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The Civil Rehabilitation Law (minji saisei-ho) went into effect on April 2000 and replaced the Composition Law (wagi). It outlines the basic restructuring procedures in Japan. By introducing a new legal framework, the main intention was to make it easier for small-and-medium-sized enterprises to take advantage of the provisions.

PricewaterhouseCoopers is the leading tax firm in the UK according to a survey carried out by International Tax Review

Contacts Emails Richard J Wuermli richard.wuermli@taxexpert.ch Christoph Busin christoph.busin@taxexpert.ch Bruno Beer bruno.beer@taxexpert.ch Daniela Fischer daniela.fischer@taxexpert.ch Katharina B Padrutt katharina.padrutt@taxexpert.ch Matthias Erik Vock matthias.vock@taxexpert.ch Löwenstrasse 11

Criticism by the UK government of Ireland's low-tax regime could lead to Irish subsidiaries of UK-owned parent companies facing higher tax bills. The government announced that companies operating in Ireland should no longer qualify for automatic exemption from UK tax. The decision would mean that companies would have to pay the difference between each country's rate of corporate tax. In the UK corporate tax rates can be as high as 30% but in Ireland the rate of corporate tax is 16% and is due to fall to 12.5% from January 2003.

The US had until the end of August to announce a full list of steel products that will be exempt of tariffs in its long-running battle with the EU. Press reports have indicated that the US planned to release the final exemptions in the week ending August 25 2002. So far the total of imports excluded from tariffs imposed in March this year stands at around 8% of the 13.1 tonnes affected. The EU has drawn up detailed plans for sanctions up to a value of Eu397 million ($387 million) on US exports if the US safeguards tariffs remain in place. EU officials have stated however, that they will not act until September 30, by which time the full list of exemptions will be clear.

The Canadian department of finance has announced that it has implemented a new electronic service to inform people of tax treaty developments. The department will no longer issue releases on treaty negotiations. Instead anyone interested in notification must subscribe to an automatic email notification system.

UK professional services firm RSM Robson Rhodes has hired five partners. All five join the London office from the defunct Andersen and form a compensation tax consulting division within the corporate tax practice.

On August 5 2002, the UK government published a consultation document considering further reform of the UK corporation tax regime. Specifically, the following three (interrelated) possibilities are considered.

Stefan Widmer: Andersen's culture is aggressive and competitive KPMG has lured a former tax partner away from the agreed Ernst & Young merger in Switzerland. Stefan Widmer joined the firm on August 5 as an international tax partner. He will be spending six months at KPMG's San Francisco office from October this year in order to strengthen the ties between the Swiss and US practices and increase the firm's Swiss presence there.

In a decision that may mean less than meets the eye, Germany's highest tax court has handed down its first decision on a provision added to the tax code in 1994 to combat treaty shopping. The decision is Federal Tax Court judgment of 20 March 2002 (I R 38/00 – published only electronically so far). The treaty shopping statute read as follows in 1994, the year at issue: