Sarbanes-Oxley Act - Impact Outside the United States.

Mondaq Business Briefing, August, 2002

About half of the UK's FTSE 100 companies may be affected by the recently signed Sarbanes-Oxley Act, according to international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

The Act is one of the most significant pieces of US securities legislation since the 1930s and will impose new obligations on non-US companies which have shares listed on a US stock exchange or quoted through Nasdaq. The statute will also subject these companies' executives to strict civil and criminal penalties if they are guilty of violations of the Act.

"The most pressing issue regarding the Act for non-US SEC reporting companies lies in the scope of the certification provisions," said Tom Joyce, partner with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

"The Act requires the SEC to finalise...