The European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) has published its consolidated report of compromise amendments for Omnibus II. The report sets out the European Parliament’s proposal for the Solvency II Framework Directive ahead of its discussions with the European Commission and the Council of the European Union.
A full summary of the report is beyond the remit of this update, however it is worth noting that the report retains the proposed split implementation dates and phasing-in requirements for Solvency II. This, in a nutshell, means that the requirement that Member States transpose Solvency II into national law by 1 January 2013, along with the requirement that all companies comply with the Solvency II requirements from 1 January 2014, remain in effect.
ECON’s report also sets out provisions relating to transitional periods along with a number of proposals relating to the requirements for equivalence of regulatory regimes (including an interesting five-year temporary equivalence provision, based on certain conditions).
While some commentators believe that the report is not comprehensive enough and may lack ‘workable’ solutions, one benefit of the ECON update is that it sets out in clear terms the European Parliament’s framework for Solvency II ahead of the negotiations between the Parliament, the Commission and the Council of the European Union. These negotiations are due to take place over the coming months.
