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The Privy Council restored Rogers J's decision in Canon Kabushiki Kaisha v Green Cartridge Co (HK) which the Court of Appeal overturned, as reported in this column in May 1995 and September 1996.

On July 19 1997 the Commission published a Communication on certain legal aspects concerning intra-EU investment. The Commission examined the compatibility of national measures which restrict cross-border investment with Article 73b (capital movements) and Article 52 (right of establishment), to conclude that:

The Revised Securities Act (RSA) Full Disclosure Rules (the Rules) became effective on October 7 1996. The Rules establish an integrated disclosure system for registration statements (RS) and other reports which must be filed with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and distributed to the investing public.

The Hungarian Ministry of Justice has introduced a bill for a new Law on Economic Associations (Companies Act). The planned law would serve the purpose of further harmonizing Hungarian company law with EU rules by establishing western standards. Furthermore, the experience of the past few years has confirmed the need for a new law. Since the Companies Act came into force on January 1 1989, the law has been shown to have numerous loopholes and to be wide open to abuse. The bill attempts to address these faults.

The recent publication of the German Banking Supervisory Authority’s Circular 4/97 clears the way for the development of a significant ABS market in the Federal Republic. By Alexander Vogt and Kurt Dittrich of Oppenhoff & Rädler, Frankfurt

Since disposing of its oil interests in Ecuador in 1992, Texaco has faced a spate of lawsuits stemming from damages allegedly caused by decades of oil exploration and extraction activities carried out by a consortium company owned by the state-owned oil company, Petroecuador, and Texaco. In the US, these claims have been pressed in the federal courts through class actions brought in the name of Ecuadorean citizens seeking damages of US$1.5 billion and equitable relief consisting of a court-supervised clean-up of the affected areas in Ecuador. The first such suit, Sequiha v Texaco, started in Texas in August 1993, seeking damages for 500,000 Ecuadoreans, and was dismissed five months later on grounds of comity and forum non conveniens. The second, Aguinda v Texaco, was brought in November 1993 for a class of about 30,000 indigenous citizens. It continued through pre-trial discovery until November 1996, when the New York federal court dismissed the claims on the same grounds. However, the judge also based the dismissal on the failure to join two indispensable parties to the litigation — Petroecuador and the government of Ecuador — deemed necessary for the equitable portion of the case.

The financing of large communication and infrastructure projects suggests the possibility of new forms of indebtedness, and the private placement of securities abroad is one option in project financing. In the past four years Colombian corporations and special purpose vehicles have privately placed securities abroad to finance their projects.

Switzerland generally gets good marks for its efforts to keep its financial markets clean. Together, the Swiss Penal Code, the Guidelines of the Swiss Federal Banking Commission and the Code of Conduct of the Swiss Banks constitute a solid regulatory barrier against the channelling of criminal money into the banking sector. The Financial Action Task Force of the G7 countries not long ago recognized Switzerland's efforts as a substantial contribution to the worldwide struggle against money-laundering.

US firm Shearman & Sterling has poached Holland West from rival Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. West, head of derivatives and asset management at Cadwalader, will now lead Shearman & Sterling's global derivatives and structured finance group.

The International Bar Association (IBA) has set up a drafting group to produce a position paper on multi-disciplinary partnerships (MDPs). The group, established by the IBA's standing committee on MDPs, aims to submit the paper to IBA president Desmond Fernando in October. Fernando's comments will then be put before the committee in New Delhi in November. The drafting team will be: Ward Bower of consultants Altman Weil Pensa and chairman of the standing committee; Tony Huydecoper, dean of the Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten (the Dutch bar association); David Andrews of the David Andrews Partnership; and Heinz Loeber, name partner at Germany's Heller Loeber Bahn & Partners.