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In August 1998, the Austrian Legislature adopted for the first time a Takeover Code. Changes have been made to the draft prepared by the ministry of justice (see International Financial Law Review, June 1997, page 60).

The ministry of finance is preparing a government Bill containing proposed amendments to the Act on Investment Funds. The aim is for the Bill to be ratified and become effective by the end of this year.

A recent decision of the Copenhagen City Court confirms that Danish courts take a strict view on insider trading (see International Financial Law Review, March 1997, page 58). A board member of a Danish company was sentenced to five months' imprisonment plus confiscation of about US$100,000 of profit.

The recent merger of the German Futures Exchange DTB (Deutsche Terminbörse) and the Swiss Futures Exchange SOFFEX (Swiss Options and Financial Futures Exchange) created EUREX (European Exchange) as a single platform for pan-European trading and clearing of standardized futures and options under harmonized rules. EUREX is a fully electronic exchange based in Frankfurt and Zurich, with access points in Amsterdam, Chicago, London and Paris (and future access points in Helsinki, Madrid and New York).

Act No. CXII/1996 on credit institutions and financial enterprises permits the setting up of a centralized domestic electronic database. The passing on and/or accessing of database information on debtors by financial institutions and investment companies does not constitute a violation of banking secrecy. However, this database should not contain information on natural persons. The Act was amended with effect from January 1 1998; it is now permissible to store and provide information on natural persons. The difference between data on private persons and data on non-private persons is that information on private persons is limited to a 'blacklist', ie only those debtors are recorded who have not met their obligations within 90 days of the due date. On the other hand, debtors who are non-private persons are always registered as soon as they conclude a loan or quasi-loan agreement, irrespective of whether they are in default of payment.

Article 22 of Legislative Decree No. 58 (through which a unified text of rules on the financial markets has been approved) sets out basic principles on the segregation of patrimonies of financial intermediaries and clients.

A new Russian bankruptcy law became effective on March 1 1998 (Federal Law No. 6-FZ On Bankruptcy). Given the difficulties being experienced by the Russian economy and the precarious state of many enterprises, the new law may assume growing importance in the reform process. Under previous legislation, bankruptcies proved difficult to implement and only infrequently resulted in the liquidation or material restructuring of troubled debtors. Key improvements in the new law include a revised and more practical definition of bankruptcy; a wider list of actors who may start bankruptcy proceedings; and new and more detailed procedures governing the activities of the courts, creditors and manager/trustees in connection with bankruptcy.

New regulations on netting agreements governing financial transactions related to derivative instruments have been passed as an additional provision to a law customarily enacted at the same time as the approval of the budget for the following year. That law, which came into force on January 1 1998, added a new section to a 1994 law on the Second Banking Directive.

A possible amendment to the Act on Building Societies (Ustawa o kasach oszczednosciowo-budowlanych) seriously threatens the development of the newly established Polish building societies.

The proposed Council Directive on savings income was circulated by the European Commission on June 4 1998. Its rationale is the perceived scope for tax avoidance created by a lack of coordination of national systems for the taxation of interest payments on savings. It will also tax interest on public debt securities and bonds.