Form APP WDG Files Dataset

The Form APP WDG Files dataset packages every EDGAR submission of Form APP WDG — the "Record of Automatic Withdrawal" used to close out a group exemptive-relief application filed under the Investment Company Act of 1940. A single record is one accession-numbered submission folder containing a templated PDF notice and a JSON metadata descriptor, memorializing that a multi-applicant 812-series application has been withdrawn either voluntarily by the co-applicants or automatically by operation of rule 0-5(f)(2)(ii). The records are issued under EDGAR's reserved staff CIK 9999999997, with the underlying co-applicants drawn from registered funds, business development companies, investment advisers, principal underwriters, and affiliated entities. Coverage begins on 2012-07-01, when EDGAR adopted distinct APP-series tagging for the exemptive-application lifecycle, and runs forward on an event-driven, irregular cadence. Files are distributed as monthly ZIP containers carrying per-accession folders with PDF and JSON payloads.

Dataset APIs

Dataset Files

What This Dataset Contains

The dataset is built from Form APP WDG, the EDGAR form code reserved for the withdrawal of a group exemptive application made under the 1940 Act. The "G" in WDG denotes the group/multi-applicant character of the underlying matter, distinguishing it from APP WD (the single-applicant withdrawal code, which is not in this dataset). Each record's underlying document is short, narrowly scoped, and templated: its sole purpose is to put on the public record that a particular 812-series exemptive application is no longer pending — either because the co-applicants jointly abandoned it, or because they did not meet the procedural deadlines fixed by rule 0-5(f).

The records in this dataset are not voluntary, applicant-signed withdrawals alone; they include staff-issued automatic-withdrawal notices, identifiable by their use of EDGAR's reserved filer CIK 9999999997, the placeholder the Commission applies to paper or staff-generated submissions rather than self-filed registrant submissions. Coverage runs continuously from July 2012 forward, the point at which EDGAR adopted distinct APP-series tagging for exemptive-application lifecycle filings; earlier withdrawals appear under legacy form codes or not at all. The dataset is distributed as a hierarchical ZIP archive of monthly sub-archives, with the JSON metadata descriptor and the templated PDF notice packaged together inside each per-accession folder.

Content Structure of a Single Record

What one record represents

A single record in the Form APP WDG Files dataset is one EDGAR submission of Form APP WDG: an accession-numbered, staff-prepared "Record of Automatic Withdrawal" memorializing that an exemptive-relief application previously filed under the Investment Company Act of 1940 has been withdrawn by operation of law on behalf of the original applicant group. The withdrawal is automatic — triggered when the applicants either failed to file a curing amendment within 30 days or failed to respond in writing within 120 days to staff comments on the underlying application — and is effected by rule 0-5(f)(2)(ii) under the 1940 Act. The unit of distribution is the per-accession submission folder, which packages a JSON metadata descriptor together with a templated PDF notice generated by SEC staff.

Container packaging and folder layout

The dataset is distributed as a hierarchical ZIP archive: a top-level folder, year folders, and monthly sub-archives keyed YYYY/YYYY-MM.zip (for example 2025/2025-11.zip). Inside each monthly ZIP, every record occupies its own folder named after the EDGAR accession number with the hyphens stripped — eighteen consecutive digits. Accession 9999999997-25-003781 becomes folder 999999999725003781. The leading 9999999997 segment is invariant across the dataset because it is EDGAR's staff-generated CIK placeholder; the middle two digits are the two-digit year of issuance, and the trailing six digits are the sequential accession counter for that year.

A representative monthly container has the shape:

          1
          2025-11.zip
        

          2
            └── 2025-11/
        

          3
                  ├── 999999999725003781/
        

          4
                  │     ├── metadata.json
        

          5
                  │     └── filename1.pdf
        

          6
                  └── 999999999725003782/
        

          7
                        ├── metadata.json
        

          8
                        └── filename1.pdf
        

Files inside one record

Each accession folder contains exactly two files: a JSON descriptor and a single PDF. The dataset is documented to include all documents from the original EDGAR submission except image files; in practice these staff-generated notices carry no exhibits, so the two-file shape is the steady state, and consumers should still tolerate additional documents in case any appear.

