Opinion of the Commission pursuant to Article 189B(2)(d) of the EC Treaty, on the European Parliament's amendments to the Council's common position regarding the proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive amending Council Directive 93/6/EEC on the capital adequacy of investment firms and credit institutions and Council Directive 93/22/EEC on investment services in the securities field
Date: 1997-07-10
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: comitology, credit institution, financial market, investment company, securities

COMMISSION  OF THE EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 

Brussels,  10.07.1997 
COM(97) 355 final 

95/ 0188  (COD) 

OPINION OF THE COMMISSION 
pursuant to Article  189 b (2) (d) of the EC Treaty, 
on the European Parliament's amendments 
to the Council's common position regarding the 

proposal  for a 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  AND COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 

amending Council directive 93/6/EEC 

on the capital adequacy of investment firms and 

credit institutions and Council directive 93/22/EEC on 

investment services in the securities field 

AMENDING  THE PROPOSAL OF THE COMMISSION 
pursuant to Article  189 a (2) of the EC Treaty 

1.  STAGE REACHED IN THE PROCEDURE 

a)  On  17 July  1995 the Commission adopted a proposal1 for the above mentioned 

directive, the aim of which is to set up the Securities Committee. 

b)  The European Parliament made a first reading of the proposal at its sitting on 9 

May  19962. 

c)  On 20 June  1996 the Commission  submitted an amended proposal3 in the light 

of Parliament's first  reading opinion. 

d)  On  16 December  1996 the Council adopted its common position4. 

e)  On 9 April  1997 the European Parliament adopted its second reading  opinion5, 

in which ten amendments are made to the common position. 

1 COM(95)360 final, OJ N° C 253, 29.9.1995, p. 19 

2O J N °C  152, 27.5.1996, p. 18 

3 COM(96)292 final, OJ N° C 221, 30.7.1996, p. 31 

4OJN°C69,5.3.1997,p. 1 

5 Text not yet published  in the Official  Journal 

£ 

2.  POSITION  TAKEN  BY  THE  COMMISSION  REPRESENTATIVE  AT  THE 

PLENARY  SITTING 

The  Commission  representative  accepted  amendment  N°  3  but  rejected  the  other 
nine amendments. 

3.  COMMISSION  OPINION  ON  THE  AMENDMENTS  VOTED  BY  THE 

EUROPEAN  PARLIAMENT 

a) 

Purpose of the  amendments 

Amendment  1 (Recital 5) 

It deletes references  to the advisory role of the Committee. 

Amendment  2 (Recital 6) 

This reflects  Parliament's  call for a change of committee procedure  from  variant  Illb 
in  the  common  position  to  variant  lib  (as  laid  down  in  the  Council  Decision 
87/373/EEC  of  13  July  19876  laying  down  the  procedures  for  the  exercise  of 
implementing powers conferred  on the Commission). 

Amendment  3 (new  Recital  6a) 

This adds a reference  to the  1994 "modus vivendi" between the three institutions7. 

Amendment 4 (Recital  10) 

It  deletes  the  reference  to  the  need  for  co-operation  between  the  Securities 
Committee and the Banking Advisory and Insurance  Committees. 

Amendment  5 (Article 1) 

This  amendment  reverses  the common  position's  objective  of  giving  the  Securities 
Committee  the  right  to  receive  certain  information  under  the  Capital  Adequacy 
Directive5. 

Amendment  6 ( Article  1) 

This amendment : 

•  deletes  the  requirement  for  the  Securities  Committee  to  adopt  its  own  rules  of 

procedure 

6O J N °L  197,  18.7.1987, p. 33 

7O J N ° C 2 9 3 , 8 . l l . l 9 9 5 , p.  I 

8O J N °L  141,  11.6.1993, p. I 

•  changes  the  type  of  committee  procedure  from  variant  Illb  (in  the  common 
position)  to  lib  for  the  exercise  of  implementing  powers  conferred  on  the 
Commission under the Capital Adequacy Directive. 

