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Along with banking and securities trading, investment fund business is the core area of regulatory protection for investors in the Swiss financial markets. Investors in an investment fund as consumers of financial products have the right to demand a transparent structure of the fund, the use of readable and understandable prospectuses and adequate pricing of the fund manager's services. Moreover, the fund manager should always act in the interests of the investor and take the latter's capacity and willingness to take risks into proper consideration.

The question of whether a particular instrument should qualify as debt or capital under Belgian (tax) law is sometimes a heavily debated issue. Since the 1950s Belgian courts have rendered numerous decisions on the qualification of hybrid instruments as the Belgian tax administration disagreed on the legal qualification given to instruments by its issuers and investors. As a growing number of innovative financing instruments are continuously unleashed to the market, the debate on the debt or capital nature of hybrid instruments remains unsettled.

A number of urgent reforms to economic and financial legislation in France were adopted on December 11 2001, when the Loi Murcef (loi portant mesures urgentes de réformes à caractère économique et financier), was passed after having been the subject of a double petition before the Conseil Constitutionnel (Constitutional Council). This Act sets out a variety of changes and is divided into five parts. Part I sets out the modifications to be made to the rules governing procurement contracts; Part II relates to the relations between banks and their clients; Part III contains measures in relation to the introduction of the Euro; Part IV addresses the management of certain specific public companies and Part V contains a number of measures dealing with a broad range of other issues.

The Finnish Financial Supervision Authority (FSA) has issued five new guidelines, which concern offering of securities, tender offers and mandatory redemption, continuous duty of disclosure, flagging, and pro forma financial statements. Becoming effective on March 1 2002, the new guidelines replace the former guidelines on internet subscription location (K/30/2000/PMO), share subscriptions and sales via the internet in part (K/14/98/PMO) and the interpretation of disclosure provisions in the Securities Markets Act (K/23/99/PMO).

Japanese corporate governance is in the process of undergoing major reform. As part of this, amendments in the areas of directors` liability, derivative actions and corporate auditing will take effect on May 1 2002.

As Europe expands into the emerging markets of eastern Europe, Spanish lawyers are looking to Madrid's lawmakers for a more competitive environment. By Thomas Williams

A draft government bill for a new act on real estate investment funds (Immobilien-Investmentfondsgesetz) aims to establish a new type of investment fund in Austria, namely, the real estate investment fund.

The election of a new government could mean radical changes in the Portuguese financial markets. Some Lisbon lawyers think it may be too late. Thomas Williams reports

The EU's High Level Group of Company Law Experts has effectively advocated one share one vote across all types of risk bearing share capital. James Palmer of Herbert Smith explains why this will cause more harm than good to the European capital markets

Taiwan's lawmakers are looking at proposals to allow the securitization of property, helping to increase activity in the real estate market.