metadata.json

A compact UTF-8 JSON object (~1.4 KB) capturing the EDGAR-level submission metadata. The schema is stable across records:

• formType — always "APP WDG".
• accessionNo — canonical hyphenated form, e.g. "9999999997-25-003781".
• filedAt — ISO 8601 timestamp with offset, e.g. "2025-11-20T11:24:56-05:00".
• description — a free-text label generated by EDGAR, typically referencing one or two Item YYYYMMDD tokens (for example "Form APP WDG - - Item 20251120 Item 20260106").
• linkToFilingDetails, linkToTxt, linkToHtml — absolute URLs back to EDGAR for the primary document, the complete-submission .txt envelope, and the index page.
• linkToXbrl — present but empty; APP WDG carries no XBRL payload.
• items — array of "Item YYYYMMDD: " strings echoing the description tokens; one or two entries per record.
• id — opaque hash identifier for the record.
• seriesAndClassesContractsInformation, dataFiles — present but empty for this form type.
• documentFormatFiles — array describing the constituent documents of the EDGAR submission. For APP WDG it carries two entries: the withdrawal PDF (sequence: "1", type: "APP WDG", documentUrl ending in filename1.pdf, with size matching the PDF on disk, typically ~90–110 KB), and a reference to the complete-submission .txt envelope (description: "Complete submission text file", with sequence and type carrying placeholder space values). The .txt envelope is referenced by URL only and is not materialized inside the ZIP.
• entities — array of entity objects describing the filer block. Each entity carries companyName (with a (Filer) suffix appended by the EDGAR header parser, e.g. "North Haven Private Assets Fund (Filer)" or "Stepstone Private Credit Fund LLC (Filer)"), cik (the registrant's seven-digit CIK such as "2029010" or "1950803", distinct from the staff-generated accession prefix), fileNo (the original 1940-Act application file number being withdrawn, in the 812-series — e.g. "812-15848" or "812-15630"), irsNo, stateOfIncorporation (e.g. "DE"), act ("98", denoting the Investment Company Act of 1940), type ("APP WDG"), filmNo (the EDGAR film/microfiche number), and an optional fiscalYearEnd that is not always populated.

A meaningful nuance: the entities array reflects only the lead filer entity, even though APP WDG by its nature memorializes a multi-co-applicant withdrawal. The additional co-applicants who jointly filed the original 812-series application appear only in the body of the PDF, signaled by the trailing , et al. after the lead applicant's name; they are not enumerated as separate entities rows.

filename1.pdf — the notice of withdrawal

The primary document is always a single PDF, literally named filename1.pdf regardless of the issuer; the filename does not encode the registrant or the original application number. The PDF is short — typically a single page, around 90–110 KB — and is rendered from a Microsoft Word source through PScript5.dll, retaining XMP/PDF producer metadata that identifies the SEC staff origin (and, on some records, internal markers such as Privileged or staff working-document tags).

The textual layout is highly templated:

          1
          UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
        

          2
          Washington, D.C. 20549
        

          3
          RECORD OF AUTOMATIC WITHDRAWAL
        

          4
          FORM APP WDG
        

          5
          Pursuant to Investment Company Act Rule 0-5(f)(2)(ii)
        

          6
          
        

          7
            Applicant Name: <lead applicant>, et al.
        

          8
            File Number:    <812-XXXXX>
        

          9
          
        

          10
          The applicant did not [file an amendment within 30 days |
        

          11
          respond within 120 days, in writing,] responsive to the comments
        

          12
          the Commission staff provided on the above-referenced application
        

          13
          on <date>. Pursuant to rule 0-5(f)(2)(ii) under the Investment
        

          14
          Company Act of 1940, the above-referenced application was
        

          15
          automatically deemed withdrawn as of the expiration of such
        

          16
          [30-day | 120-day] period.
        

Concrete values from representative records illustrate the variability that lives in the slot positions:

• Lead applicant "North Haven Private Assets Fund, et al.", original application file number 812-15848, staff comments dated September 3, 2025, withdrawal triggered by failure to amend within 30 days, signed via SEC staff stamp (signer initials, e.g. SOLOMONL, appear in the content stream).
• Lead applicant "StepStone Private Credit Fund LLC, et al.", original application file number 812-15630, staff comments dated July 8, 2025, withdrawal triggered by failure to respond within 120 days, signed via SEC staff stamp (e.g. EhrlichJ).

