Past Projects / HARMONISATION OF RIGHTS EVIDENCED BY BOOK-ENTRIES

In the activities of the EFMLG, the absence of a harmonised legal regime governing the holding and transfer of financial instruments in the EU has received particular attention. As a result, the EFMLG has published a Report in which it makes several recommendations.

EFMLG recommendations:

• The EFMLG supports the Giovannini Group’s proposal for an EU Securities Account Certainty project.
• Community legislative action should be taken to harmonise the legal regime governing the holding and transfer of financial instruments by way of book-entries in the EU.
• A statutory dematerialised holding regime based on book-entries, allowing for transfers of financial instruments under terms harmonised to a sufficient extent so that their differences no longer constitute barriers to cross-border trading, would be instrumental to take full advantage of the effects of such harmonisation measure and of the huge advances in computer technology.

As explained in the Report, the EFMLG firmly believes that this reform project is not only highly desirable for the internal market for financial instruments, but that it is also technically feasible.

REPORT: Harmonisation of the legal framework for rights evidenced by book-entries in respect of certain financial instruments in the European Union (June 2003) [pdf, 108 Kb]