14.7.2007 Official Journal of the European Union L 184/17 DIRECTIVES DIRECTIVE 2007/36/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 11 July 2007 on the exercise of certain rights of shareholders in listed companies THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 44 and 95 thereof, 3) Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (?), Whereas: (1) In its Communication to the Council and the European Parliament of 21 May 2003, entitled ‘Modernising Company Law and enhancing Corporate Governance in the European Union — A Plan to Move Forward’, the Commission indicated that new tailored initiatives should be taken with a view to enhancing shareholders’ rights in listed companies and that problems relating to cross- border voting should be solved as a matter of urgency. (20 In its Resolution of 21 April 2004 (}), the European Parliament expressed its support for the Commission’s intention to strengthen shareholders’ rights, in particular through the extension of the rules on transparency, proxy voting rights, the possibility of participating in (1) O C 318, 23.12.2006, p. 42. (%) Opinion of the European Parliament of 15 February 2007 (not yet general meetings via electronic means and ensuring that cross-border voting rights are able to be exercised. Holders of shares carrying voting rights should be able to exercise those rights given that they are reflected in the price that has to be paid at the acquisition of the shares. Furthermore, effective sharcholder control is a pre- requisite to sound corporate governance and should, therefore, be facilitated and encouraged. It is therefore necessary to adopt measures to approximate the laws of the Member States to this end. Obstacles which deter shareholders from voting, such as making the exercise of voting rights subject to the blocking of shares during a certain period before the general meeting, should be removed. However, this Directive does not affect existing Community legislation on units issued by collective investment undertakings or on units acquired or disposed of in such undertakings. The existing Community legislation is not sufficient to achieve this objective. Directive 2001/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 May 2001 on the admission of securities to official stock exchange listing and on information to be published on those securities (*) focuses on the information issuers have to disclose to the market and accordingly does not deal with the shareholder voting process itself. Moreover, Directive 2004/109/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2004 on the harmonisation of transparency requirements in relation to information about issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market (°) imposes on issuers an obligation to make available certain information and documents relevant to general meetings, but such information and documents are to be made available in the issuer's home Member State. Therefore, certain minimum standards should be introduced with a view to protecting investors and promoting the smooth and effective exercise of share- holder rights attaching to voting shares. As regards rights other than the right to vote, Member States are free to extend the application of these minimum standards also to non-voting shares, to the extent that those shares do not enjoy such standards already. published in the Official Journal) and Council Decision of 12 June (Y OJ L 184, 6.7.2001, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Directive 2007. 2005/1/EC (O] L 79, 24.3.2005, p. 9). () O] C 104 E, 30.4.2004, p. 714. () O] L 390, 31.12.2004, p. 38.