EC flagsThe European Commission (EC) has thrown its weight behind international calls for foreign lawyers to be exempted from tough anti-fraud reforms that from this month would allow American regulators to police lawyers of US-listed companies.

The submission, sent last month by the EC director-general Alexander Schaub, is part of an international drive to exempt non-US lawyers from controversial provisions in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act before its implementation deadline of 26 January.