MEPs on the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) will vote on Tuesday 31 January on their position on the report on the European Single Access Point (ESAP), which is intended to make sure that information on EU companies and financial products is easily accessible.
The outline of this project had been the subject of debate: 168 amendments were proposed by the rapporteur, Pedro Silva Pereira (S&D, Portuguese) and 311 other amendments by the political groups (see EUROPE 13076/25).
The scope, access to the access point and the type of information accessible were at the heart of the exchanges between parliamentarians. EUROPE was able to obtain the draft amendments that will be put to the vote.
Regarding the scope, MEPs do not want small and medium-sized enterprises to be obliged to take part in ESAP, but instead to participate on a voluntary basis. Their data would be standardised, but simplified.
Elected representatives should vote in favour of paid access to ESAP, with some exceptions: retail investors, academics, social partners and civil society organisations. The way in which fees are calculated should be transparent and based on clear principles.
In terms of the type of information, the European Commission initially planned to only provide access to financial and sustainability information. MEPs also want to add social and governance data to this.
The European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) – ESMA, EIOPA and EBA – will be responsible for drafting technical implementing standards intended to specify company data, including financial reporting as well as sustainability. MEPs have allocated these monitoring tasks differently from the original position.
Furthermore, they would like the ESAs to consult with the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) over the development of these draft ESG implementation standards so that they become timeless and globally interoperable.
In their opinion, collection bodies should make information available to ESAP in an automated manner and without undue delay, relying as far as possible on existing collection procedures and the infrastructure in place at EU level.
Furthermore, these bodies should not be responsible for verifying the accuracy of the content of the information, unless they receive a mandate to do so. It will therefore be the entities that are subject to the reporting obligation that should ensure the accuracy of the information provided.
Like the EU Council, MEPs want ESMA – with the support of EIOPA and EBA – to monitor how ESAP functions and to submit an annual report to the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.
While Mr Silva Pereira wanted to bring forward the implementation to 2025 (see EUROPE 13050/22), MEPs should align with the EU Council by setting it to 2026 or 2027 (see EUROPE 12982/18).
Once the text has been approved by the European Parliament, interinstitutional negotiations with the EU Council can start. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)