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Ernst & Young has expanded its New York financial services tax practice with seven tax advisers from the defunct Andersen. The firm announced on September 16 that five partners and two principals have joined the group in addition to 26 support staff.

A reform of Spain's personal income tax (together with certain aspects of non-resident income tax and corporate income tax) is now underway.

The United Arab Emirates Offsets Group, the majority owner of the $3.5 billion Dolphin Energy Project, is selling 24.5% of the venture to Occidental Petroleum. The project includes the construction of a 260-mile natural gas pipeline from Qatar's offshore North Field to the UAE. Occidental Petroleum has replaced Enron as the third partner in the venture, alongside the UAE Offsets Group and the French company Total Fina Elf. Shearman & Sterling provided tax advice, with Alfred Groff and Carol Ann Johnson in Washington representing UAE group.

Countrywide Assured Financial Services Limited has arranged a new 15-year distribution agreement with Friends Provident Life and Pensions. Under the terms of the agreement, Friends Provident Life and Pensions has been appointed as exclusive provider of the life assurance products through the Countrywide estate agency network. The distribution agreement is expected to create payments to the Countrywide Group of around £275 million ($426 million) on a discounted basis over the next 15 years.

Belize Government

Foreign investors in China wishing to take advantage of the post-WTO business environment need to align clearly their business tax strategies and carefully adopt tax-planning techniques to optimize the tax position before and after the deal. By Billy Hsieh and Sandy Cheung, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Shanghai.

On page 34 of the September 2002 issue of International Tax Review, the word ?unpredictable' appears in the last sentence of the last paragraph. The word ?predictable' should replace this word. ITR apologises to the authors.

From September this year, Haarmann Hemmelrath has been able to offer its Frankfurt clients dedicated customs advice. The German firm has hired Michael Hundebeck as an associated partner from Schürmann & Glashoff Steuerberatungsgesellschaft.

A recent decision by the Federal Tax Court illustrates the limited reach of the general anti-avoidance clause in the German tax code (Judgment of March 20 2002 – I R 63/99 – released in July 2002).

The French Administrative Supreme Court has rendered an interesting decision (Conseil d'Etat, May 27 2002, No 125959, Société Superseal Corporation), involving the application of the tax treaty between France and Canada with respect to capital gains derived from the alienation of real estate and the payment of royalties.