The fields that vary between records are therefore: the lead applicant name (with , et al. standing in for the full co-applicant list), the 812-series file number identifying the underlying exemptive application, the date of the staff comment letter that started the procedural clock, the rule prong invoked (30-day amendment failure versus 120-day response failure, with the matching period length echoed later in the sentence), and the signing staff member's initials. Everything else — caption, regulatory citation, structural sentence — is fixed by the template.

Included content

Each record packages two complementary layers:

• The JSON descriptor — form type, accession number, filing timestamp, EDGAR description and item tokens, registrant identifiers (CIK, IRS number, state of incorporation, fiscal year end where present), the original 812-series application file number, EDGAR film number, the 1940-Act act code, and the documentFormatFiles manifest pointing at the PDF and the complete-submission .txt.
• The PDF notice — the lead applicant identification with , et al. standing in for co-applicants, the file number of the original 812-series exemptive application, the date of the staff comment letter, the rule prong (30-day vs. 120-day) that triggered automatic withdrawal, and the rule 0-5(f)(2)(ii) regulatory basis.

Excluded or separate content

• The complete-submission .txt envelope referenced in documentFormatFiles is not materialized inside the per-accession folder; only its URL is preserved.
• Image files from the original EDGAR submission are excluded by dataset construction.
• The original 812-series exemptive application that is being withdrawn is not reproduced — only its file number and the date of staff comments are referenced.
• The full list of co-applicants beyond the lead filer is not enumerated as separate entities rows; they are signaled only textually by the , et al. suffix in the PDF body and must be retrieved from the original 812-series filing if needed.
• No HTML or XBRL payloads accompany the record; linkToXbrl is empty because APP WDG is not an XBRL form, and the substantive document is the templated PDF.

Structural consistency over time

Form APP WDG has been EDGAR's form code for these automatic group-withdrawal records continuously since July 2012. Because the underlying notice is a one-page staff-generated template invoking a fixed regulatory provision (rule 0-5(f)(2)(ii)), the document anatomy has remained essentially stable across the dataset's coverage window: the same caption, the same rule citation, the same two procedural prongs (30-day amendment failure, 120-day response failure), and the same lead-applicant-plus-et al. identification convention. The packaging convention — staff CIK prefix 9999999997, single PDF named filename1.pdf, accompanying JSON metadata descriptor — likewise reflects EDGAR's long-standing handling of staff-generated paper-equivalent submissions.

Interpretation and extraction notes

Several details matter for downstream extraction:

• The 812-series file number in entities[0].fileNo (and printed in the PDF body) is the identifier of the original exemptive application being withdrawn, not of the withdrawal record itself. Joining APP WDG records back to the original applications requires this fileNo, not the accession number.
• The cik inside entities is the registrant's real CIK and is the correct key for joining to other registrant-level datasets. The leading 9999999997 segment of the accession number is a staff placeholder and should not be treated as a filer identity.
• The , et al. token in the PDF's Applicant Name line is meaningful: it signals that the underlying exemptive application had multiple co-applicants whose names are not reproduced in the withdrawal record.
• The two rule prongs of 0-5(f)(2)(ii) — failure to amend within 30 days versus failure to respond within 120 days — are the principal substantive variation across records. Both the verb phrase ("did not file an amendment within 30 days" / "did not respond within 120 days, in writing") and the matching period length later in the sentence can be parsed deterministically from the PDF text.
• Because the PDF is rendered from a Microsoft Word source through PScript5, the text layer is reliably extractable, and the structural slots (applicant name, file number, comment date, period length, signer initials) appear in consistent positions suitable for templated parsing.
• The description and items fields in the metadata reference Item YYYYMMDD tokens that correspond to procedural milestone dates rather than form-style item numbers; they should not be confused with item numbers in disclosure forms such as 8-K.

