CESR consulteert toepassing van EU wetgeving

CESR publiceert consultatie-paper inzake consistente toepassing van EU-wetgeving

Deze consultatie wordt gehouden in het kader van Niveau 3 binnen de  Lamfalussy-benadering, genoemd naar de aanbevelingen uit 2001 van een comité van "Wijze Mannen" onder voorzitterschap van baron Alexandre Lamfalussy. Het doel van de aanbevelingen was om het wetgevend proces betreffende financiële diensten in de Europese Unie efficiënter en doelmatiger te maken.  De Lamfalussy-benadering, die zowel voor de effecten-  als de banken- en verzekeringssector is ingevoerd, onderscheidt vier niveaus. Niveau 1 en 2 betreffen het wetgevend proces. Binnen niveau 3 dienen de toezichthouders te zorgen voor een consistente toepassing van de wetten en regels, voor het uitvaardigen van aanbevelingen bij interpreaties, en voor het onderling vergelijken van de toezichtspraktijk. Het vierde niveau omvat de handhaving en de bewaking van het geheel.

Reacties op de consulaties kunnen uiterlijk op 1 juni 2004 naar CESR verzonden worden via hun website.  Op 11 mei a.s. vindt in Parijs een openbare consultatiebijeenkomst plaats.

Originele persbericht:

CESR proposes how to ensure consistent application of EU legislation (Level 3 under the Lamfalussy process)

CESR launches today a consultation paper (Ref. CESR/04-104b) seeking to engage market participants, consumers and end-users of financial services regulation in a discussion to establish how regulators can fully play their part in ensuring firstly, that there is greater consistency across Europe in the process of implementation (where CESR Members contribute towards the local transposition of European financial services legislation in their Member States), and secondly, to ensure greater EU-wide convergence through the application of this legislation (that is undertaken on a day-to-day basis through the exercise of their supervisory tasks).

As the European Union reaches the final stages of an ambitious programme to modernise Europe's Financial Services Legislation, with the ultimate goal of ensuring the single market in financial services is realised, the ability of regulators to fulfil their part in working towards the realisation of this objective becomes more critical.

Particularly, as consumers will need to be sure that they receive equivalent levels of protection across Europe and companies will need to know what they can expect in terms of regulation and that there is a level playing field across Europe.

The role of regulators in working towards the realisation of this objective was recognised by a Group of 'Wise Men' who proposed in June 2001 a new legislative approach for the revision of Europe's securities legislation, at the request of the Europe's Finance Ministers and which following approval by the European Parliament was introduced into the European Union's decision making processes. This established what is commonly known as the 'Lamfalussy Process'. This created a four level approach to the application of EU Financial Services legislation and established a role for CESR members to contribute to this legislative process both, in what is known as Level 2 of this process, where regulators are asked by the European Commission to provide advice during the development of EU legislation (known as technical implementing measures). And, in Level 3, which concerns a strengthened co-operation between (national) regulators to ensure consistent and equivalent transposition of Level 1 and Level 2 legislation.  The Lamfalussy framework envisaged an active role for CESR in the field of common and uniform implementation of EU legislation.

In particular, the Lamfalussy Report defined the role of CESR under the Level 3 as follows:

• To produce consistent guidelines for the administrative regulations to be adopted at the national level;
• To issue join interpretative recommendations and set common standards regarding matters not covered by EU legislation - where necessary, these could be adopted into Community law through a level 2 procedure;
• To compare and review regulatory practices to ensure effective enforcement throughout the Union and define best practice.

This paper explores how CESR members might fully exercise their responsibilities within the four level framework and establishes a number of proposals on how it can develop its role in Level 3 further whilst also recognising the need for CESR to co-ordinate its execution of this role with other key players such as the Member States, responsible for transposition of EU law into national legislation and, the role of the European Commission as 'Guardian of the Treaties', whose function includes enforcing by law any failure to implement legislation (Article 226 of the Treaty) under Level 4 of the legislative framework.

At present, CESR is working towards the fulfilment of this objective by producing administrative guidelines, interpretative recommendations, common standards, peer reviews, comparisons of regulatory practice to improve consistent application and enforcement of EU legislation or the CESR standards concerned. These existing Level 3 functions fall into three categories and the consultation paper sets out examples of work undertaken in each of these modes: the first being, co-ordinated implementation of EU law, the second includes regulatory convergence and the third includes supervisory convergence.