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By Gilberto Ayres Moreira and Aude Lovigny Rolim Godoi Viotti & Leite Campos

As we have previously discussed in this column, in September 2008 the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a report entitled Dividend Tax Abuse: How Offshore Entities Dodge Taxes on US Stock Dividends. The report describes a range of transactions allegedly employed by financial institutions aimed at enabling non-US clients to avoid US withholding taxes on dividends paid with respect to US equities. Such dividends, if paid to a non-US person, are generally subject to a 30% US withholding tax since they are US sourced. As described in the report, US withholding taxes on dividends are allegedly avoided through the use of, among other financial arrangements, equity swaps.

In December 2009, the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) announced an amendment to its rules regarding stock acquisition rights (SARs) abolishing the requirement under the Implementation Rules for the TSE Listing Standard that one share must be issued when a listed stock acquisition right is exercised. This amendment, which effectuates a part of the Listing System Improvement Action Plan 2009 published by the TSE, is intended to promote the use of rights issues as an alternative to public offerings of shares.

On January 28 2010, Regulation of Bank Indonesia concerning Non-Bank Offshore Loans was enacted, which requires all public companies, listed companies, foreign investment companes and other private companies (established in Indonesia or not)) that have obtained or plan to obtain offshore loan (conventional or shariah- based) to submit a report to Bank Indonesia.

The limits to the use of the Central Bank reserves are being intensely discussed in Argentina.

New Basel rules are affecting everyone differently. In the UK banks are worried about grandfathering, in Germany the headache is hybrids and in the US it's risk structures. Meanwhile Japan has some tips and Hong Kong structured its first hybrid

By Jens Hörmann P+P Pöllath & Partners

By David Oser and Stefan Waller Homburger

Law 37 of 2009 on the Procedures for the Recovery of Illegally Obtained Public and Private Funds was issued in late December 2009 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, in his capacity as the Ruler of Dubai. The Law came into force on December 31 2009.

Mexico City's congress recently passed an amendment to contract law provisions of the Civil Code for the Federal District (Mexico City) introducing the theory of unpredictability or imprévision, as it is known under French law, granting debtors the right to seek relief for unpredictable circumstances. The amendment was published in the Official Gazette of the Federal District on January 22 2010 and became effective the day after. The change in the contract law provisions of the Civil Code for the Federal District, granting debtors the right to seek amendment to civil law contracts as a result of non-contractual events, is an exception to the general principle of civil law that has ruled contractual arrangements in Mexico "pacta sunt servanda": the agreements are to be kept.