Who Files or Publishes This Dataset, and When

Who files or is treated as filing

Each record in the Form APP WDG Files dataset is a single accession-numbered EDGAR submission that closes out a previously docketed 1940 Act exemptive application filed by a group of co-applicants. Records arise from two distinct mechanics that look the same in EDGAR metadata:

1. Voluntary group withdrawals. The original co-applicants (typically through outside counsel) submit a notice withdrawing the pending application before the Commission acts. The notice usually recites that the applicants are withdrawing and may explain why.
2. Automatic (deemed) withdrawals under Investment Company Act rule 0-5(f). When applicants do not respond to staff comments within the rule's deadlines, the staff of the Division of Investment Management treats the application as withdrawn and an APP WDG entry is generated. The applicant entities appear in the EDGAR filer field, but the operative actor is SEC staff. These notices typically reference rule 0-5(f) and the lapsed response window.

Readers should expect the dataset to mix both types and not assume every record reflects an affirmative applicant decision.

The co-applicant population

The persons named on an APP WDG are the same co-applicants listed on the underlying 812-series application. They are drawn from a narrow population of 1940 Act regulated entities and their affiliates:

• Registered open-end funds (mutual funds, ETFs) and registered closed-end funds, including individual series of series trusts.
• Business development companies electing regulation under section 54.
• Investment advisers and sub-advisers to the co-applicant funds.
• Principal underwriters and distributors affiliated with the fund complex.
• Affiliated funds, parallel funds, and co-investment vehicles (common in BDC co-investment relief).
• Fund holding companies, trustees, and other affiliated persons where relief turns on cross-affiliate transactions.
• Insurance company separate accounts registered as unit investment trusts, in mixed-and-shared funding matters.

Operating companies, foreign private issuers, and Exchange Act-only registrants do not appear; they do not file the underlying APP applications.

The 1940 Act sections that drive the underlying applications

The substantive relief sought in the parent application typically rests on one or more of:

• Section 6(c) — the general exemptive authority cited in nearly every application.
• Section 12(d)(1) — fund-of-funds investments above statutory limits.
• Section 17(b) — principal transactions with affiliated persons.
• Section 17(d) and rule 17d-1 — joint transactions and arrangements with affiliated persons, including BDC and private credit co-investment relief.
• Less frequently, sections 18, 22(d), 23(c), and 26/27 (variable insurance product relief).

Procedurally, applications are governed by rule 0-5 under the 1940 Act. Rule 0-5(f) is the trigger for the automatic-withdrawal half of this dataset: an application may be deemed withdrawn if applicants fail to respond to staff deficiency comments within 30 days, or to substantive comments within 120 days.

The 812-series file number

Exemptive applications are docketed under EDGAR file numbers in the 812- series. A single 812-NNNNN number follows the matter through its full lifecycle — original APP, amendments, APP NTC notice, APP ORDR order, and the eventual APP WDG withdrawal. Each APP WDG document cross-references the 812 file number and the original application date, allowing the withdrawal to be tied back to the originating proceeding.

Triggering events and cadence

A record exists when, and only when, one of the following occurs:

1. Voluntary group withdrawal — the co-applicants jointly abandon the proceeding (e.g., superseding it with a restructured filing, mooting due to a business change, or a new rule that codifies the relief and makes the application redundant).
2. Rule 0-5(f) automatic withdrawal — the 30-day deficiency window or 120-day substantive-comment window lapses without an applicant response, and staff treats the application as withdrawn.

Filings are event-driven and irregular, with no calendar deadline. Volume in any period reflects staff comment workload, the rate of new application filings, and policy events (such as a new exemptive rule) that make pending applications redundant.

Important distinctions

• APP WD vs. APP WDG. APP WD covers single-applicant withdrawals; only group withdrawals are captured here.
• Withdrawal is not denial. Outright denials are rare. Unsupportable applications usually exit the docket via voluntary withdrawal or rule 0-5(f) lapse — both surface as APP WDG.
• Filer field vs. operative actor. On rule 0-5(f) records the EDGAR filer is the applicant group, but the action is taken by SEC staff.
• Not a periodic report. APP WDG does not interact with Forms 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, N-CSR, N-PORT, or N-CEN. Fund complexes' periodic reporting obligations are unaffected.
• BDCs in 1940 Act capacity only. A BDC's Exchange Act reporting is unrelated; the APP WDG arises solely from its role as a 1940 Act exemptive-relief applicant.
• Refilings are not flagged. A withdrawn application may later be refiled under a new 812 number with revised co-applicants or relief; that linkage must be inferred from subsequent APP filings.

