In response to public outrage and shaken investor confidence stemming from recent corporate scandals within the United States, the US Congress enacted and on July 30, 2002 President George W. Bush signed, new legislation directed at curbing corporate misconduct. This law, entitled the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 imposes new disclosure requirements and implements a wide array of accounting and corporate governance reforms, many of which apply to non-US issuers.
In addition to its accounting and governance reforms and disclosure requirements, the Act substantially increases criminal penalties for securities fraud and for destroying documents in anticipation of, or otherwise obstructing, a government investigation.
Some of the Act's provisions applying to non-US companies took effect immediately or...