Commission Regulation (EC) No 1569/2007 of 21 December 2007 establishing a mechanism for the determination of equivalence of accounting standards applied by third country issuers of securities pursuant to Directives 2003/71/EC and 2004/109/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation lays down the conditions under which the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles of a third country may be considered equivalent to International Financial Reporting Standards (hereinafter IFRS) and introduces a mechanism for the determination of such equivalence.

Article 2

Equivalence

The Generally Accepted Accounting Principles of a third country may be considered equivalent to IFRS adopted pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 if the financial statements drawn up in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles of the third country concerned enable investors to make a similar assessment of the assets and liabilities, financial position, profit and losses and prospects of the issuer as financial statements drawn up in accordance with IFRS, with the result that investors are likely to make the same decisions about the acquisition, retention or disposal of securities of an issuer.

Article 3

Equivalence mechanism

The decision on the determination of the equivalence of the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles of a third country may be taken on the initiative of the Commission, upon application submitted by the competent authority of a Member State or upon application of an authority responsible for accounting standards or market supervision of a third country.

Where the Commission decides to make a determination of equivalence, whether on an application or on its own initiative, it shall make that decision public.

Article 4

Conditions for the acceptance of third country accounting standards for a limited period

Third country issuers may be permitted to use financial statements drawn up in accordance with the accounting standards of a third country in order to comply with obligations under Directive 2004/109/EC and, by derogation from Article 35(5) of Regulation (EC) No 809/2004, to provide historical financial information under that Regulation for a period commencing any time after 31 December 2008 and expiring no later than 31 March 2016 in the following cases:

(a) the third country authority responsible for the national accounting standards concerned has made a public commitment to converge these standards with International Financial Reporting Standards at the latest by  31 March 2016 and both the following conditions are met: (i) the third country authority responsible for the national accounting standards concerned has established a convergence programme that is comprehensive and capable of being completed before  31 March 2016; (ii) the convergence programme is effectively implemented, without delay, and the resources necessary for its completion are allocated to its implementation;

(b) the third country authority responsible for the national accounting standards concerned has made a public commitment to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards before  31 March 2016 and effective measures are taken in the third country to secure their timely and complete implementation by that date.

Article 5

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.