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Ireland Consults On Simplification Of Financial Services Laws
by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London
13 September 2004

Ireland’s Department of Finance has taken out an advertisement in the national press inviting comments on how best to achieve simplification and consolidation of its financial services legislation.

According to the government, the new Bill is intended to complement the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland Acts 2003 and 2004, which established a new regulatory structure for the financial services sector.

The first phase of this project - an informal updating and consolidation of existing legislation - has been completed and is available on the Department of Finance website.

Among the goals of the new legislation are to:

  • Bring together in a single, modern legal text all of the primary legislation governing the regulation of the financial services sector (apart from the legislation related to company, tax etc issues).
  • Provide a legal framework for achieving the Government’s consumer protection and financial stability objectives in a way that does not impose a disproportionate burden on regulated entities
  • Facilitate the international competitiveness of the financial services sector
  • Conform to the principles set out in the Government’s Regulating Better White Paper (Necessity, Effectiveness, Proportionality, Transparency, Accountability, Consistency)
  • Reflect, in so far as possible, the single regulatory structure which has been put in place with the establishment of the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority and the Financial Regulator’s principles-based approach to regulation
  • Achieve a balance between the high-level principles appropriate to primary legislation and the more detailed requirements that should be laid down by the Financial Regulator using its statutory powers
  • Comply with the State’s obligations under EU law
In particular, the government is seeking responses on the following aspects:
  • Should the Bill lay down general regulatory principles applicable to all sectors, or continue with a modified version of the present sector-based approach?
  • Whether and how the overall burden on regulated entities, arising from the current legislative structure, might be reduced, while ensuring effective regulation and consumer protection
  • The balance between the provisions of the Bill and requirements laid down by the Financial Regulator
  • Technical deficiencies in existing legislation
The consultation period closes on 10 December 2004.

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