-At a meeting of the Council in Brussels on 5 November, the EU Finance Ministers reached a political agreement on the Prospectuses Directive. Other points discussed related to the ongoing negotiations on the Directive of Savings Taxation with Switzerland and the Report of the Jaap Winter Group on corporate governance.
Prospectuses
The Council agreed that issuers of non-equity securities with a denomination of at least 5000 euros and third-country issuers shall have the freedom to choose the home Member State when issuing a prospectus.
For an issuer in the Community, a non-equity securities other than bonds with a denomination per unit below 5000 euros, the home Member State shall be the Member State where its registered office is.
Taxation of Savings
Commenting after the meeting, Mr Bolkestein said 'the Swiss Government has offered to impose a withholding tax, called a 'retention tax'. The tax at a rate of 35 per cent should be imposed from the first of January 2004, on condition that Luxembourg, Austria and Belgium also apply a withholding tax at the same rate during the transitional period.'
Nonetheless, Mr Bolkestein does not consider this offer to be considered as an ‘equivalent’ measure.
High-level Group of Company Law Experts
The chairman of the Group, Jaap Winter, made an oral presentation of the main recommendations of the Groups Final Report. The Council requested the Economic and Finance Committee to examine the Group's report with a view to reporting back to the Council at a future meeting.
ECOFIN results – provisional version
Commission press release
© Council of the European Union
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