How This Dataset Differs From Similar Datasets or Filings

Form APP WDG sits inside the Investment Company Act of 1940 exemptive-application lifecycle on EDGAR. The most useful comparisons fall into three groups: (1) other forms in the same lifecycle (APP, APP NTC, APP ORDR, APP WD, and the legacy 40-APP), (2) withdrawal forms under different statutes (AW, RW), and (3) staff correspondence that often surrounds a withdrawal (DRSLTR, CORRESP). Each looks similar on the surface but differs in legal regime, lifecycle position, applicant configuration, or the substance of the record.

Closest related datasets

APP WD — single-applicant withdrawal

The nearest analog. Same legal regime, same procedural form, same brevity. The only material distinction is applicant configuration: APP WD covers withdrawals where one applicant pulls its own application; APP WDG covers the "group" case where co-applicants (typically a fund complex with its adviser, distributor, or affiliated trusts) withdraw jointly. A study limited to APP WDG will systematically miss the more common single-applicant withdrawals.

APP and APP NTC — the upstream filings

APP is the original 1940 Act exemptive application: a substantive legal pleading citing relief sections (6(c), 17(b), 17(d), 12(d)(1), etc.), with factual record, legal grounds, and proposed conditions. APP NTC is the SEC's short procedural notice that the application is open for comment. APP WDG terminates these filings but contains none of their substance — only applicant identity, the original file number, and the withdrawal statement. To know what was being abandoned, a researcher must pull the original APP via the referenced file number.

APP ORDR — the positive-outcome counterpart

APP ORDR is the Commission's order granting the requested exemption. APP WDG is the negative-path counterpart: withdrawal before any order issued. Together with APP WD, APP WDG and APP ORDR form complementary halves of the outcome distribution for 1940 Act exemptive applications. APP ORDR carries Commission reasoning and imposed conditions; APP WDG carries only the applicants' notice of abandonment.

40-APP / 40-APP/A — legacy form codes

The historical EDGAR codes for 1940 Act exemptive applications and their amendments. Relevant only for tracing: an APP WDG may reference an upstream application originally filed under 40-APP rather than APP. The withdrawal mechanism is unchanged across vintages.

Withdrawal forms under other statutes

AW — 1933 Act registration withdrawal

Procedurally analogous (a short notice rescinding a prior submission) but governed by Rule 477 of the Securities Act, not the 1940 Act. AW pulls registration statements (S-1, S-3, F-1, etc.) and is filed by issuers of every type. APP WDG is restricted to investment companies and their affiliates withdrawing requests for structural or transactional exemptive relief. Use AW for capital-raising abandonment; APP WDG for exemptive-relief abandonment.

RW — general registration withdrawal

Covers registration withdrawals that fall outside the AW path. Surface structure mirrors APP WDG, but the underlying statute and the population of withdrawn filings do not overlap. RW is not a substitute for APP WDG.

Adjacent staff correspondence

DRSLTR and CORRESP

Not withdrawal records, but the most useful context dataset. Many APP WDG filings follow staff comment letters the applicants cannot or will not resolve, or are triggered by procedural deemed-withdrawal rules. CORRESP entries on the same file number supply the substantive backstory that APP WDG itself omits. The relationship is complementary, not redundant: APP WDG records the fact and timing of withdrawal; CORRESP records the dialogue. Neither can be inferred from the other — many withdrawals have no public correspondence trail, and most correspondence does not end in withdrawal.

Boundary summary

APP WDG is narrow on every axis: 1940 Act only, investment companies and affiliated co-applicants only, group withdrawals only, procedural content only. Its distinct value is isolating the joint-applicant abandonment endpoint of the exemptive-application lifecycle. Combined with the upstream APP, APP NTC, any CORRESP, and the absence of an APP ORDR, it completes the negative-outcome path of a 1940 Act exemptive request. It is not interchangeable with APP WD (single-applicant), AW (1933 Act offerings), or RW (other registrations), and it does not by itself disclose what was being withdrawn.

