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From January 1 1996, the system of standard tariffs for motor vehicle liability insurance has been replaced by the latest revision of the Federal Law on the Supervision of Private Insurance Companies (Insurance Supervisory Law, ISL). This revision abolished a 20 year-old mandatory system of a single standard tariff for all motor vehicle liability insurers in Switzerland. Now, motor vehicle liability insurers are free to fix a tariff, thereby becoming a non-restricted insurance business.

The Trust (Amendment No. 3) (Jersey) Law, 1996, which was adopted by the States of Jersey on November 21 1995 and sanctioned by Her Majesty in Council on April 24 1996, was registered in the Royal Court and came into force on May 24 1996.

The Legislative Decree adopted on May 15 1996 by the Council of Ministers (the Decree) to implement EU Directives 93/22/EC (on Investment Services) and 93/6/EC (on Capital Adequacy) will, among other things, introduce substantial reform aimed at privatizing Italian regulated markets (the stock exchange, over-the-counter, futures and options markets). The Decree is now being submitted to the relevant parliamentary committee for its opinion, which, however, is not binding.

Irish company law requires Irish companies to maintain registers of shareholders and debenture holders. Transfers must be in a statutory form and stamp duty is payable. Technological development in general and the introduction of CREST in particular have resulted in the Companies Act 1990 (Uncertificated Securities) Regulations 1996 ('the Regulations').

The Finnish Council of State recently published a bill regarding the further implementation of the EU Directive on undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS; 85/611/EEC) in order to improve and maintain the international competitiveness of Finnish investment funds.

The New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZSE) has launched a new managed fund (the TeNZ fund) which tracks the NZSE10 Index (the Index). The Index is a weighted index made up of selected securities of New Zealand's top 10 listed companies, by market capitalization, which has the principal purpose of providing a measure of price trends of those companies. The TeNZ fund is a passive fund which will own a diversified portfolio of securities in the same weightings as the Index with the aim of providing investment results that correspond to the performance of the Index. Investors will purchase units in the fund, and the units will be tradeable on the NZSE.

The Korea Stock Exchange (KSE) has decided to ease disclosure requirements for foreigners to induce more foreign corporations to list their stocks on the local exchange.

The Central Bank of Chile has been requiring for a number of years that all loans to Chilean residents from abroad as well as most foreign equity investments be subject to the obligation to deposit with the Central Bank, on an interest-free basis, 30% of the amount involved for a period of one year or, alternatively, to pay an equivalent fee.

On May 21 1996, 54.6% of the voting shares of electricity distributor Light were sold to a consortium lead by Electricité de France for US$2.2 billion. This was the largest privatization to date and the second to involve a significant foreign participation. Light has 80% of the distribution market in the state of Rio de Janeiro and has now been granted a new concession for 30 years.

The package of regulatory reforms set to come before the Legislative Council this autumn will innovate as well consolidate. John Holmes and James Walker of Clifford Chance, Hong Kong, look at its new provisions