Legal Certainty Group Conference

SOLUTIONS TO LEGAL BARRIERS RELATED TO POST-TRADING WITHIN THE EU

A Conference on the Second Advice of the Legal Certainty Group and on the Way Forward  

organised by Directorate General Internal Market and Services

BRUSSELS, THURSDAY, 23 OCTOBER 2008

The Legal Certainty Group is an advisory group which was set up by the European Commission in 2005 to advise on the law on holding and settlement of book-entry securities in Europe. The group is made up of 36 eminent legal experts from the post-trading industry, academia, legal practice and competent authorities and is chaired by the Commission which also provides the Secretariat.

The Legal Certainty Group delivered its First Advice together with a fact-finding study in July 2006. It has now produced its Second Advice to the European Commission which puts forward solutions to legal barriers related to the cross-border holding and settlement of securities. The solutions proposed are expected to lead to an improved and harmonised legal framework for holding and settlement of securities through intermediaries and for the processing of corporate actions. Furthermore, the report proposes to give issuers free choice between European Central Securities Depositories. Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said:

"Legal barriers make it much more complex to hold securities cross-border, and lead to higher costs for transactions and credit. In addition, they cause difficulties and uncertainty among investors when exercising their rights in corporate actions abroad. The Legal Certainty Group's work will help us to bring down these barriers. I particularly welcome the fact that the Group has addressed issues that could prove instrumental in making our post-trading market more competitive."

The Second Advice was presented at a Conference in Brussels, on 23 October 2008.

Conference programme

Chair: Mario Nava (Head of Unit, European Commission)

1.    Legal certainty of securities holding and settlement, cost and competitiveness
       Emil Paulis (Director, European Commission)

2.    The EU Commission's approach in addressing the legal Giovannini Barriers
        Konstantinos Tomaras (Principal Administrator, European Commission)

3.    Book-entry securities and corporate rights: the solutions to Giovannini Barriers 13 and 3 as proposed by the Legal Certainty Group (LCG)

1. The intermediated system and its legal intricacies in a cross-border context 
   Philipp Paech (National Expert, European Commission)

2. LCG Recommendations 1-11: How to eliminate legal inconsistencies in the cross-border settlement of book-entry securities
   Philippe Dupont (Partner, Arendt & Medernach, Luxembourg)

3. LCG Recommendations 12-14: How to eliminate barriers to crossborder exercise of corporate rights
   Agata Wacławik-Wejman (Polish-German Centre for Banking Law, Jagiellonian University of Crakow)

4. How Recommendations 1-14 would interconnect to other areas of law (company law, insolvency law, tax law, regulatory rules): two national examples: United Kingdom and France
   Habib Montani (Partner, Clifford Chance, London)
   Philippe Langlet (Head of Legal Department, Société Générale Securities Service, Paris)

5. How Recommendations 1-14 would tie in with the current global context
   Klaus Löber (Advisor, European Central Bank)

4.    Location of securities and choice of the issuer: the solutions to Giovannini Barrier 9 as proposed by the Legal Certainty Group

1. The European CSD landscape in transition
   Mario Nava (Head of Unit, European Commission)

2. Recommendation 15: the approach of the 2008 Advice
   Janne Lauha (Specialist Counsel, Castrén & Snellman, Helsinki)

5.    European and global harmonisation, its benefits and its price: Discussion Panel with experts not participating in the work of the Legal Certainty Group
        Chair:         Emil Paulis (Director, European Commission)
        Panelists:    Wim Hautekiet (Managing Director, The Bank of New York Mellon, London)
                          Iona J. Levine (Managing Director, LCH.Clearnet Group Limited)
                          Paul Symons (Head of Public Affairs, Euroclear, Brussels)
                          Luc Thévenoz (Professor of law, Centre of Banking and Financial Law, University of Geneva)
                          Eddy Wymeersch (Professor of law, Chairman of the Committee of European Securities Regulators)

6.     Analysis and conclusions
        Emil Paulis (Director, European Commission)