A representative of the Commission participated in the meeting of the Working Party “Company Law” at the Council of the European Union (EU) which took place on 5th October 2012 in Brussels under the chairmanship of the Republic of Cyprus in the presence of representatives of all Member States, the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU and the “Audit Policy” Department from Directorate General “Internal Market and Services” of the European Commission.

The hosts showed a presentation on the activities of the European Securities and Markets Agency in connection with the provisions for it that are included in the proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2006/43/EC on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts, and the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on specific requirements regarding statutory audit of public-interest entities.
Member States expressed reasonable concerns about the fact that the twenty-seven bodies of the Member States should transform their systems and structures in one system which does not ensure that the decision-making and the oversight for better audit quality will be provided. In addition, they agreed on the necessity for a directive, because it is a more appropriate regulatory tool, while a regulation could not be applied directly by the national systems. All were united around the idea of creating an integrated system, simplifying the standards, improving audit quality and a greater European cooperation.
In response, the representative of the European Commission said that the aim is to achieve effective results that are applicable and portable for transnational networks, and this would be done with a directive.