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Emmanuel Guillaume, group executive vice president and general counsel at France Telecom, talks to Barbara Galli

The 1992 Bankruptcy Law allowed Russian companies to continue to operate in an insolvent state. New legislation empowers the creditors. By Britt Shaw of McDermott, Will & Emery, Moscow

As the securities market increasingly adopts the Internet, the SEC has issued guidelines to help foreign securities companies avoid US registration. By Winthrop Brown of Shaw Pittman Potts & Trowbridge, Washington DC

A non-US court applying the non-US law governing a swap contract may not recognize a restraining notice served by a creditor as a defence to payment. By Mark P Zimmett from the Law Offices of Mark P Zimmett, New York

The double tax treaties executed between Portugal and Germany, Italy and Finland include a provision whereby a tax credit is granted to the residents of any of these countries if they obtain some elements of their income in Portugal where it is subject to tax but exempt. Relevant elements of income include the payment of interest and the payment of dividends.

On June 4 1998, Commissioner Karel Van Miert signed an agreement between the EU and the US on the application of positive comity principles in the enforcement of their competition laws. The Positive Comity Agreement provides that where a party is adversely affected by anti-competitive behaviour in the other's territory, it may request that other party to take appropriate action. The Agreement also provides that the parties may agree that the party requesting enforcement will defer or suspend its enforcement proceedings over the anti-competitive practice while it is investigated by the other party.

The Court of Appeal has delivered a judgment of potentially major significance for auditors of group companies. The case arose from claims brought by the liquidators of three BCCI companies against their former auditors, Price Waterhouse and Ernst & Whinney. The Court held that the auditors of the holding company and of one operating subsidiary could owe a duty of care to another operating subsidiary of which they were not the appointed auditors.

Together with the Federal Stock Exchange Act, of which the second part entered into force in January 1998, Article 161bis of the Swiss Criminal Code has been amended. Under this provision, any person who substantially influences the price of stock traded on the Swiss stock exchange with the intention of enriching him or herself or a third party, will be punished by imprisonment or a fine.

Can the resolution of future sovereign debt crises be eased by changes in the legal documents that evidence these obligations? In the first of a series of three articles, Lee C Buchheit of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, New York considers the sharing clause

Mortgage banks were an important part of the Hungarian banking system until World War II. After a long break during the socialist era, mortgage banks have now been reintroduced in Hungary through Law No. XXX of 1997, which took effect on June 7 1997.