Now that this European Prospectus regime is more than a year old it seems valuable at this point for CESR to assess whether it is really working on the ground, and in particular whether it is contributing to the development of the single market for securities. As reconfirmed by the ECOFIN conclusions adopted on 5 May 2006 by the EU Finance Ministers, CESR´s main role to fully achieve the benefits of the single market is to promote supervisory convergence amongst Europe’s securities supervisors.
This exercise will enable CESR to determine whether its members are following the path of convergence after one year of application of the Prospectus regime (Prospectus Directive and Prospectus Regulation).
As a mechanism to foster supervisory convergence in the prospectus area CESR has already put in place a Q&A section in its website: “Frequently asked questions regarding Prospectuses: common positions agreed by CESR Members” (Q&A). This publication intends to provide market participants with CESR´s responses to “everyday” questions which are commonly posed to the CESR secretariat (prospectus@cesr.eu) and to CESR Members. CESR´s intention is to update the Q&A regularly with new questions or with modifications to the published common positions should this prove to be necessary.
The exercise CESR is undertaking now is different in the sense that it does not intend to provide answers to specific questions on the application of the Prospectus regime (which is the aim of the Q&A). Rather, CESR seeks views from market participants to enable it to make an overall assessment of said regime after one year of application.
Specifically, CESR would like to know whether market participants have found obstacles to the fluid functioning of the passport and/or divergent practices in Member States that pose a risk for the proper functioning of the single market. CESR is also interested to know if investors consider that the new Prospectus regime is enlarging the range of investment opportunities and providing an enhanced level of disclosure and protection.
