On Wednesday 14 September, the Parliament officially objected to the European Commission's draft technical measures specifying the pre-contractual information that retail investors may use to compare certain financial products.
In their adoption of a specific resolution by a comfortable majority (618 votes in favour, 102 against and four abstentions), the MEPs are calling on the Commission to draft a new delegated act. The Commission must also consider the option of postponing the entry into force of the 'Priips' regulation (1286/2014) on which the embryonic technical measures are based.
"The Commission hasn't listened", said French Socialist Pervenche Berès (S&D), before the vote. "In the event of any doubt, the protection of consumers comes first. Financial product information must not mislead consumers", said Sven Giegold (Greens/EFA, Germany), who observed that the European Parliament's objection was the first of its kind in the field of financial services.
"We are going back to the start of the procedure, but not starting again from scratch", said a parliamentary source, in reference to discussions between the Commission and MEPs ahead of the vote (see EUROPE 11621). This source noted that both the industry and representatives of small investors had expressed their concerns at the text put forward by the Commission.
The Council of the EU is also expected to make a formal objection to these technical measures before the end of September. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)