COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC AND MONETARY AFFAIRS
THE CHAIR
Under Embargo Until 12.15 CET
2 July 2003
2 July 2003
Financial Markets: Agreement on Prospectuses,
a good deal for companies, markets
Commenting on today's vote in the European Parliament's vote on the proposed directive on
prospectuses, the Chair of the European Parliament's Committee of Economic and Monetary
Affairs Christa RANDZIO-PLATH (PES/Germany) said:
"This is a very good result. After two years of constructive dialogue between the institutions, we
have managed to arrive at a final text that has been improved considerably as compared to the
initial proposal. The deal we struck with Council at second reading ensures that the main
concerns of the European Parliament have been taken on board. This concerns in particular the
measures introduced to prevent the rules from resulting in disproportionately high costs for
SMEs seeking to raise capital. The European Parliament was also successful in strengthening
investor protection, especially as regards retail investors. Small investors are unlikely to
plough through an entire prospectus, which is why it was important to the Parliament to ensure
that legal liability is also attached to the summary of the prospectus
The Parliament also managed to get the Council to agree to what in practice amounts to issuer
choice of competent authority for non-equity issues. The € 1000 threshold finally agreed should
cover most of the market.
I now call on the Council to go ahead and confirm its support for the amendments adopted by
the European Parliament, as the Commission has already done, so that the text can be finally
adopted before the summer break. This is a crucial piece of legislation which will represent a
major step forward towards an integrated financial market once adopted.
For further information, please contact: Christa Randzio-Plath on 02/284 54 43