Certification of Management Investment Company Shareholder Reports and Designation of Certified Shareholder Reports as Exchange Act Periodic Reporting Forms; Disclosure Required by Sections 406 and 407 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

The Securities and Exchange Commission is adopting rule and form amendments that require registered management investment companies to file certified shareholder reports on Form N-CSR with the Commission, and designating these certified reports as reports that are required under Sections 13(a) and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 30 of the Investment Company Act of 1940. The amendments require each registered management investment company's principal executive and financial officers to certify the information contained in these reports in the manner specified by Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. We are providing that, for registered management investment companies other than small business investment companies, Form N-SAR will be filed under the Investment Company Act of 1940 only and not the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. We are also removing the requirement that Form N-SAR be certified by a registered investment company's principal executive and financial officers. We are also adopting a new rule to require registered management investment companies to maintain disclosure controls and procedures designed to ensure that the information required in reports on Form N-CSR is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported on a timely basis. In addition, we are adopting forms and amendments that require registered management investment companies to include new disclosures on Form N-CSR or Form N-SAR in order to implement the requirements of Sections 406 and 407 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. First, the rules require a registered management investment company to disclose whether it has adopted a code of ethics that applies to the company's principal executive officer and senior financial officers. An investment company disclosing that it has not adopted such a code must disclose this fact and explain why it has not done so. An investment company also will be required to disclose amendments to, and waivers from, the code of ethics