IP/09/1633

Brussels, 29 October 2009

Financial services: Commission takes action against Spain (anti-money laundering), Estonia (statutory audit) and Luxembourg (market abuse)

The European Commission has decided to refer Spain to the European Court of Justice over its failure to lay down effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties in national law in relation to the EU Regulation on payer information accompanying transfers of funds. The Commission will also refer Estonia to the Court of Justice over non-implementation of the Statutory Audit Directive. Finally the Commission will send a formal request to Luxembourg concerning its implementation of the Market Abuse Directive. This formal request takes the form of a "reasoned opinion", the second stage of the infringement procedure laid down in Article 226 of the EC Treaty. If there is no satisfactory reply within two months, the Commission may refer the matter to the European Court of Justice.

Anti-money laundering – Payer information accompanying transfers of funds –Spain

The Regulation to tighten controls of money transfers in order to cut off funding sources for terrorists and other criminals was adopted in 2006. In order to ensure the traceability of money transfers, the Regulation requires that money transfers be accompanied by the identity of the sender including the name, address and account number. The information will be immediately available to the appropriate law enforcement authorities to assist them in detecting, investigating and prosecuting terrorists and other criminals and tracing their assets.

Although the Regulation is directly applicable in Member States, it provides for the obligation of Member States to lay down and notify to the Commission effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties in national law for failure to comply with the provisions of the Regulation, applicable as of 15 December 2007.

Statutory Audit Directive – Estonia

Directive 2006/43/EC on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts overhauls regulation of the audit profession to increase the quality of audits in Europe following corporate scandals in the past. In particular, it introduces a requirement for each Member State to establish systems of external quality assurance and public oversight of the audit profession and provides for measures to improve co-operation between regulatory authorities in the EU. The Directive also sets out a number of ethical principles to ensure the independence and objectivity of statutory auditors and clarifies their duties.

The deadline for transposition of Directive 2006/43/EC expired on 29 June 2008.

Market Abuse Directive – Luxembourg

The Commission has decided to send Luxembourg a reasoned opinion regarding incorrect transposition of Articles 12 and 14 of the Market Abuse Directive (Directive 2003/6/EC relating in particular to insider dealing and price manipulation). The Luxembourg law of 9 May 2006 does not give the competent authority, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), investigatory powers or the power to impose sanctions, despite the fact that the Directive requires it to do so.

More specifically, the CSSF may only carry out on-site inspections of persons under prudential supervision and not, for example, of issuers of financial instruments. Moreover, no administrative penalties may be imposed for market abuse by non‑professionals.

The latest information on infringement proceedings concerning all Member States can be found at:

http://ec.europa.eu/community_law/index_en.htm