12 December 2001

EP Committee: Market Abuse Directive faces 50 amendments

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According to the report of Robert Goebbels, calling for 50 amemdments to the Commission proposal, one criticism is that the term 'information made public' apply to any information disseminated by traditional or electronic media. In that connection the following point must be made: The proposal for a directive nowhere seeks to restrict press freedom. All the media can continue their work of informing, investigating and commenting on all aspects of the financial markets. Verification of sources is an absolute ethical rule for all journalists. If a journalist nevertheless allows himself to be manipulated in connection with insider dealing or a market abuse, it must be the perpetrators of the offence who are prosecuted, not its unwitting messenger. For those reasons, the rapporteur proposes to delete the Commission proposal calling on member states to adopt specific provisions applicable to journalists.
Another concern is that the proposal for a directive proposes empowering the Commission to make technical modifications to the directive once it has been adopted. The rapporteur is in favor of developing 'secondary legislation' in some such way. But to authorize a committee of senior officials working under the authority of the European Commission to 'specify' the terms of certain proposals drawn up by a directive of the European Parliament and the Council has two serious implications: firstly, that the work of the Securities Committee must be conducted with the most complete transparency and after consulting all interested parties; and, secondly, the two legislative branches - Parliament and Council - must have the right to inspect the measures drawn up by the Commission on the basis of the work of the European Securities Committee so as to check whether there has been any infringement of the original legislative framework.
The report will be discussed in Committee on 19 December

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