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On April 1 2012, the Revised Code of Civil Procedure (the Revised Code) came into effect, which defines the scope of the jurisdiction of the Japanese court with respect to international matters. Before the enactment of the Revised Code, Japan did not have a law that clearly defined the jurisdiction of the Japanese courts with respect to cross-border disputes. As such, until the enactment of the Revised Code, the jurisdiction of the Japanese court has been determined by judicial reasoning and court precedent, which was widely criticised due its lack of consistency.

Andreas Moll On March 20 2012, the United Kingdom and Switzerland signed a protocol of amendment that supplements the withholding tax agreement of October 6 2011. The aim of the agreement is the effective taxation of UK taxpayers' assets in Switzerland. The agreement provides for withholding tax on future investment income and gains on assets, as well as taxing UK taxpayers' previously untaxed assets in Switzerland.

Chinonyelum Uwazie Several jurisdictions have, since the adoption of the Uncitral Model Law on Electronic Commerce in 1996, implemented national legislation to remove barriers to electronic commerce, including the United States through the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act 1999, New Zealand by the Electronic Transactions Act 2002, Australia through the Electronic Transactions Act 1999 with recent amendments in the Electronic Transactions Amendment Act 2011, and Malaysia with the Electronic Commerce Act 2006. Nigeria, like many of these jurisdictions, now wishes to remove the barriers to electronic commerce through proposed legislation before the Nigerian legislature, the Electronic Commerce (Provision of Legal Recognition) Bill 2011.

Single-counterparty credit limits is US banks’ top concern under Dodd-Frank at present, with a bankers’ counsel describing it as Volcker II.

Vitor Constâncio, vice-president of the European Central Bank, has proposed the creation of a central database to provide information on the European repo market

The Canadian Competition Bureau will interpret the Competition Act to prohibit anticompetitive behaviour, even when such acts are not directed at a competitor, according to new abuse of dominance draft guidelines published on March 22.

The first ever project financing in Uzbekistan has been completed.

The launch of Saudi Arabia's first domestic sukuk programme shows that the country's investors and regulator are growing more comfortable with the instrument, according to counsel on the deal.

Mergers, associations and link ups were again the topic of conversation in the Asia-Pacific region this month with the headlines taken by LINKLATERS and ALLENS ARTHUR ROBINSON who announced their exclusive alliance and Asian joint venture. The move had been mooted for a while and is set to go live on May 1. Within Asia the two firms are set to form a joint venture, which will share resources while retaining separate profit pools.

One story above all others has dominated the news this month, which is the rapid downsizing and widely reported financial issues at DEWEY & LEBOUEF. What started out as a small rolling snowball of partner departures has rapidly gained momentum and size and at the time of going to press the firm has seen over 70 lawyers leave offices in the US and across Europe since the start of 2012.