The International Bar Association (IBA) has recommended the creation of an international taskforce to represent global views on the new Sarbanes-Oxley rules for the regulation of non-US lawyers

The recommendation was put to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Roundtable on Attorney Conduct last month by Stephen Revell, a member of the council of the IBA's section of business law.
The IBA said the rules, requiring the SEC to impose regulations on lawyers, will have a widespread impact if broadly applied by imposing a US regulatory requirement over and above, and in conflict with, the independent domestic regulations of the legal profession outside the US.
Last November the IBA called for the exemption of non-US lawyers from the rules in order to preserve the independence of worldwide regulation. The new proposal repeats this call, pointing out that the new rules will provide the simplest solution to an otherwise potentially intractable and complex alteration to established patterns of global regulation.
In a separate move, the Emirate of Sharjah has donated $50,000 (£31,000) to the IBA's taskforce on international terrorism, which was set up in October 2001 to work with governments and international law-making bodies to counter terrorism.