L 158/196 Official Journal of the European Union 27.5.2014 DIRECTIVES DIRECTIVE 2014/56/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 16 April 2014 amending Directive 2006/43/EC on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 50 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (), Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (%), Whereas: (1)  Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council () lays down the conditions for the approval and registration of persons that carry out statutory audits, the rules on independence, objectivity and professional ethics applying to those persons, and the framework for their public oversight. However, it is neces- sary to further harmonise those rules at Union level in order to allow for greater transparency and predictability of the requirements applying to such persons and to enhance their independence and objectivity in the perform- ance of their tasks. It is also important to increase the minimum level of convergence with respect to the auditing standards on the basis of which the statutory audits are carried out. Moreover, in order to reinforce investor protection, it is important to strengthen public oversight of statutory auditors and audit firms by enhancing the independence of Union public oversight authorities and conferring on them adequate powers, including investiga- tive powers and the power to impose sanctions, with a view to detecting, deterring and preventing infringements of the applicable rules in the context of the provision by statutory auditors and audit firms of auditing services. (2)  Because of the significant public relevance of public-interest entities, which arises from the scale and complexity of their business or from the nature of their business, the credibility of the audited financial statements of public- interest entities needs to be reinforced. Consequently, the special provisions for the statutory audits of public- interest entities set out in Directive 2006/43/EC have been further developed in Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (). The provisions on statutory audits of public- interest entities laid down in this Directive should be applicable to statutory auditors and audit firms only in so far as they carry out statutory audits of such entities. () 0JC191,29.6.2012, p. 61. () Position of the European Parliament of 3 April 2014 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and decision of the Council of 14 April 2014. () Directive 2006/43[EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on statutory audits of annual accounts and conso- lidated accounts, amending Council Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC and repealing Council Directive 84/253/EEC (O] L 157, 9.6.2006, p. 87). (*) Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on specific requirements regarding statu- tory audit of public-interest entities (see page 77 of this Official Journal).