16. 3. 79 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 66/21 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COUNCIL COUNCIL DIRECTIVE of 5§ March 1979 coordinating the conditions for the admission of securities to official stock exchange listing (79/279/EEC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Articles 54 (3) (g) and 100 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commis- sion (1), Having regard to the opinion of the European Parlia- ment (2), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), Whereas the coordination of the conditions for the admission of securities to official listing on stock exchanges situated or operating in the Member States is likely to provide equivalent protection for investors at Community level, because of the more uniform guarantees offered to investors in the various Member States ; whereas it will facilitate both the admission to official stock exchange listing, in each such State, of securities from other Member States and the listing of any given security on a number of stock exchanges in the Community ; whereas it will accordingly make for greater interpenetration of national securities markets and therefore contribute to the prospect of esta- blishing a European capital market ; Whereas such coordination must therefore apply to securities, independently of the legal status of their issuers, and must therefore also apply to securities (1) OJ No C 56, 10. 3. 1976, p. 3. () O] No C 238, 11. 10. 1976, p. 38. () OJ No C 204, 30. 8. 1976, p. S. issued by non-member States or their regional or local authorities or international public bodies; whereas this Directive therefore covers entities not covered by the second paragraph of Article 58 of the Treaty and goes beyond the scope of Article 54 (3) (g) while directly affecting the establishment and functioning of the common market within the meaning of Article 100 ; Whereas there should be the possibility of a right to apply to the courts against decisions by the competent national authorities in respect of the application of this Directive, although such right to apply must not be allowed to restrict the discretion of these auth- orities ; Whereas, initially, this coordination should be suffi- ciently flexible to enable account to be taken of present differences in the structures of securities markets in the Member States and to enable the Member States to take account of any specific situa- tions with which they may be confronted ; Whereas, for this reason, coordination should first be limited to the establishment of minimum conditions for the admission of securities to official listing on stock exchanges situated or operating in the Member States, without however giving issuers any right to listing ; Whereas, this partial coordination of the conditions for admission to official listing constitutes a first step towards subsequent closer alignment of the rules of Member States in this field,