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Economic reform is beginning to reach into the Argentine provincial governments. Esteban A Mancuso of White & Case, New York, discusses ways the provinces could solve their financing difficulties

Until now, investments made by Spanish Collective Investment Institutions (IICs) in derivatives were regulated by the provisions of the Order of July 6 1992. This rule allowed such institutions to invest in derivatives traded on organized secondary markets both in Spain and in other countries.

In August a government committee published its report on the proposed reorganization of Finnish government financing institutions.

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.

In 1994, the Danish Consumer Ombudsman, after consultations with the Bankers' Association, issued ethical guidelines for financial institutions' advice to individual customers.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Argentina (the CNV) enacted General Resolution No. 291/97. This authorizes the trading in Argentina of depositary receipts representing securities issued by foreign entities not qualified by the CNV to offer their securities directly to the general public in Argentina. The new regime — which comes into force on September 1 1997 — attempts to introduce new financial products in the local markets and to attract foreign investors.

The modest Korean legal market looks unlikely to have to face competition from abroad just yet, despite the government’s public commitment to globalizing the economy. Nick Ferguson reports

Royal Caribbean Cruises has bought Celebrity Cruise Lines in an amicable takeover worth US$1.3 billion. This deal makes the company the second largest US- based cruise line.

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 Republic of Côte d'Ivoire has signed a restructuring agreement with its foreign commercial creditors providing for the repurchase and cancellation of 30% of the country's external commercial debt at a discount. The remaining 70% of the debt will be exchanged for partly secured bonds in dollars and French francs. The agreement covers US$6.8 billion of debt, and is the second of its kind to be completed in Africa.