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Germany's financial regulator has proposed guidelines explaining how public companies should interpret the increased disclosure and market abuse obligations created by German implementation of the EU's Market Abuse Directive in November 2004.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has endured a difficult few years. Criticized at home for what some claimed was a failure to prevent corporate scandals such as Enron, it has also faced challenges from activist state attorneys-general and been blamed for what others see as over-regulation. Abroad, corporates continue to lobby against what is perceived as US regulatory overreach.

Companies outside the US are taking action to avoid rules that would compel many of them to register with the SEC. Dan Andrews reports

Saudi Arabia has set up a new regulatory regime for registering interests in real property and related transactions. The Law for Registration of Real Property (the Law) was published on May 18 2002 and became effective one year later. Currently, interests in real property and related transactions (for example, transfers of ownership, mortgages, the creation of Waqfs (similar to the Western concept of trusts) with respect to real property and bequeathing real property through wills) are registered with notaries in special registers maintained for this purpose. Under the Law, new real property registers (the Registers) will be set up jointly by the Ministry of Municipalities and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Justice. The Registers will be maintained and administrated the Department of Real Property Registration, a department of the Ministry of Justice. The Law requires all real property interests and transactions to be recorded in the Register, failing which no real property interest or transaction will have legal effect as to third parties. The Law further provides that lease agreements with terms exceeding five years will not be effective as to third parties for the period exceeding the first five years of the lease term unless they are recorded in the Registers.

For years lawyers in The Netherlands have pondered whether a creditor has the option of seizing the unused portion of a line of credit that the creditor's debtor maintains with its bank. It all started in 2001 with the decision of the German Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof) dated March 29 2003 answering the question in the affirmative. Almost instantly it was said that the outcome of a Netherlands seizure on the unused portion of a line of credit with a Netherlands bank could be identical or similar to the German conclusion. So all eyes were on the Supreme Court of The Netherlands (Hoge Raad der Nederlanden) as the most senior court to settle the matter, which it duly did in a ruling handed down on October 29 2004.

In May 2003, the Indonesian Capital Market Supervisory Board (Bapepam) decreed that all securities companies must increase their adjusted net working capital to at least Rp25 billion ($2.74 million) by December 31 2004. Only companies with an investment manager licence and certain types of broker-dealer were exempt. The announcement was issued by the chairman through Decree 20 of May 8 2003.

A recent code has modified Belgian rules on conflicts of laws and jurisdiction. Vanessa Marquette, Michèle Grégoire and Sandrine Hirsch outline the main changes in financial law

Law 311 of December 30 2004, which is the Financial Law for 2005 (the 2005 Financial Law), provides for new limits to capacity of Italian local authorities to enter into loans and bonds.

Linda Lerner examines the SEC's sweeping Regulation NMS proposals and argues that a lack of self-reform by the market has made new regulation necessary

The Securities Class Action Act (SCAA), which is the first class action act recognized and implemented in Korea, took effect on January 1 2005. The SCAA permits initiation of class action by shareholders against companies listed on the Korea Stock Exchange or registered on the Kosdaq in connection with, among others, accounting fraud, fraudulent disclosure, stock-price manipulation and insider trading. The SCAA aims to: (i) effectively remedy loss incurred by a group of (minority) shareholders in the course of securities transactions; (ii) alleviate the shareholders' burden of suing on a cause of action as individuals; and (iii) promote transparency in corporate management.