission will be reduced by 9.1 percent, and that fees on securities transactions will be reduced by 26.6 percent. President Bush signed H.R.2862, the appropriations bill that includes funding for the SEC, on November 22, 2005. Accordingly, effective November 27, 2005, the Securities Act Section 6(b) fee rate applicable to the registration of securities, the Exchange Act Section 13(e) fee rate applicable to the repurchase of securities, and the Section 14(g) fee rate applicable to proxy solicitations and statements in corporate control transactions will decrease to $107.00 per million. The Section 6(b) rate is also the rate used to calculate the fees payable with the "Annual Notice of Securities Sold Pursuant to Rule 24f-2 " under the Investment Company Act.

In addition, effective December 22, 2005, the Exchange Act Section 31 fee rate applicable to securities transactions on the exchanges and over-the-counter markets will decrease to $30.70 per million. The Section 31 assessment on security futures transactions will remain unchanged at $0.009 per round turn transaction. Self-regulatory organizations collect Section 31 fees pursuant to their rules. Additional information on the transition to the new Section 31 fee rate will be available before the new rate becomes effective on the web sites of The New York Stock Exchange and NASD Regulation.

The Commission is required to adjust the filing and securities transaction fee rates on an annual basis after consultation with the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The adjusted fee rates will not affect the amount of funding available to the Commission. The SEC will announce the new fee rates for fiscal year 2007 no later than April 30, 2006. These fee rates will become effective October 1, 2006, or, if later, after the Commission's fiscal year 2007 appropriation is enacted. In addition, the Commission may be required to make a mid-year adjustment to the Section 31 fee rate for fiscal 2007, after consultation with CBO and OMB, which would be announced no later than March 1, 2006, effective April 1, 2006.