New York Stock ExchangeBT, as a foreign issuer with American Depositary Shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), is obliged to disclose any significant ways in which its corporate governance practices differ from the corporate governance listing standards of the NYSE.We have reviewed the NYSE’s listing standards and believe that our corporate governance practices are consistent with them, with the following exception where we do not meet the strict requirements set out in the standards. These state that companies must have a nominating/corporate governance committee composed entirely of independent directors and with written terms of reference which, in addition to identifying individuals qualified to become board members, develops and recommends to the Board a set of corporate governance principles applicable to the company. We have a Nominating Committee chaired by the Chairman, Sir Michael Rake, but this does not develop corporate governance principles for the Board’s approval. The Board itself approves the group’s overall system of internal controls, governance and compliance authorities. The Board and the Nominating Committee are made up of a majority of independent, non-executive directors. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and NYSE introduced rules on 31 July 2005 requiring us to comply with certain provisions relating to the Audit Committee. These include the independence of Audit Committee members and procedures for the treatment of complaints regarding accounting or auditing matters. We are fully compliant with these requirements.
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