Brussels, 11/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission published a “Lamfalussy league table” on Member States' success in meeting deadlines for writing into national law 5 securities Directives adopted as part of the Financial Services Action Plan (FSAP) launched in 1999. The league table covers Directive 2003/6/EC on abuse of the market, three implementation Directives (Directives 2003/124/EC, 2003/125/EC and 2004/72/EC) and the Prospectus Directive (2003/71/EC). Nine Member States (Belgium, Cyprus, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, the UK and Sweden) have not yet transposed any of this legislation. Only three Member States (Germany, Denmark and Slovenia) have transposed all five. Twenty Member States have not fully transposed the Prospectus Directive, despite the 1 July 2005 'which could disrupt the smooth introduction of the "single passport for issuers", intended to make securities available to investors either through a public offer procedure or by admitting their shares to trading' notes the Commission. Sixteen Member States have failed to fully implement the market abuse directive (2003/6/EC) and its implementing measures for which the deadline was 12 October.
Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said: “Some Member States are still lagging behind on the securities Directives…I hope this league table will encourage these Member States to act quickly and I strongly urge them to do so.” The Commission will regularly update the league table and publish new league tables on other European directives, like the Transparency Directive 2004/109/EC and the Market in Financial Instruments Directive (“MiFID”, 2004/39/EC) for which the Commission recently suggested postponing the implementation deadline by six months. The publication of the Lamfalussy League Table is one part of a broader campaign to ensure adoption of the entire Financial Services Action Plan (FSAP). It forms part of a series of actions such as close monitoring of implementation, infringement procedures and transposition workshops that the Commission has launched in order to ensure effective application of the securities Directives.