Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein said "In an environment in which the great majority of securities are a lready held in electronic form, a world-wide agreement on a common legal formula to determine proprietary rights will stimulate cross-border activity, not only at EU level but on a global scale, and will become an important factor in promoting the internationalisation of financial markets".
The Convention was negotiated within the Hague Conference, a worldwide intergovernmental organisation which works for a progressive unification of the rules of private international law. The final text was agreed on December 13, 2002.
The Convention belongs to the so-called "mixed type" group of Conventions to which both the Community and the Member States are parties. Member States have called for its rapid approval and entry into force.
The Community's approval of the Convention is to be carried out in two steps, first "signature" and then "accession", or ratification. This second step will be based on a Council Decision requiring the approval of the European Parliament.
Following the signature of the Convention, the Commission will put forward a proposal for the necessary Council Decision and at the same time, proposals to amend the Directives affected.
The Commission hopes that ratification can be completed in 2004 or early 2005.
The full text of the proposal is available on the Commission's Europa website:
