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Garry Bell PricewaterhouseCoopers has appointed a director to its tax practice in the UK Channel Islands. Garry Bell joins from Ernst & Young and will advise corporate and private clients on moving to Jersey and on UK tax for offshore trust and company structures.

Derek Hill European law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse has poached partner Derek Hill from Herbert Smith. He will join the firm's London office this month. Hill has experience in the media sector and in providing renewable energy tax advice.

Edward Morris Edward Morris has left HM Revenue & Customs in the UK to join the tax team at Deloitte.

Roberto del Toro David Cuellar The Mexican ministry of finance and the Dutch ambassador to Mexico signed a new protocol to the Mexico- Netherlands tax treaty, which includes the following relevant modifications:

Paul Chambers Samantha Nonnenkamp Two laws of December 19 2008 create a more favourable tax framework for businesses and increase the attractiveness of Luxembourg.

The Finance (no 2) Act became law on December 24 2008. The Act reflects the attempt by the minister for finance to deal with the recent global and domestic economic downturn. Whilst the tone of the Act is sombre, with some increases in taxes (VAT up by 0.5%, CGT up by 2%, and the introduction of an income levy), there were also positive measures which are designed to retain Ireland's attractiveness as a location for multinational companies.

On December 12 2008, an outline of the proposed tax reform for 2009 was released by the Liberal Democratic Party, which introduced the foreign dividend exemption system to encourage Japanese domestic corporations to repatriate profits earned by their foreign affiliates. There will also be considerable changes to the existing foreign tax credit system and tax haven rules due to the introduction of this new foreign dividend exemption system.

Dieter Endres The strict position for international groups keeping books and records abroad has been eased with effect from January 1 2009 by a provision allowing tax offices to authorise individual companies to keep books and records in another EU/EEA country with a regular information exchange with Germany.

Bob van der Made At the European Council summit in Brussels on December 11-12 2008, EU leaders re-affirmed that the Treaty of Lisbon is necessary in order to help the enlarged EU to function more efficiently and more democratically. The French six month EU Council presidency was successful in breaking the political stalemate on the future of the EU following the Irish no-vote on the new treaty in June 2008. The French presidency brokered a deal to enable the new treaty to enter into force by the end of 2009 (instead of January 31 2009 as originally foreseen).

Nicolas Jacquot The economic modernisation bill contains the introduction into French law of endowment funds, or fonds de dotation. Their aim is to entice more donors to finance projects of general interest, or non-profit-making organisations. Simplicity of the new rules and their favourable tax treatment make endowment funds an interesting tool for international investors.