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To avoid the domino effect of a corporate failure, Australia may become the first common law jurisdiction to enact legislation depriving claimants of the right to uncapped damages. By Tessa Hoser, Nicholas Seddon and Paul Jenkins

The trust system in Korea will be overhauled to permit trusts consisting of several types of properties under one umbrella. The type of properties eligible for trusts will also be expanded to include various intellectual and industrial property rights.

On June 1 2004, the Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment in the Commercial Field (known as the Commercial Measures), promulgated by the Ministry of Commerce on April 16 2004, will take effect. The Commercial Measures will replace the Measures Concerning Pilot Projects for Commercial Enterprises with Foreign Investment, effective since June 25 1999. Consistent with China's World Trade Organization commitments, the Commercial Measures have abolished the entrance criteria (such as minimum annual turnover for the past three years and minimum asset value for the past year) for foreign investors wishing to engage in commission agents, wholesale, retail and franchise businesses (that is, so-called distribution businesses). Also, foreign invested retailers no longer need to restrict the total annual amount of imported merchandise to more than 30% of the amount of its merchandise sales each year.

The Finnish Investment Funds Act has been amended with effect from April 8 2004 to implement the two recent amendments to the Ucits Directive (2001/107/EC and 2001/108/EC). The amended Act has widened the scope of operations allowed for fund management companies to include certain types of investment services, such as portfolio management and investment advice. The assets of the fund may now be more freely invested in different types of instruments, such as derivatives. Under the new Act, a simplified fund prospectus is required to be prepared for each managed investment fund as of October 1 2004.

The Hong Kong government recently completed Asia's first asset-backed deal to be sold to retail buyers. Stephen Roith, Mary Matson, Connie Heng and Gareth Old look at how the transaction was structured

This spring, the Canadian Competition Bureau released for public comment a revised version of its Merger Enforcement Guidelines (MEGs), the document that explains how the Bureau analyzes proposed mergers. The Bureau is in the process of reviewing comments provided by various stakeholders and plans to finalize the revised MEGs this summer.

Norway's Findexa will be the first company to issue high-yield dividend shares, known in the US as income depositary securities (IDSs), to Europe later this month.

Tube Lines' £2.1 billion ($3.7 billion) bond issue last month used a novel structure that lawyers say will open a new source of investment in project financing.

Three banking associations have published guidance clarifying how firms should comply with new UK rules governing conflicts of interest on securities offerings.

The Basel Committee has agreed a final version of the new accord on capital adequacy, which will give banks more control over how they plan for and mitigate investment risk. But some aspects of the accord, known as Basel II, may have negative effects on the securitization market, according to lawyers familiar with the agreement.