The European Commission (Commission) has published a communication outlining its work programme for 2017. The communication is addressed to the European Parliament, the Council of the EU, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Alongside the communication, the Commission has published a Q&A document, together with the following Annexes:
- Annex I : New initiatives;
- Annex II : Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT) initiatives;
- Annex III : Priority pending proposals;
- Annex IV : Withdrawals; and
- Annex V : Repeal.
Among the new initiatives it is noted that a mid-term review (Q2 2017) will take stock of progress on the implementation of the Capital Markets Union and identify potential additional measures required to improve the financing of the EU economy. New measures will include a framework for an EU personal pension product, a REFIT revision of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation, an action plan on retail financial services and additional delegated legislation to facilitate funding of infrastructure corporates by institutional investors.
The Commission has also published a document that summarises the legislation that will become applicable in 2017. From a financial services perspective this includes:
- Regulation (EU) 2015/2365 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on transparency of securities financing transactions and of reuse and amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 (date of application 13 January 2017); and
- Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on specific requirements regarding statutory audit of public-interest entities and repealing Commission Decision 2005/909/EC (date of application 17 June 2017).
View European Commission 2017 work programme: financial services aspects, 25 October 2016
