WRITTEN QUESTION P-3697/01 by Jean-Maurice Dehousse (PSE) to the Commission. Accounting technical committee provided for in the proposal for a Regulation on the application of international accounting standards.
Date: 2002-01-09
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: access to information, accounting, anti-discriminatory measure, capital market, financing method, international standard, services company

4.7.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 160 E/163

The need for the developed countries and regional and international organisations (WTO, World Customs
Organisation (WCO), United Nationals Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), World Bank,
etc.) to provide the developing countries with technical assistance to build their capacity to apply the
Agreement has long been recognised. The Member States and the Commission have now been
contributing to technical assistance programmes for the developing countries for over twenty years.
Schemes cover a wide range of areas, such as drafting legislation and rules, the introduction of appropriate
procedures, the organisation of customs administrations or training for customs officials. Prompted by the
EU, the WTO Customs Valuation Committee last year adopted a work programme stepping up the
activities of all donors and providers of technical assistance in this field.

The Commission, in association with the Member States, will continue to give careful consideration to
requests for the extension of transition periods or reservations permitting the use of minimum values. At
the same time, however, it will insist that real efforts are made, that commitments given in the applicant
countries’ work programmes are honoured and that such derogations are limited in time. As the decision
of the Doha ministerial conference suggests, particular consideration will be given to the specific problems
of the least developed countries.

(2002/C 160 E/204)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3697/01

by Jean-Maurice Dehousse (PSE) to the Commission

(9 January 2002)

Subject: Accounting technical committee provided for in the proposal for a Regulation on the application

of international accounting standards

The proposal for a Regulation on the application of international accounting standards (1), which is
currently under discussion, is aimed at ensuring that European companies listed on regulated markets
establish their accounts in accordance with international accounting standards by 2005. Recital 8 of the
proposal stipulates that ‘an accounting technical committee will provide support and expertise to the
Commission in the assessment of international accounting standards’. It would appear that the Commission
has already given private economic operators responsibility for setting up and managing this committee.
The membership fees established by this European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) are such
that they are deterring organisations representing some economic sectors from applying for EFRAG
membership.

How does the Commission view the introduction of such discrimination on a financial basis?

Will the Commission take action to ensure that admission conditions are no longer discriminatory?

What guarantees can the Commission provide concerning the transparency of EFRAG’s work?

(1) OJ C 154 E, 29.5.2001, p. 285.

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein On behalf of the Commission

(1 February 2002)

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) is a private, independent organisation, set up
in April 2001 on the initiative of the European federations representing the main parties concerned with
financial reporting in the Union, in response to the invitation by the Commission in its Communication
on the Financial Reporting Strategy (1).

C 160 E/164

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.7.2002

The Commission has observer status on EFRAG’s Supervisory Board and Technical Accounting Committee,
which is referred to in Recital 8 of the proposal for a Regulation on the application of international
accounting standards. The Committee consists of a group of independent experts and can be consulted by
all parties concerned,
including EFRAG founding federations and national accounting standardisation
bodies.

When EFRAG was set up, the founding members ? the European Federation of Accountants (FEE), the
Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of Europe (UNICE), the European Banking Federation
(EBF), the European Savings Banking Group (ESBG), the European Cooperative Bankers’ Group (GEBC), the
European Insurance Committee (CEA), the European Federation of Accountants and Auditors for Small and
Medium-sized Enterprises (EFAA),
the European Association of Craft and Small and Medium-sized
Enterprises (UEAPME), the Federation of European Stock Exchanges (FESE) and the European Federation of
Financial Analysts’ Societies (EFFAS) ? agreed that EFRAG would be financed independently by annual
subscriptions. Independent organisations are commonly financed by members’ subscriptions. This method
of financing is not looked upon as financial discrimination.

At the meeting of the Supervisory Board on 20 September 2001, EFRAG’s chairman stated that he
intended to review the question of participation by organisations interested in EFRAG during 2002.

While acknowledging the independence of EFRAG, the Commission intends to ensure that it will be
possible for all parties concerned with financial reporting to express valid views on matters within their
purview. To that end, EFRAG has undertaken to publish agendas, minutes of meetings of the technical
accounting committee, its proposals and its calls for comments in order that any interested party can
express its opinions and views. EFRAG intends to establish a website in the coming months in order to
maximise access to this information. In the meantime, the information is available on the website of the
European Federation of Accountants (FEE) at www.fee.be.

(1) COM(2000) 359 final.

(2002/C 160 E/205)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3705/01

by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(17 January 2002)

Subject: Undertaking not to issue documents retrieved from the Circa database

According to various sources, including Dagens Nyheter of 24 February 2001, Swedish officials wishing to
gain access to the Circa database and obtain a password must sign an undertaking not to pass documents
retrieved from the database to anyone else.

As such material is necessary for monitoring the work of the Union, several Swedish officials, for instance
in the Ministry of Agriculture and the Board of Agriculture, have signed such an assurance.

But Swedish officials cannot give any such undertaking, for, under Sweden’s legislation on the disclosure of
information, any documents received by members of working parties immediately become public
documents held by government offices or by the authority concerned. Requests for the issue of such
documents have to be considered under Swedish rules,
irrespective of whether the Commission has
marked them confidential or restricted. Anything else would constitute an infringement of Sweden’s Law
on Official Secrets and Law on the Freedom of the Press.

Does the Commission take the view that documents Swedish officials retrieve from Circa must be exempt
from the provisions of Sweden’s Law on Official Secrets and Law on the Freedom of the Press?