On track towards adopting the ISD?

Mattias Levin, Research Fellow, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)

On 7 October, the Ecofin Council voted on the Commission’s draft proposal for revising the 1993 Investment Services Directive (ISD). The vote occurred after nearly a year of lengthy and heated discussions and was achieved only by voting down five member states. This illustrates the importance of the ISD and the level of controversy the Commission’s proposal in general, and its transparency provisions in particular, has generated. On this key controversial item, the Council amends the Commission proposal but accords less freedom to investment firms compared to the European Parliament (EP). Despite this conclusion of the first round of negotiations, the ISD’s adoption is far from a foregone conclusion. It remains to be seen whether the Council and the EP can bridge their divisions.