Summary of CESR Press Release on announcement of 4 key initiatives
OCTOBER 22, 2004

The Committee for European Securities Regulators (CESR) has announced the progress on 4 key initiatives of the capital markets agenda as it moves forward to ensure EU regulation takes into account the increasing global interdependency of financial markets.

As the measures introduced by the Financial Services Action Plan (launched in 2001) are finalised, Europe’s regulators, are working towards greater convergence and consistency in regulatory practices to ensure a smoother transition to the new regulatory regime for Europe’s financial services markets.

The initiatives include:

  • In the field of Investment Management, CESR has launched a consultation (at the request of market participants) on guidance for regulators on how to apply transitional provisions introduced by the UCITS III Directive.
  • With regard to the implementation of accounting standards, CESR has drawn up a concept paper which sets out, for consultation, how it intends to measure equivalence between Third Country GAAP and IAS/IFRS
  • CESR and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have announced the launch of a Trans-Atlantic Co-operation Initiative and have set out a ‘Statement of Intent to Develop an Action Plan on Cross Border Issues’
  • CESR has also opened for consultation its draft advice on the second set of mandates from the European Commission on the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID)

As part of this consultation process, CESR will host a conference in Paris on the 6 December 2004. The list of speakers includes senior figures from across the EU institutions such as the incoming Commissioner for the Internal Market, Charlie McCreevy, Gerrit Zalm, the Dutch Minister of Finance (and currently Chair of ECOFIN), Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the ECB, and the Chair of EMAC, Pervenche Berès. In addition, a wide range of key figures from Europe’s financial services industry will participate.

All the documents related to this press release can be viewed on the MFSA website at http://www.mfsa.mt/mfsa/cesr.htm or on the CESR website at www.cesr-eu.org

  • CESR is an independent Committee of European Securities Regulators. The role of the Committee is to:
  • Improve co-ordination among securities regulators;
  • Act as an advisory group to assist the EU Commission, in particular in its preparation of draft implementing measures in the field of securities;
  • Work to ensure more consistent and timely day-to-day implementation of community legislation in the Member States;
  • The Committee was established under the terms of the European Commission’s decision of 6 June 2001 (2001/1501/EC). It is one of the two committees envisaged in the Final Report of the group of Wise Men on the regulation of European securities markets, chaired by Baron Alexandre Lamfalussy. The report itself was endorsed by the European Council and the European Parliament. The relevant documents are available on CESR’s website.

Each Member State of the European Union has one member on the Committee. The members are nominated by the Member States and are the Heads of the national public authorities competent in the field of securities. The European Commission has nominated the Director General of the DG Market, as its representative. Furthermore, the securities authorities of Norway and Iceland are also represented at a senior level.