This notice, which comes into force on 31 December 2006, amends the Securities Act (Group Investment Funds) Exemption Notice 2001 (the principal notice). It amends the expiry of the principal notice from the close of 31 December 2006 to the close of 30 November 2011.

The Commission considers that the extension of the principal notice for a further period is appropriate for the following reasons:

• the effect of the exemption set out in the principal notice is to permit group investment funds to provide information in prospectuses under the same disclosure requirements as those used for unit trusts, rather than those designed for participatory schemes more generally:

• allowing group investment funds to provide disclosure similar to that applying to unit trusts provides investors with better information concerning these investments, given the similarity between group investment funds and units trusts as investment vehicles. It also assists investors to make comparisons between the 2 types of investment.