Who Uses This Dataset

Form APP WDG records terminate 812-series exemptive applications without an order. They carry the original application file number, the joint applicants, the underlying filing date, and (where applicable) the cited rule 0-5(f) prong. A small set of professional users read those fields against the rest of the 812 lifecycle.

1940 Act exemptive-relief counsel

Investment management lawyers running 812-series practice (sections 6(c), 17(b), 17(d), 12(d)(1), and related relief) use APP WDG records to keep their precedent libraries current. They want to know which jointly filed applications were abandoned, by whom, and how long they sat before withdrawal. Key fields: original 812 file number, co-applicant list, filed date, and 0-5(f) prong. They join APP WDG to the matching APP, APP/A, APP NTC, and APP ORDR records to reconstruct the full procedural history of a file before drafting a new application on similar facts.

Chief compliance officers and in-house counsel at fund complexes, BDCs, and advisers

Compliance and legal staff at asset managers, business development companies, and registered advisers track APP WDG activity to time and shape their own exemptive filings. They watch for peer withdrawals in active relief categories such as multi-manager, novel-structure ETF, BDC co-investment, fund-of-funds, and interfund lending relief, and read the 0-5(f) citation to gauge whether the staff signaled dissatisfaction. They focus on applicant identities, file number, filed date, and 0-5(f) prong, joining the records to internal CIK-to-entity maps, fund registration data (N-1A, N-2, N-CSR), and the rest of the 812 sequence (APP, APP NTC, APP ORDR, APP WD).

Regulatory staff and academic researchers in fund regulation

Division of Investment Management staff and academics studying administrative law and fund regulation use the dataset for empirical work on the exemptive process: throughput and response-time distributions, the operation of rule 0-5(f) deemed-withdrawal, clustering of withdrawals by relief type or guidance event, and co-applicant network structure. The load-bearing fields are the 0-5(f) prong, applicant list, filed date, and the gap between filing and withdrawal. They join APP WDG to APP and APP NTC records, no-action letter archives, and fund-level registration data.

Data engineers at regulatory data and regtech vendors

Engineering teams building regulatory event products model 812 filings as a state machine and use APP WDG to close out one branch of the lifecycle (APP -> APP NTC -> APP ORDR / APP WDG / APP WD). They normalize file-number-keyed timelines so dashboards mark applications as withdrawn rather than pending, drive subscriber alerts, label training data for outcome-prediction models, and resolve applicant strings to canonical CIKs. Critical fields: file number, applicant CIKs and names, filing date, and accession-number linkage to the original APP. Joins run to the rest of the 812 sequence and to CIK-to-entity reference tables behind fund and adviser masters.

Asset-management reporters and product analysts

Journalists covering fund sponsors and analysts tracking product pipelines use APP WDG to surface stories that orders do not: a planned product that quietly died, a sponsor backing away from a novel structure, or staff pushback on a relief theory. They read the applicant identities, file number, filed date, and 0-5(f) prong, then join the record to fund registration filings (N-1A, N-2), shareholder reports (N-CSR), adviser disclosures, and prior public statements about the planned vehicle.

All five groups anchor on the same four fields — file number, applicants, filed date, and 0-5(f) prong — and all join APP WDG back to the broader 812 lifecycle and to fund and adviser registration data.

Specific Use Cases

Five tight workflows anchor on Form APP WDG's load-bearing fields: the original 812-series file number, the lead applicant, the filing timestamp, and the rule 0-5(f) prong (30-day amendment failure vs. 120-day response failure).

1. Closing out the 812 lifecycle for a regtech application tracker

User: Data engineer at a regulatory-events vendor. Goal: Mark each 1940 Act exemptive application as Pending, Granted, or Withdrawn so subscriber dashboards and alert rules stay accurate. Fields pulled: entities[0].fileNo, entities[0].cik, formType, filedAt, accessionNo. Joins: Same fileNo keyed to APP, APP/A, APP NTC, APP ORDR, and APP WD records; CIK joined to the in-house adviser/fund master. Output: A file-number-keyed state table that flips an 812 row from "Pending" to "Withdrawn (group, automatic)" with timestamp and accession URL, feeding push alerts and an outcome-prediction training set.

