European Commission debates IFRS today and tomorrow
15 Jul 2003
The recognition of IFRS for financial reporting by listed companies in Europe will be discussed by two key European Commission groups that are meeting in Brussels over the next several days – the EU Council of Finance Ministers and the EU Accounting Regulatory Committee: At their meeting on 15 and 16 July, the EU Council of Finance Ministers (ECOFIN) will discuss implementation measures for the IAS Regulation 1606/2002 adopted by the European Union in June 2002. The Background Paper (PDF 159k) notes that the Council will have an exchange of views on the implementation of Regulation 1606/2002 at the request of the French delegation.
France has recently circulated a paper setting out what it considers to be problematic issues with regard to IAS 32 and 39. A press conference will be held following the ECOFIN meeting.
The second meeting this week will be that of the EC's Accounting Regulatory Committee (ARC), which is charged under the IAS Regulation with "endorsing" IFRS for use in Europe. The ARC has already met several times and meets again on 16 July. While it has not yet made any final implementation decisions on IASB standards, the ECOFIN paper notes that "important issues have been discussed, for example the necessary high quality of translation of all IAS into all EU languages and the question of the quality of IAS 32 and 39 in their current form (which is a topic of interest, especially for banks and insurance companies)".