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Shareholders' rights and investor protection will face more scrutiny in Hong Kong following moves to give more power and status to a group representing investor interests. The Securities and Futures Commission has formalized its Shareholders Group as a statutory standing committee, giving it more say when advising the watchdog on policymaking and matters of concern relating to public and minority shareholders in listed companies.

Freehills has ended its alliance in Singapore with Alban Tay Mahtani & de Silva. The two firms entered into a formal law alliance in September 2000, but had been closely affiliated for two years before that. Freehills said in a statement: "The two firms have benefited from the opportunity and the relationship, but agree the formal alliance is not necessary for each to pursue its goals." The termination of the alliance does not mean an end to the relationship between the firms, says a lawyer at Alban Tay. "We are still working with Freehills," he said.

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has released its judgment in a case involving the triggering provisions in change-of-control agreements between a company and its senior executives – commonly known as golden parachutes.

The Central Bank of Colombia has replaced the previous External Regulatory Circulars (DCIN-36 of July 19 2001, DCIN-05 of January 10 2002, and DCIN-10 of February 15 2002) with a new External Regulatory Circular: DCIN-23 of May 9 2002. This will come into force on June 4 2002. The principal changes introduced by the new Circular are the following:

As EU member states discussed the Prospectus Directive for the first time recently, deep divisions remained. Ecofin, the EU council of finance ministers, had preliminary discussions and set out a general strategy for reaching an agreement, but conceded that the permanent representations would have to compromise before an agreement could be thrashed out.

Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance and Linklaters have become the first foreign firms to win approval to open second offices in China. Although all three firms had already acquired second offices through European mergers, none of them had licences in their own names. In line with China's World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments, the Ministry of Justice had promised to relax its geographic restrictions on law firm offices. Before signing up to the WTO, China issued licences to foreign firms on a quota basis, good for five years in most cases. Even with a licence, firms could open only one office, forcing most into a decision between Shanghai and Beijing. Others, including Deacons and Stephenson Harwood & Lo, opened in Guangzhou, just across the border from Hong Kong, in Guangdong province.

National governments have long held special rights allowing them to block takeovers of state-favoured companies. But new rulings from the European Court of Justice could make such holdings illegal. By Vincent Brophy of Linklaters

A direct link (e-link) between the central securities depositories of Finland and Sweden was opened on June 3 2002. The Finnish Central Securities Depository has similar links with Germany, France and the Netherlands and a link to Switzerland through Germany.

This year, many significant amendments have been made to the Commercial Code. The latest amendments were promulgated on May 29 2002 and will take effect sometime within a year after this date. One of the amendments will allow class voting for the election of directors.

Intellectual property in literary, dramatic or musical works in India is protected under the Copyright Act, 1957. With the development of the entertainment industry and competition between entertainment channels for a larger share of the Indian market, copyright issues have assumed greater significance in the entertainment industry. Although, no copyright exists for ideas, concepts or themes that are sufficiently developed so they could be realized as a television programme, are capable of being the subject of confidential information. Protection available to such ideas or concepts under the Copyright Act may vary depending on whether or not the concept as developed and evolved is the result of the work done by the person who conceived the original idea by applying some novel thoughts which distinguishes it from simple ideas.