2. Precedent sweep before drafting a new exemptive application

User: Outside counsel preparing a multi-manager or BDC co-investment 812 application. Goal: Identify recent group applications that died on the procedural deadlines and read why, before deciding what relief theory and conditions to plead. Fields pulled: PDF body for lead applicant + , et al., file number, staff-comment date, 0-5(f) prong; JSON filedAt for the gap between filing and automatic withdrawal. Joins: fileNo joined to the original APP and APP NTC, plus any same-file CORRESP/DRSLTR for the substance of the staff comments. Output: A short internal memo listing comparable abandoned applications with applicant, file number, time-on-docket, prong invoked, and a brief assessment of whether the staff was signaling a substantive objection or a procedural lapse.

3. Peer-withdrawal monitor for fund-complex compliance

User: Chief compliance officer or in-house counsel at a fund sponsor, BDC, or registered adviser. Goal: Get notified when a peer's jointly filed application is automatically withdrawn in a relief category the firm is itself pursuing. Fields pulled: entities[0].cik, entities[0].companyName, fileNo, filedAt, 0-5(f) prong from PDF. Joins: CIK joined to an internal peer-set map (advisers, sub-advisers, affiliated trusts); file number joined to the underlying APP to classify the relief category (multi-manager, interfund lending, novel-structure ETF, fund-of-funds, etc.). Output: A weekly digest grouped by relief category, listing peer withdrawals with file number, prong, and a link to the underlying APP, used to retime or rework the firm's own pending or planned filing.

4. Empirical study of rule 0-5(f) deemed withdrawal

User: Academic researcher or Division of Investment Management staff studying the exemptive process. Goal: Quantify how often each 0-5(f) prong is triggered, the distribution of time from staff comment letter to automatic withdrawal, and clustering by relief type or guidance event. Fields pulled: Parsed PDF slots (prong language, staff-comment date, period length), filedAt, fileNo; full APP WDG corpus over the July 2012 onward window. Joins: fileNo joined to APP/APP NTC for relief-section tagging (6(c), 17(b), 17(d), 12(d)(1)); CIK joined to fund-level registration data (N-1A, N-2, N-CSR); event-time joined to staff guidance releases and no-action letters. Output: A panel dataset and accompanying tables showing prong incidence, withdrawal-time distributions, and event-study correlations between guidance shifts and withdrawal clusters.

5. Product-pipeline obituary feed for asset-management reporters

User: Journalist or product analyst covering fund sponsors. Goal: Surface planned funds and strategies that quietly died at the SEC without an order being issued. Fields pulled: Lead applicant from PDF, entities[0].cik, fileNo, filedAt. Joins: CIK and applicant name joined to N-1A / N-2 registration filings, prior press releases, fund prospectus drafts, and adviser Form ADV; fileNo joined to the APP to recover the requested relief and the proposed product structure. Output: A running watchlist of "abandoned product" leads, each row linking the withdrawal notice to the underlying application, the sponsor's prior public statements, and any related registration filings.

Dataset Access

Dataset Index JSON API: https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-app-wdg-files.json

The dataset index endpoint returns metadata describing the Form APP WDG Files dataset, including its name, description, last update timestamp, earliest sample date (2012-07-01), total record and size counters, the form types covered (APP WDG), the container archive format (ZIP), and the file types contained (PDF, JSON). The response also includes a download URL for the complete dataset and a list of all individual container files with per-container metadata such as object key, size in bytes, record count, last update timestamp, and a direct download URL.

This endpoint does not require an API key. It can be polled regularly to detect which containers were updated in the most recent refresh run, so downstream pipelines can pull only the containers that changed instead of re-downloading the full archive.

