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On February 20 2009, the Act on Liability for Damages Arising from Unsafe Products, BE 2551 (2008) comes into force, one year after its publication in the government gazette. Although the Act is short, with only 16 sections, it introduces several new concepts concerning the liabilities of manufacturers and resellers of products defined as unsafe products:

Regarding public-private partnership (PPP) practice in Slovakia, the previous year was significant for the launch or continuation of tender procedures on the basis of which the state has been seeking to involve the private sector in the financing of large infrastructure projects for the first time. This was in line with the government's plans to speed up the process of construction of the highway infrastructure by way of PPP. More specifically, the subject matter of these tenders is the procurement of construction, operation and maintenance of highways and an electronic toll system for lorries weighing more than 3.5 tonnes.

On January 5 2009, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) released a draft regulation (amended regulation), which will replace the current Regulation on Securities Issuance and Disclosure (current regulation) in its entirety. It is scheduled to become effective on the effective date (February 4 2009) of the Capital Market and Financial Investment Business Act (Capital Market Act), following a 20-day public review period and a review by the Ministry of Legislation. As such, the current draft of the amended regulation is subject to changes.

The present international crisis of the economic, financial and banking system has urged the Italian legislator to come up against the crisis through the adoption of new provisions in favour of banks.

On December 12 2008, the new Financial Instruments and Exchange Act took effect. This law, as well as other laws and regulations related to it, has been amended mainly to: (i) create a new market for professional investors; (ii) revamp the firewall regulations for banks, securities firms and insurance companies; and (iii) expand the administrative monetary penalty system. Please note that the amendments regarding firewall regulations have not yet taken effect but are scheduled to take effect by June 12 2009.

The Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) has published a mutual evaluation report on the British Virgin Islands' anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime.

The Basel Committee's proposed adjustments are in stark contrast to the Commission's hurried additions

The year for banks' compliance teams will be spent adapting to new Basel proposals. It could have been a lot worse though

Distressed-asset acquisitions will boom as more private equity firms take advantage of relaxed bank-holding requirements from the US Federal Reserve

The Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008, introduced by the UK government to save Northern Rock, expires this month. Its successor will establish the UK's first long-term legislative regime to deal with failing banks. The process of amendment and finalisation of the Bill will be "horribly complex" according to one financial services partner, as the existing emergency legislation shows no recognition of events since Northern Rock.