The report on "Clearing and Settlement in the Nordic countries and the Giovannini report of November 2001" was presented by the Nordic Working Group for Securities Market Issues in January 2004. The purpose of the report was to identify potential legal barriers in the five Nordic countries to effective cross-border clearing and settlement as identified in the Giovannini report (European Commission's advisory working group consisting of market participants). The key observations of the report were the following: There are few legal provisions in Nordic countries creating technical barriers. As for taxation, some barriers are identified. However, the main barriers as regards taxation are probably of a more general nature than the barriers discussed in the Giovannini report. Furthermore, relatively few barriers are identified in relation to legal uncertainty. However, general uncertainty in relation to treatment of nominee accounts might be a potential impediment to effective clearing and settlement in the Nordic countries.The report has an English summary. The full text is available is Norwegian.