EP Draft Report on Transparency Directive

19 September 2003

According to the rapporteur Peter Skinner, quarterly reporting is simply not the appropriate mechanism for ensuring well-functioning financial markets that require the dissemination of reliable company information in a timely fashion. The rapporteur proposes a qualitative approach, rather than one which relies merely on frequency of information provision.

Furthermore, quarterly reporting is also a costly mechanism that would create a focus on short-term earnings performance rather than on a company's longer-term strategy.

Finally, the proposed date of 1 January 2005 should be delayed – at least for the key Articles 4 and 5 of the Transparency Directive - as the IAS will have to be implemented by 2007. Compliance with both new sets of rules would be extremely burdensome.

Draft report

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