19 Member States Facing EU Action

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

05 August 2005

The European Commission announced on Wednesday that it has decided to pursue infringement procedures against 16 Member States for their failure to implement various Financial Services Directives.

The Commission will formally ask Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Cyprus, Latvia, Luxemburg, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom to quickly implement the necessary legislation in a total of 57 cases covering Directives on market abuse.

These requests will take the form of reasoned opinions, the second stage of the infringement procedure under Article 226 of the EC Treaty.

Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy explained that:

“Over the last six years we have made great strides towards a more open, integrated and competitive European financial market. However, some Member States are still lagging behind on the securities Directives. The Better Regulation agenda is not only about better rule making but also about better implementation, timely transposition into national legal systems and effective enforcement."

"Good rules that the Member States and the European Parliament have agreed which are not implemented on time are absolutely useless. Therefore, I hope these infringement procedures will encourage these Member States to act quickly and I strongly urge them to do so.”

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