The members of the European Parliament have had many opportunities in the past to take a position on this transparency measure, in the framework of resolutions or reports of the special committee on the LuxLeaks scandal.
Yet now that the legislative proposal on country-by-country reporting, for which they have been asking the European Commission for months, is on their table, they are struggling to agree. After the meeting of the 'shadow' rapporteurs on Monday 29 May, MEPs decided to postpone the vote on this dossier, which was due to take place this Tuesday 30. It will be held on 12 June.
A few days ago, in Strasbourg, the EPP group proposed amendments to the 'safeguard clause'. Basically, the text put forward by the EPP, of which EUROPE has had sight, aimed to allow businesses to omit certain information from its transparency obligations, for instance if only one affiliated company is active in a jurisdiction not on the EU blacklist and if the publication of this information could damage the commercial position of affiliated companies, by allowing foreign competitors to draw conclusions from sensitive information (on the company structure, for instance). This 'omission' would require the prior consent of the member state, which would in turn have to justify its decision to the Commission, under the EPP's text.
The final compromise born of the meeting of shadow rapporteurs on Monday 29 May is expected to state that member states may authorise companies not to publish all of the details normally required for a subsidiary recently opened in a new country, for a period of two years. This exemption may also be extended by two years, if two years is not enough to protect sensitive commercial information and competition. In exchange for this concession, the MEPs have secured a requirement for reporting information to be published on a country-by-country basis for the whole world, rather than on an aggregate basis for the rest of the world. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)