The Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002

Essay from the year 2003 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: USA, grade: LL.M. accreditation, Fordham University (Application Office), course: Study in the USA, language: English, abstract: The objective of the following article is to comment on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ('Act') from a transatlantic point of view and to discuss its effects on foreign companies as far as theoretical or practical impacts are already visible at this early stage. It is an attempt to show the compatibility of the Act with other legal systems, especially with the existing German regulations. It is not the goal of this paper to point out the important changes regarding requirements in general. In a first section (I) the author wants to describe briefly the reasons for enacting the Act and to present the problems that occur with some of the regulations contained therein. In a second step (II), the author will outline the Act's impacts on German and other European legal systems. In a final conclusion (III) the author wants to use the 'holdings' he worked out in the second part to discuss the reform and criticize some aspects of the Act in an international light.