Council agreement on Auditor Supervision Directive

07 December 2004

The Council adopted “a general approach” on the Statutory Audit Directive, proposed by the Commission in March 2004. The proposed Directive would clarify the duties of statutory auditors and foresees the use of international standards on auditing for all statutory audits conducted in the EU. Besides that, independent public supervision on auditors is obligatory in member states. The Directive would create an audit regulatory committee of Member State representatives, so that implementation stays up to date and is coherent across the EU.

The Council looks forward to reach an agreement with Parliament in a common first reading. The directive is expected to come into force in the middle of 2005. Member states then have 24 months to implement the directive into national legislation

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