WRITTEN QUESTION P-0840/01

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(13 March 2001)

Subject: Securities Committee and national legislation

In the context of the recent proposals for a Securities Committee by the Lamfalussy Group of Wise Men, will the Commission list those Member States in which there is a provision for secondary, implementing or delegated legislation at the level of national legislatures, and secondly, will it describe the system of parliamentary oversight in each case?

Will it in particular state whether the legislature enjoys the right to reject regulations adopted by the authorised committee either under a positive or negative resolution procedure (i.e. voting to accept regulations, or voting against regulations that have been laid down)?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(26 April 2001)

The Commission has not carried out any study in an official capacity but the information that it currently possesses on national legislation in the field of securities indicates that all Member States' legislative systems provide for delegation of some kind.

This delegation of powers is usually derived from the main framework legislation approved by the national Parliaments and may be granted to:

- the Government (e.g. Belgium, Spain and France);

- the Ministry of Finance (e.g. Spain, Luxembourg, Austria and Finland);

- the independent national supervisory authorities (e.g. the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores in Spain, the Consob in Italy and the Financial Services Authority in the United Kingdom).

In some cases, the framework legislation gives the Government/Ministry of Finance the right to delegate subsequently to the independent national supervisory authorities (e.g. the Commission des Opérations de Bourses in France, the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores in Spain).

The legal texts approved by governments, ministries or national supervisory authorities according to this delegation of powers are usually mandatory and come into effect after publication.

The type of parliamentary oversight varies across Member States and also according to whom the power is delegated.

The power to oversee the exercise of delegated powers varies across the Member States.

Member States' legislative systems provide the possibility for national Parliaments to delegate powers to the executive and/or to the regulators. In these cases, the national Parliaments are entitled, in general, to verify that the exercise of those delegated powers does not exceed the scope decided in the original legislative act approved by the Parliament. Member States do this in a range of different ways.

In some cases, the exercise of these delegated powers requires that the Government/Ministry of Finance or the independent national supervisory authorities follow a fixed procedure (e.g. in Spain, the Advisory Committee of the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores has to report on the draft proposals prepared by the Government, the Ministry of Finance and the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores to ensure that third parties interested in the issue have been consulted in the process). Compliance with these requirements is also overseen by the respective Parliaments.

In Belgium and France, for example, the Securities Commissions may receive delegated powers from the government. Decrees adopted in execution of these powers need formal approval by the Ministry of Finance in order to come into force.