Brussels, 27/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - The French Association of Large Companies (Association française des entreprises privées, AFEP) has stepped up to the plate to argue against the proposal of the European Commission to require businesses to publish certain accounting data such as turnover and tax paid. In a letter dated Thursday 23 June to the members of the European Parliament and the Permanent Representatives of the member states to the EU, the AFEP warns of the risks of the publication of country-by-country reports to the public finances of the member states in which multinationals have their headquarters.
“In most cases, this will highlight over-representation of profits and employs the entities of the group located in the headquarters' country compared with the turnover corresponding to sales in this country only”, AFEP explains. How will the national authorities be able to justify to third countries the gap between the turnover in their territory and profit attributed by companies compared to the same elements in the emerging countries, AFEP asks.
The French business association also takes the view that publishing this information would put an end to the automatic exchange of the same data under the OECD agreement on confidential country-by-country reporting. This would completely expose European businesses to their competitors and clients, by revealing their commercial and industrial strategies. They would be easier targets for potential buyers and may lose markets or suffer pressure on their profit margins.
The AFEP concludes its letter by calling on the member states and members of the European Parliament to oppose this legislative proposal. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)