Example response:

          1
          {
        

          2
            "datasetId": "1f13365b-9ae0-69f4-a42f-d468dab55f20",
        

          3
            "datasetDownloadUrl": "https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-app-wdg-files.zip",
        

          4
            "name": "Form APP WDG Files Dataset",
        

          5
            "updatedAt": "2026-04-25T02:58:55.209Z",
        

          6
            "earliestSampleDate": "2012-07-01",
        

          7
            "totalRecords": 195,
        

          8
            "totalSize": 23654226,
        

          9
            "formTypes": ["APP WDG"],
        

          10
            "containerFormat": "ZIP",
        

          11
            "fileTypes": ["PDF", "JSON"],
        

          12
            "containers": [
        

          13
              {
        

          14
                "downloadUrl": "https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-app-wdg-files/2026/2026-03.zip",
        

          15
                "key": "2026/2026-03.zip",
        

          16
                "size": 412883,
        

          17
                "records": 3,
        

          18
                "updatedAt": "2026-04-25T02:58:55.209Z"
        

          19
              }
        

          20
            ]
        

          21
          }
        

Download Entire Dataset: https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-app-wdg-files.zip?token=YOUR_API_KEY

The full dataset is available as a single ZIP archive containing every per-period container. This endpoint requires API key authentication, which can be passed either as a ?token=YOUR_API_KEY query string parameter or via an Authorization: YOUR_API_KEY HTTP header.

Download Single Container: https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-app-wdg-files/2026/2026-03.zip?token=YOUR_API_KEY

Individual container files listed in the dataset index can be downloaded directly using the downloadUrl from the index response. This is useful for incremental updates where only recently modified containers need to be retrieved. This endpoint requires API key authentication via the ?token=YOUR_API_KEY query string parameter or an Authorization: YOUR_API_KEY HTTP header.

Frequently Asked Questions

What form does this dataset cover?

The dataset covers Form APP WDG, the EDGAR form code reserved for the withdrawal of a group exemptive application made under the Investment Company Act of 1940. The "G" suffix marks the multi-applicant track; the single-applicant analog APP WD is not included.

What does one record in this dataset represent?

One record is a single accession-numbered EDGAR submission of Form APP WDG — a "Record of Automatic Withdrawal" memorializing that a previously filed 812-series exemptive application has been withdrawn, either voluntarily by the co-applicants or automatically by operation of rule 0-5(f)(2)(ii) under the 1940 Act. The record consists of one accession folder containing a metadata.json descriptor and a single templated PDF named filename1.pdf.

Who files Form APP WDG?

The named filers are the same group of co-applicants that filed the underlying 812-series application: registered open-end and closed-end funds, business development companies, investment advisers and sub-advisers, principal underwriters, affiliated funds and co-investment vehicles, and insurance company separate accounts. On automatic-withdrawal records the EDGAR filer field shows the applicant group, but the operative actor is SEC staff, and the submission is issued under the staff CIK placeholder 9999999997.

What triggers an APP WDG record?

Two distinct mechanics generate records: a voluntary group withdrawal in which the co-applicants jointly abandon the proceeding, or an automatic deemed-withdrawal under rule 0-5(f) when applicants fail to file a curing amendment within 30 days or fail to respond in writing within 120 days to staff comments. Filings are event-driven and have no calendar deadline.

What time period does the dataset cover?

Coverage begins on 2012-07-01, when EDGAR adopted distinct APP-series tagging for exemptive-application lifecycle filings, and runs forward to the present. Earlier withdrawals appear under legacy form codes (such as 40-APP) or not at all.

What file format is the dataset distributed in?

The dataset is distributed as a hierarchical ZIP archive of monthly sub-archives keyed YYYY/YYYY-MM.zip. Inside each monthly ZIP, every record occupies its own accession-numbered folder containing a UTF-8 JSON metadata descriptor and a single PDF notice (typically 90–110 KB). No XBRL or HTML payloads accompany the records.

How does APP WDG differ from APP WD?

APP WD is the single-applicant withdrawal code; APP WDG is the group-applicant withdrawal code. The legal regime, procedural form, and document brevity are identical, but APP WDG covers withdrawals jointly filed by multiple co-applicants (typically a fund complex with its adviser, distributor, or affiliated trusts), while APP WD covers the case where a single applicant pulls its own application. A study limited to APP WDG will systematically miss the more common single-applicant withdrawals.