Article 31 of the 17 May 2006 Statutory Audit Directive requires that the European Commission studies ‘the impact of current national liability rules of the carrying out of statutory audits on European capital markets and on the insurance conditions for statutory auditors and audit firms, including an objective analysis of the limitations of financial liability. The Commission shall, where appropriate, carry out a public consultation. In the light of that report, the Commission shall, if it considers it appropriate, submit recommendations to the Member States.â In September 2006, the results of an independent study by the consultancy firm London Economics were published by the Commission and a public consultation followed up in January 2007.
Despite this growing number of Member States and the support for reform expressed in the public consultation of the Commission, some still oppose much needed action at EU level (less than 30% of the 85 respondents to the public consultation) and FEE is concerned that the factual evidence and findings of the independent study by London Economics (LE) are being ignored.
Related files:
FEE Factsheet