Amendments 7 and  10 (Articles  1 and 2) 

These  two  amendments  delete  the  common  position  wording  under  which  the 
Securities  Committee  is given a consultative role. 

Amendment 8 ( Article 2) 

This  amendment  reverses  the  common  position's  objective  of giving  the  Securities 
Committee  the  right  to  receive  certain  information  under  the  Investment  Services 
Directive9. 

Amendment 9 

This  amendment  changes  the type of committee  procedure  from  variant  Illb  (in  the 
common  position)  to  lib  for  the  exercise  of  implementing  powers conferred  on  the 
Commission  under the Investment Services Directive. 

b) Commission  position 

Amendments  2, 6 and  9 

The  Commission  cannot  accept  these  amendments.  It  considers  that  the  most 
appropriate  type  of  committee  procedure  for  exercise  of  the  implementing  powers 
under  the  Capital  Adequacy  Directive  and  the  Investment  Services  Directive  is 
variant  111(a).  It  considers  that  variant  111(b) (the  Council's  preference)  gives  too 
much power  to the Council  to block  decisions. On the other hand, variant  11(b) (the 
Parliament's  preference)  envisages  the  taking  of  decisions  on  an  emergency  basis, 
which  is  inappropriate  for  technical  modification  of  financial  services  directives. 
Procedure  type  Ilia  is  the  most  appropriate  solution  and  represents  the  correct 
balance between the extreme positions of the Council and the Parliament. 

As regards the Committee's need to adopt its own rules of procedure (amendment  6) 
the  rules  of  procedure  will  have  no  impact  on  the  role  of  the  Committee  in  the 
comitology  field  :  they  will  only  apply  to  the  work  of  the  committee  acting  in  a 
consultative  mode.  In  this  respect  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  directive 
setting up the Insurance Committee contains an identical requirement. 

Amendments  1, 7 and  10 

These  three  amendments  are  not  acceptable,  because  they  would  eliminate  the 
advisory  role  of  the  Committee.  This  however  is  an  essential  element  of  the 
proposal,  because the  Securities Committee will represent a useful  discussion  forum 
which  the  Commission  can  decide  (but  is  not  obliged)  to  consult  when  it  is 
envisaging possible new initiatives. 

OJ  N°  I.  141,  11.6.1993,  p.  27 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  both  the  Banking  Advisory  Committee  and  the 
Insurance  Committee  have  been  given  an  advisory  role 
to  a 
"comitoiogy" role. 

in  addition 

Amendment  3 

The  Commission  can  accept  this  amendment,  which  it  had  indeed 
expressly  in its amended proposal  following  Parliament's  first  reading  opinion. 

included 

Amendment  4 

This  amendment  deletes  reference 
the  Securities 
Committee  and  the  other  two  financial  services  committees  i.e.  the  Banking 
Advisory  Committee and the Insurance  Committee. 

to  co-operation  between 

The  Commission  cannot  accept  this  amendment  because  issues  frequently  arise 
which  are  of  common  interest  to  financial  services  firms  in  two  or  even  all  three 
sectors,  and  it  appears  only  sensible  to  consult  all  three  committees  in  a  concerted 
manner when that situation arises. 

Amendments 5 and  8 

These  two  amendments  are  not  acceptable,  because  the  two  basic  directives  (the 
Capital  Adequacy  Directive  and  the  Investment  Services  Directive)  were  drafted  in 
such a way that  as and  when the  Securities  Committee  was created  the  latter  would 
be supplied with certain  information  arising under the two directives. It was only  on 
a purely  temporary  basis that this  information  was to  be given to the  Council  itself, 
(see  for  example  article  7(1)  of  the  Investment  Services  Directive).  Once  the 
Securities Committee has been set up it in a necessary  and logical step to replace the 
previous temporary regime with the permanent one. 

ISSN 0254-1475 

COM(97) 355 final 

DOCUMENTS 

EN 

08  02 

Catalogue number  :  CB-CO-97-347-EN-C 

ISBN  92-78-22433-2 

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