Brussels, 27/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has asked the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) to start work now on technical advice on market abuse and prospectuses.
This is the Commission's first request to the CESR for technical advice, in line with the new approach to implementing financial services legislation agreed with the European Parliament on 5 February 2002 (see EUROPE of 6 February, p.14) on the basis of the Lamfalussy Report on the Regulation of European Securities Markets, that sets out two appropriate levels of legislation - general directives adopted by the EP and the Council; and execution measures delegated to the Commission in consultation with the EP and the Council and supported by the two new technical committees.
The EP recently considered two draft directives on insider trading and prospectuses (see EUROPE of 16 March, pp.11/12), and while agreement might be reached with the Council on market abuse before June, the negotiations over prospectuses are likely to take longer. The Commission comments that "the CESR will need to begin work on market abuse and prospectuses now if the EU is to meet the 2003 target date for full integration of European securities markets, set by European leaders at the Stockholm European Council in March 2001 and endorsed at the Barcelona European Council, which called this month for rapid progress." In a press release, the Commission adds that "Any work done by the CESR at this early stage shall be without prejudice to the negotiations on the final texts of the two Directives. The Commission will only issue formal mandates for technical advice to the CESR once the two Directives have finally been adopted.
The provisional requests for technical advice is available on the web at http: //europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/finances/mobil/index.htm