On July 11, the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) published a press release announcing that ECON has adopted a draft report on relationships between the EU and third countries concerning financial services regulation and supervision.

The report advocates a structured and practical framework for recognizing and supervising equivalent third-country frameworks, on the basis that the current EU process lacks certainty and sufficient transparency. According to the report, equivalence decisions should be taken via a delegated act of the European Union in order to allow for appropriate scrutiny by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, rather than being made unilaterally by the European Commission.

The European Parliament is now scheduled to consider the report in plenary in September. The European Parliament’s vote was previously postponed because it could have pre-empted its position on equivalence in light of Brexit negotiations.

ECON’s press release is available here.

The text of the draft report, published in April, is available here.