The Member States' ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) are preparing to adopt, on Wednesday 26 June, their negotiating position with the European Parliament on the proposal for a regulation to facilitate crowdfunding.
While the European Commission's original proposal (see EUROPE 11977/3) provided for a European passport creating a 29th regime allowing crowdfunding platforms which request it to provide their services throughout Europe, Member States wish to return to a minimum harmonization approach at EU level.
The compromise text, dated 24 June, entrusts the authorisation and supervision of Crowdfunding Service Providers to the competent national authorities and not to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), which is only entrusted with the task of establishing a register listing the service providers authorised to operate throughout the EU.
In its position, adopted last November (see EUROPE 12130/3), Parliament had chosen the same option, but nevertheless entrusted the ESMA with a mediation role for possible disagreements between different competent authorities in the event of granting or refusing authorisation.
Another important change: the EU Council's text proposes, like Parliament's, to raise the threshold for one-year equity financing offers to 8 million euros, whereas the Commission had proposed to cap it at 1 million euros.
But it also gives Member States the possibility to set a lower threshold, aligned with the threshold set in their national legislation under the Prospectus Regulation. According to the text, Member States may in addition decide to prohibit the raising of capital for crowdfunding offers above 5 million euros from its residents.
The EU Council text adds a whole series of prudential requirements for service providers and prohibits them from holding a financial stake in a crowdfunding offer on their platforms.
Austria and Bulgaria will not support the text, according to a European source, but this should not prevent the adoption of the negotiating position, supported by a qualified majority of Member States.
Inter-institutional negotiations can begin once the new Parliament has been formed. See the compromise text: https://bit.ly/2X7wsqu (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)