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James Rice reveals the locations of choice for law firm expansion and looks at the business reasons underpinning firms' growth strategies

In the IMF letter of intent dated April 26 2005, the Turkish government undertook to introduce a new banking law that would improve the sector's supervisory and regulatory framework. Parliament first approved the new banks act on July 2 2005. Although president Sezer previously exercised his veto right against three provisions of the new act, the parliament passed it on October 20 2005 without any amendments.

On September 24 2005, the new Competition Protection Law (CPL) took effect in Serbia. While protecting market competition is an important goal, and anti-monopoly legislation has been long-awaited in Serbia, the law might unfortunately lead to investor uncertainty resulting in a backlog of deals that cannot be closed for lack of anti-monopoly clearance.

In the June 2005 edition of IFLR, the bill implementing Directive 2003/71/EC on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading was discussed.

Competition issues in Portugal have gained momentum since a new competition act was passed in June 2003. The act empowers a new supervisory body, the Competition Authority, to tackle, what was until recently, a dormant issue. The recent application of an €16 million fine against five drugs and diagnostics multinationals forms the most striking example of how seriously competition issues are taken in Portugal. The fine is the largest ever and was imposed for concerted practises in 36 different public tenders to supply 22 hospitals. Although the rules are not radically different from those established by the 1993 Competition Act, the Competition Authority has been awarded the statutory independence, and the resources, to pursue a serious and comprehensive competition policy that was previously lacking. Apart from public-sector supplies, the Competition Authority has been showing a steadfast approach to its duties, tackling such different markets and sectors as telecoms, energy, construction and pharmaceuticals.

The House of Lords' judgment in the Spectrum Plus case in summer 2005 marks an important landmark in settling a much-contested English common law position on book debts. Specifically, the case clarifies the requirement that a secured creditor must have control over a debtor's asset (in this case, the debtor's receivables) for it to have a fixed charge over that asset; and the conceding of control over the asset in question for use by the debtor in the ordinary course of its business is at best compatible only with a floating charge over that asset.

While Greece missed the July 1 implementation deadline, a first draft bill for implementing the Prospectus Directive (PD) into Greek law was published in mid-July. Following a two-month consultation period with market participants, the bill was then presented to the Hellenic parliament in early September and approved on September 28 2005. The new law (Law 3401/2005) came into force on October 17 2005, following publication in the government gazette, repealing the pre-existing legal framework. Since the PD is a maximum harmonization directive, the Greek implementing law closely follows the wording of the Directive.

Many articles have presented the importance and contribution of Cyprus to the international business sector. By contrast this article highlights the importance of the international business sector to Cyprus. The international business sector has become a vital contributor to Cyprus's economy over the past few years and its importance has recently increased further, for the following reasons.

Failure to achieve a state of reliable data means that:

Questions persist over the future of Basel II in the US as regulators delay implementation plans. Ben Maiden reports