Luxembourg, 03/06/2003 (Agence Europe) - The EU15 Finance Ministers are calling on the United States for a moratorium on application of the Sarbane-Oxley law on European audit firms, in order to negotiate a mutual recognition agreement for audits. The law in question, which makes it an obligation for European audit firms to register with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) in the United States is binding, costly and of no purpose, they say in a declaration adopted on Tuesday at the Ecofin Council. Supporting the approach made by Commissioner Frits Bolkestein to the US authorities, they call for European companies to obtain "complete derogation" as the EU and the Member States have "already set in place, or are in the process of setting in place, a regulation on audits and corporate governance which provides the same level of protection for investors as that defined by the Sarbane-Oxley law". Ministers welcome the changes made by the PCAOB to take the EU's objections into account, but consider as "unacceptable" the legal implications of certain "PCAOB registration procedures", such as PCAOB control of European audit firms, inspections, sanctions and access to confidential documents of European audit firms. Ministers therefore call upon the PCAOB to review its proposal and to agree to negotiate a moratorium with the EU for negotiating a mutual recognition agreement on controls in the country of residence of audit firms. "To this end, the Ecofin Council calls on the European Commission to pursue negotiations on behalf of the EU with the PCAOB and the SEC (Security and Exchange Commission)".
The EU can foresee organising an international ministerial conference this autumn in order to examine the possibilities of an international mutual recognition agreement.