The European Commission is holding a public consultation to seek views from all interested parties on their experience of Regulation 1606/2002 (“the IAS Regulation”). The results of this public consultation will feed into the European Commission’s evaluation of the IAS Regulation.
The IAS Regulation states that the IFRS must be applied to the consolidated financial statements of EU companies whose securities are traded on a regulated EU market. EU countries may extend the application of IFRS to consolidated financial statements and separate financial statements (view an update on the use of options in the EU). The Transparency Directive (2004/109/EC), as subsequently amended, also stipulates that all issuers (including non-EU ones) whose securities are listed on a regulated market located or operating in an EU country must use IFRS.
Applying internationally accepted standards – the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) – means standardising companies’ financial reporting to make financial statements more transparent and comparable. The ultimate aim is for the EU capital market and the single market to operate efficiently.
The Commission is evaluating the IAS Regulation to assess:
- IFRS’s actual effects
- how far they have met the IAS Regulation’s initial objectives
- whether these goals are still relevant
- any areas for improvement.
Any interested party – commercial, public, academic or non-governmental, including private individuals – can submit comments or contributions to the European Commission until 31 October 2014 (preferably English, otherwise French or German).
The consultation document and other relevant information can be found here. Contributions from interested parties will also be published there.
