5.12.2006 Official Journal of the European Union L 337/17 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1787/2006 of 4 December 2006 amending Commission Regulation (EC) 809/2004 implementing Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards information contained in prospectuses as well as the format, incorporation by reference and publication of such prospectuses and dissemination of advertisements THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading and amending Directive 2001/34/EC ('), and in particular Article 7(1) thereof, Whereas: (") ) 0] 0] Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 July 2002 on the application of international accounting standards (?) requires companies governed by the law of a Member State, whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market of any Member State, to prepare their consolidated accounts in accordance with adopted inter- national accounting standards, now commonly referred to as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), for each financial year starting on or after 1 January 2005. Regulation (EC) No 809/2004 of 29 April 2004 imple- menting Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards information contained in prospectuses as well as the format, incor- poration by reference and publication of such prospectuses and dissemination of advertisements (%) requires that the historical financial information provided by third country issuers in prospectuses for offer of securities to the public or the admission of secu- rities to trading on a regulated market be prepared in accordance with IFRS adopted pursuant to Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 or with the national accounting standards of a third country equivalent to these standards. If historical financial information was L 345, 31.12.2003, p. 64. L 243, 11.9.2002, p. 1. () OJ L 149, 30.4.2004, p. 1; corrected by OJ L 215, 16.6.2004, p. 3. not drawn up in accordance with such standards it must be presented in the prospectus in the form of restated financial statements. However, Article 35 of Regulation (EC) No 809/2004 contains transitional provisions which, in certain limited cases, exempt third country issuers from the obli- gation to restate historical financial information which was not drawn up in accordance with either IFRS or accounting standards of a third country equivalent to IFRS. Under those transitional provisions, the obligation to restate historical financial information does not apply to any prospectus filed before 1 January 2007 by a third country issuer which has either prepared its historical financial information in accordance with internationally accepted standards, or which has prepared its historical financial information in accordance with the national accounting standards of a third country and has securities admitted to trading on a regulated market before that date. In the latter case, if the historical financial infor- mation does not give a true and fair view of the assets and liabilities, financial position and profit and loss of the issuer, that information must also be supplemented by such more detailed or additional information as is necessary to ensure that a true and fair view is given. Under Regulation (EC) No 809/2004 as currently drafted, those transitional exemptions will no longer apply in respect of prospectuses filed from 1 January 2007, and historical financial information which is not presented in accordance with either IFRS or equivalent third country accounting standards will have to be restated. Since the adoption of Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 many countries have adopted IFRS directly into their national accounting standards. This clearly demonstrates that one of the aims of this Regulation — namely to encourage the increasing convergence of accounting standards so that IFRS are accepted internationally and are truly global standards — is being fulfilled. Accordingly, it is appropriate that third country issuers should be exempt from the obligation to restate historical financial information prepared in accordance with national accounting standards, or to provide a narrative description of differences as referred to in Article 1(2)(5A) hereof, if, in accordance with IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements, they contain an explicit and unreserved statement that they comply with IFRS.