09 November 2004

ESC Meeting 24 October

On the Level 2 mandate on eligible assets of the UCITS Directive some Delegations requested to circulate to the ESC delegations the legal opinion of the Commission’s Legal Service concerning the scope of comitology powers granted to the Commission. The Commission services explained this document is confidential. Nevertheless an extensive response articulating the Commission’s position had been sent to delegations reflecting the main arguments included in the opinion of the Commission’s Legal Service.

The delegations which consider that the draft mandate goes beyond the comitology powers provided for in the UCITS Directive repeated their concerns during the meeting. Some of them said that they are not convinced by the letter circulated by the Commission.

On the review of the Lamfalussy process it was said that improvements are needed especially with regard to the Consultative and Implementation processes to ensure they take fully into account better regulation principles, and that there is sufficient time for implementation and for market participants to adjust to the new rules.

Furthermore, the role of Level 3 and its relation to the other levels should be articulated more clearly. Priority should be given to the enforcement of all recently adopted FSAP Directives, and Level 4 should be strengthened through clear, practical arrangements.

Also, the mandate of the Inter-institutional Monitoring Group (IIMG) should be expanded to cover banking, insurance and occupational pensions. The ECB suggested that this also include wider issues such as supervision and financial stability – which require more and more a common approach throughout the entire financial services sector. CESR added that the new scope of the mandate of the IIMG should also be reflected in its composition.

Other issues discussed covered: