Members of the European Parliament will vote on the Level 2 implementation measures of the European Commission‘s transparency directive (TD) in October, according to EU officials. Patrick Starkman, national representative at the Parliament, said measures, which were finally published by the Commission in May, will be debated by MEPs on their return from summer break in August. Industry officials have criticized the timing of the Commission’s decision to publish the Level 2 draft just before MEPs left for their summer break. The Commission expects member states to have its TD written into their laws by mid-October (CR, 6/5). It is normal for MEPs to be given three months to debate new legislation. Many believe this target will be missed because of the limited time allotted to debating the measures in Parliament.
A TD implementation date for the industry is yet to be decided. The Commission has consulted on a number of the TD implementing measures, which must be implemented into national law by all member states no later than Jan. 20, 2007. Several European countries are believed to be experiencing problems writing EU directives into law because of their slow legislature procedures (CR, 7/17). Catherine Bunyan, spokeswoman at the Commission, said the directive should be approved by fall.
The Commission proposed the idea of the TD in March 2003 to regulate what kind of information firms have to disclose to the public and how that information is stored. It is a Lamfalussy style directive. Established in 2001, the Lamfalussy process is a way of speeding up securities legislation and was proposed by Belgian central banker Alexandre Lamfalussy. The TD does not contain all of the provisions setting out the detail in the text of the directive itself and this detail will be included in the implementing measures adopted by the Commission. Starkman said he expects few changes to be made to the directive as it enters its final lap of the legislature process.