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In early March 2003, the president of Ukraine signed into law the long-awaited new Civil and Commercial Codes, passed by the Parliament of Ukraine on January 16 2003. The new Civil Code replaces the effective 1963 Civil Code of the Ukrainian SSR, while the commercial code is essentially a new concept for Ukrainian legislation. Both codes will come into effect on January 1 2004.

Grant McCrea of Dewey Ballantine explains how France's Credit Agricole Indosuez successfully brought action in New York over disputed currency swap contracts with Russia's National Reserve Bank

Saudi Arabia recently promulgated a long awaited law to formally regulate the country's stock market. Saudi Arabia does not have a physical stock exchange, although shares are traded by electronic means through local banks and are regulated by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), the Kingdom's central bank. The electronic exchange (Tadawal) and the Saudi Shareholding Registry will be transferred to the new capital market authority. The new market will be named the Saudi Capital Market and will be established as a joint stock company. The new law calls for setting up two new bodies: The Saudi Arabian Stock Exchange and The Exchange Commission.

The Fair Trade Commission of Korea (FTC) has amended its guidelines for filing an antitrust clearance/business combination report, with effect from July 1 2003.

The Japanese government has amended laws that relate to securities exchanges In order tto cope with global competition among stock markets. The amendments were promulgated on May 30 2003 and will take effect on April 1 2004. Of the amendments, three changes are of particular importance.

The EU Insurance Winding-Up Directive has recently been implemented by Irish legislation (SI No 168 of 2003). This legislation applies to reorganization measures adopted or winding up proceedings commenced on or after April 29 2003 and, subject to certain exemptions, requires EU member states to recognize reorganizations and winding-up proceedings of insurers authorized in other EU member states even where such proceedings are dealt with differently by domestic law.

The Companies (Amendment) Bill 2003 introduced in the Parliament on May 7 2003, seeks to ensure better corporate governance practices and promote investor protection. The Bill restricts subsidiaries from becoming a holding company of another company. It makes identification of promoters mandatory to prevent occurrence of vanishing companies, thereby making it easier to trace assets. It raises the minimum subscription of application amount of shares from 5% to 25%. If the minimum subscription is not reached, the amount must be refunded within eight days of closing with interest at bank rate. The Bill bans auditors from simultaneously providing other services such as actuarial services, accounting/book-keeping and internal audit services. It adds grounds for the disqualification of auditors found to be linked to a client's financial interest.

With a view to further protecting investors in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) recently published a Consultation Paper on Regulation of Sponsors and Independent Financial Advisors.

Merger activity in Austria is booming as global companies search for bargain assets in central Europe. Michael Evans reports

The Investment Services Directive (ISD), now the subject of high level debate by politicians in Brussels, will shape the structure of Europe's capital markets for years to come. But bankers say plans to force brokers to quote prices openly to the market could lead them to take their business outside the EU in search of more bank-friendly share trading regimes abroad. IFLR brought together a group of London-based regulators, lawyers and industry representatives to discuss the issues