11.12.2010 Official Journal of the European Union L 3271 (Legislative acts) DIRECTIVES DIRECTIVE 2010/73/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 24 November 2010 amending Directives 2003/71/EC on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading and 2004/109/EC on the harmonisation of transparency requirements in relation to information about issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market (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 Articles 50 and 114 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1), Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank (%), Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (%), Whereas: (1) The European Council agreed, at its meeting on 8 and 9 March 2007, that administrative burdens on companies should be reduced by 25% by the year 2012 in order to enhance the competitiveness of companies in the Union. (2) Some of the obligations provided for in Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (*) have been identified by the Commission as appearing to be excessively burdensome on companies. (3)  Those obligations need to be reviewed in order to reduce the burdens weighing on companies within the Union to the necessary minimum without compromising the protection of investors and the proper functioning of the securities markets in the Union. () Opinion of 18 February 2010 (not yet published in the Official Journal). () OJ C 19, 26.1.2010, p. 1. (°) Position of the European Parliament of 17 June 2010 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and decision of the Council of 11 October 2010. () OJ L 345, 31.12.2003, p. 64. (4)  Directive 2003/71/EC requires the Commission to make an assessment of the application of that Directive 5 years after the date of its entry into force and to present, where appropriate, proposals for its review. That assessment has revealed that certain elements of Directive 2003/71/EC should be amended in order to simplify and improve its application, increase its efficiency and enhance the inter- national competitiveness of the Union, thereby contributing to the reduction of administrative burdens. (5)  Following the conclusions of the report of the High-Level Group on Financial Supervision in the EU (the ‘de Larosiére report’), the Commission put forward concrete legislative proposals on 23 September 2009 in order to establish a European System of Financial Supervisors comprising a network of national financial supervisors working in tandem with new European supervisory authorities. One of those new authorities, the European Supervisory Authority (European Securities and Markets Authority), is to replace the Committee of European Securities Regulators. (6)  The way limits of maximum offering amounts are calculated in Directive 2003/71/EC should be clarified for reasons of legal certainty and efficiency. The total consideration for certain offers referred to in that Directive should be computed on a Union-wide basis. (7)  For the purposes of private placements of securities, investment firms and credit institutions should be entitled to treat as qualified investors those persons or entities that are described in points (1) to (4) of Section I of Annex II to Directive 2004/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on markets in financial instruments (°) and other persons or entities that are treated as professional clients, dor () OJ L 145, 30.4.2004, p. 1.