IPE: New IORP Directive to focus on 'harmonising' pensions systems

29 September 2011

According to Martin Merlin, head of the financial services policy unit of the Directorate-General for the Internal Markets and Services, the EU's new IORP Directive will focus on principles and harmonising existing pensions systems.

Merlin said IORP II would be "more comprehensive and wider ranging" and provide a better definition of cross-border activities. He added that the European Insurance and Occupational Pension Authority still needed to "flesh out" the new Directive.

He said one of the aims of the IORP was to cut cross-border costs for employers by simplifying the legal, regulatory and administrative environment – for which an impact assessment will be carried out. According to Merlin, following a public hearing about the IORP review in Brussels in March next year, the European Commission is expecting to launch its proposal in the third quarter of 2012.

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