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Korea will lose a competitive edge if it continues to deny industry the access it wants to foreign legal services. By Andrew Crooke

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.

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.

The UK Takeover Panel has reversed the stance it took in WPP/Tempus in 2001, which reduced the utility of material adverse change clauses. Tunde Ogowewo explains how

On July 1 2004 the new Swedish Financial Advice Consumers Act will enter into force. The act has been established on the basis that there is a need for special consumer protection legislation regarding financial advice and will apply to financial advice that a business provides to a consumer and that involves the placement of a consumer's assets in financial instruments (for example shares, fund units and bonds) or in life assurance where the capital is placed in financial instruments selected by the consumer itself (so-called unit-linked policies). Compliance with the act is mandatory for undertakings providing financial advice to consumers.

In Japan, three statutes primarily regulate matters regarding trusts. The Trust Law sets out the rights and obligations of parties under a trust, the Trust Business Law regulates trust businesses and the Law Concerning Concurrent Trust Businesses of Financial Institutions (Concurrent Trust Business Law) regulates trust businesses operated by financial institutions. The current session of the Diet is considering a complete revision of the Trust Business Law, which will apply to trust companies and, certain provisions of which will also apply to financial institutions operating trust businesses. It is also likely that the Trust Law will be substantially revised soon.

Paul Weiffenbach assesses proposed reforms affecting asset-backed deals

The Federal Act on International Insolvency Law (Federal Law Gazette 2003/36) implemented Directive 2001/24/EC on the reorganization and winding up of credit institutions (Directive 2001/24/EC). Several provisions were inserted in the Austrian Bankruptcy Code (Konkursordnung-KO) and the Austrian Banking Act (Bankwesengesetz-BWG).

Rating agency Standard & Poor's is issuing new ratings on the chances of lenders recovering their capital in the event of a default on a European secured loan.

Downgraded: Sainsbury's sold US subsidiary without needing consent Investors should be wary when buying bonds in companies vulnerable to leveraged buyouts because of the weakness of bondholders' covenant protection, according to Fitch Ratings.