EU News: 2009/12, No. 19  

On 23 September 2009, the European Commission presented legislative proposals to enhance supervision over the European Financial Sector. The proposals are based on a report by Jacques de Larosièr, the former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, and his recommendations, which define a more efficient and integrated supervisory framework that would operate on a cross-border, European level. The new supervision architecture focuses on future sustainable reinforcement of financial stability throughout the entire EU, harmonising rules and creating coherent supervisory practice and enforcement, identifying systemic risks in early stage, enhancing cooperation in extraordinary circumstances and resolving disputes, if any, between supervisory authorities.

Directive 2009/111/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 amending Directives 2006/48/EC, 2006/49/EC and 2007/64/EC as regards banks affiliated to central institutions, certain own funds items, large exposures, supervisory arrangements, and crisis management took force on 7 December 2009.

The Directive amendment applicable to capital requirements is primarily a response to shortcomings revealed by the financial crisis, one of them being the due functioning of the supervision over cross-border bank groups; the major changes thus do not involve only banks and other regulated parties, but the very regulators themselves. The other areas to which the amendment applies include exposure rules, liquidity risk management, application of hybrid capital instruments in capital management and the requirements for securitization transactions.

At the end of September, the European Commission published a draft list of sectors which could receive free of charge up to 100% of emission allowances even after 2013; in 2013, the European greenhouse gas emission trading system is to enter into a new stage in which the free-of-charge allocation of allowances based on the National Allocation Plans shall be replaced by the purchasing thereof in Europe-wide auctions. However, revised Directive 2003/87/ES approved within the climate-energy package in December of last year counts on some exemptions. One of them shall apply to industries which may, as a result of more stringent constraints, move outside of the EU to third countries in which climate protection is not that strict; such industry relocation would not only result in a loss for the EU economy but it would also negate the endeavours for emission reduction which would increase uncontrollably in such third countries.

Directive 2009/109/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September amending Council Directives 77/91/EEC, 78/855/EEC and 82/891/EEC, and Directive 2005/56/EC as regards reporting and documentation requirements in the case of mergers and divisions (published in Official Journal No. L 259) was adopted on 16 September 2009. It is yet another Commission measure to support business and enhance the competitiveness of companies by reducing the administrative burden and the costs resulting therefrom. The new legislation also leaves it up to the companies or their shareholders to decide what reports they actually need. The simplified reporting and documentation requirements is primarily reflected in the Third (78/855/EEC) and Sixth (82/891/EEC) Company Directive which apply to, and lay down the rules for, national mergers and divisions.

Judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-42/07- reference for a preliminary ruling - Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional, Bwin International Ltd, (Bwin) vs. Departamento de Jogos da Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa  (Santa Casa)

Decision by the Court of First Instance dated 23 September 2009 re. T‑183/07 Poland v the Commission of the European Communities and re T‑263/07 Estonia v the Commission of the European Communities

The Court of First Instance stated in the decisions referred to above that the European Commission has no right to order Member States on the amount of greenhouse gas emission allowances that they may issue in a given period. The Commission is therefore afraid of the verdict having a substantially adverse impact on the EU strategy for combating climate changes.