On 11 February 2026, the European Commission (Commission) launched a public consultation and a call for evidence on the evaluation and potential review of the Shareholder Rights Directive.

Overview

On 19 March 2025, the Commission adopted its strategy for the Savings and Investments Union (SIU) and announced its intention to assess the need for, and consider carrying out, a potential review of the Shareholder Rights Directive by Q2 2026. This forms a key part of the Commission’s commitment to remove barriers to market integration and scale in the EU capital market, as highlighted by the SIU strategy, to achieve the European Union’s objective for a unified and competitive Single Market.

The general objective of this initiative is to boost the competitiveness of EU listed companies and simplify procedures for financial market participants by (i) improving corporate governance as regards the use of digital technologies and (ii) facilitating the flow of information and the exercise of rights between listed companies, intermediaries and shareholders by leveraging digital solutions.

The public consultation seeks views from companies, shareholders and investors and how revised rules can help unify EU capital markets . It also seeks views on how shareholder rights can be modernised to effectively address changes in market practices and technological developments.

Evaluation

In light of the evolving landscape of the exercise of shareholder rights since the adoption of the Shareholder Rights Directive enacted in 2007, and the Shareholder Rights Directive II in 2017, the evaluation will examine the Shareholder Rights Directive in terms of its effectiveness, relevance, efficiency, EU added value and coherence.

In particular, the evaluation will examine:

  • whether the Shareholder Rights Directive has achieved the objectives set at the time of its enactment (effectiveness);
  • the costs and benefits of the current rules for specific stakeholders and whether any simplification is needed (efficiency);
  • whether the Shareholder Rights Directive has responded to the needs and expectations of stakeholders (relevance);
  • the internal coherence of the shareholder rights framework and its external coherence with other EU/international instruments (coherence); and
  • the extent to which what has been achieved by the Shareholder Rights Directive could not have been achieved by Member States acting at national level (EU added value).

Impact assessment

The evaluation will be conducted in parallel with an impact assessment whereby the findings of the evaluation will feed into the impact assessment. The impact assessment will assess policy options in a number of areas which include , albeit not limited to, the identification of shareholders, the transmission of information, the exercise of shareholder rights, the transparency of institutional investors, asset managers and proxy advisors, and the format of general meetings and the rights exercised by shareholders in connection with those meetings.

Next steps

The specific policy options will depend on the outcome of the evaluation and the impact assessment, taking into account the criteria of effectiveness, efficiency and coherence. The results of all consultation activities will be presented in a synopsis report.

The public consultation and the call for evidence will run for 12 weeks, inviting feedback from stakeholders until 6 May 2026.

Upon announcing the Commission’s initiative, Michael McGrath, Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection said:

“Shareholders are the engines of growth, providing the capital, confidence, and long-term support companies need to expand and drive cross-border investment across the EU. This is why a clear and effective system for shareholder rights is essential; we want to hear directly from investors, innovators, and all stakeholders – what still holds our markets back, how can we break down barriers, and how can we build a simpler, fitter and more efficient system to boost the competitiveness of the EU.”