EU wants to strengthen the rights of shareholders

The Confederation of Industry is monitoring a proposal for the EU Commission's Directive changing two former EU documents.

The European Parliament hasn’t yet passed a Commission proposal concerning the Directive on disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large companies and groups (KOM (2013)207), seen by the European business as highly controversial, and the Commission presented another proposal regulating the administration and management of these companies with the aim to improve the business environment and its transparency.

The new proposal KOM (2014) 213 changes the Directive 2007/36/ES on the shareholders‘ rights and their long-term engagement as well the Directive 2013/34/EU concerning the administration and management of the companies quoted on the Stock Exchange.

By its proposal, the Commission wants to increase the transparency of certain companies and the relevance, consistency, and comparability of the non-financial information, currently disclosed, by strengthening and clarifying the existing requirements.

The proposal‘s regulations should concern only the companies quoted on the Stock Exchange. It should guarantee that the shareholders could decide on policy concerning their remuneration and the annual reports on remuneration.