On Wednesday 9 November, the European Commission is to take position on the delayed entry into force of the 'Priips' regulation (1286/14) on the pre-contractual information that retail investors may use to compare certain financial products.
The question of this delay has been brought to the fore since the European Parliament in September rejected the proposed implementing measures for the regulation submitted by the Commission, which aimed to flesh out the content and terms of the 'KID' key information document on retail financial products (see EUROPE 11624).
The issue relates mainly to the length of the delay to be agreed upon, in particular to allow the European legislator to carry out drafting work in the meantime and to rework the new implementing measures. Faced with growing pressure from political groups and lobbies, the Commission fears that this procedure will ultimately lead to the reopening of negotiations on the first-level provisions. It has even said that it would rather the 'Priips' regulation enter into force in early 2017, even in the absence of the implementing measures for the KID document.
At the Council, 24 countries are calling for a postponement of one year – from January 2017 to January 2018 – for the 'Priips' regulation to enter into force (see EUROPE 11628). The majority of political groups at the European Parliament feel the same way.
"There is still no official decision from the Commission for the delay, which is very bad because the industry needs certainty", said Sven Giegold (Greens/EFA, Germany.). According to another parliamentary source, a year's postponement would provide time for work to be carried out peacefully on the implemented measures of the regulation and also to act in line with the postponement from January 2017 to January 2018 which has been decided upon the entry into force of the 'MiFID II' directive (see EUROPE 11487).
On Monday 7 November, the negotiators of the European Parliament will meet for the first time since the Parliament made its objection, to tackle new non-paper proposals put to it by the Commission. These proposals are a step in the right direction, was all the comment Giegold could be persuaded to make. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)