Brussels, 08/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - In the early evening of Tuesday 9 April, the Irish Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers and representatives of the European Parliament are due to meet to try and reach agreement on the revised EU accounting directives.
The new rules will include transparency requirements similar to those in force in the United States on payments made by the European extractive industry to the governments of countries outside the EU (see EUROPE 10793). The EP and Council of Ministers are expected to agree on the setting of a €100,000 threshold, beyond which forestry and extractive industries will have to report from 2015 onwards on all sums paid project-by-project. The EP recommended an €80,000 threshold initially and the Council €500,000 euros. The €100,000 threshold is similar to the USD 100,000 in force in the United States.
One measure still under discussion is a clause wanted by the Council of Ministers that would exempt quoted European companies from the transparency rules if they abide by similar measures in place in other parts of the world, for example, in the United States. The European Parliament does not like the idea and it may be decided to ask the Commission to bring forward a “delegated act”.
The Council of Ministers is reported to have given up on its request for European companies to be exempt from the rules if sanctions might be levied against them if they publish details of monies paid in certain countries. The Netherlands has now abandoned the idea - an idea rejected from the start by the European Parliament and which is not covered in the US rules.
The EP wants the same type of transparency measures to apply to other industries - the financial industry, telecoms and construction, but the Council of Ministers rejects the idea. (MB/transl.fl)