-The Regulation on International Accounting Standards was adopted in Parliament subject to a number of amendments. The rapporteur Lord Inglewood looked forward to both Council and the Commission agreeing with the thrust of the amendments, so that the legislation could be adopted at first reading. He expressed the hope that the USA would later follow suit and adopt the standards.
The Commission will identify and adopt the latest by the end of 2002, with the assistance of an accounting regulatory committee, the precise IAS model(s) it deems best suited to the EU's needs. Adopted international accounting standards shall then be published in full in each of the official languages of the Community, as a Commission regulation, in the Official Journal.
Parliament believed it should be left to Member States to choose whether to require non-traded companies to publish financial statements in accordance with the same set of standards as those for publicly-traded companies.
Member States should also be allowed to exempt certain companies temporarily from the requirement to apply IAS. However, this exemption would only be allowed until 2007.
Furthermore, the Commission would have an important role to play in the future setting of standards and, through a consultative committee, would maintain close contacts with companies affected.
On behalf of the Economic Committee, Marianne Thyssen took up the case of the impact on SMEs and wanted to know precise details as to how national authorities could deal with them.
Replying to the debate, Commissioner Bolkestein said he could accept all of the amendments, except for one which was on a procedural issue and he too hoped that legislation could be adopted in a single reading and give a boost to moves towards creating a single European integrated capital market by 2005.
The proposals under discussion would enable the EU to take a lead in setting international accounting standards. He undertook to press the US authorities to come on board with the new standards in his forthcoming visit to Washington in May. These would help reassure investor confidence through quality reporting, post-ENRON, by providing investors with reliable comparative information on companies.
Bolkestein reassured that discussions would be taking place to look at the impact on SMEs and the requirements here.
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