Sarbanes-Oxley Act - New Certification Rules Adopted.

Mondaq Business Briefing, September, 2002

At an open meeting in Washington, D.C. last week the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted new rules required under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act relating to the certification of periodic reports, according to international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

These regulations are the first of many which the Act requires the SEC to promulgate over the next 11 months or so, including rules relating to obligations of publicly held companies, their executives and attorneys and other subjects.

"The requirements to certify annual reports impose significant new personal liability on CEOs and CFOs of non-US companies filing annual reports on Form 20-F," said Thomas Joyce, partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. "The rules do, however, treat non-US...