Common Position (EC) No 9/2000 of 29 November 1999 adopted by the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, with a view to adopting a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 77/780/EEC on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the taking-up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions
C 26/12 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 28. 1. 2000 COMMON POSITION (EC) No 9/2000 adopted by the Council on 29 November 1999 with a view to adopting Directive 2000/ /EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of laws, regulations and amending Council Directive 77/780/EEC on the coordination of the business of credit administrative provisions relating to the taking-up and pursuit of institutions (2000/C 26/02) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, (4) Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the first and third sentences of Article 47(2) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1), Directive 1999/ /EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of on the taking-up, pursuit and the business of electronic prudential electronic money money institutions; supervision of institutions (6) defines (5) it is necessary for electronic money to be redeemable to ensure bearer confidence, Having regard to the opinion of Committee (2), the Economic and Social HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank (3), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (4), Whereas: (1) (2) (3) in accordance with the objectives of the Treaty, desirable the activities of credit Community, electronic money; it is to promote harmonious development of the institutions in particular as regards the issuance of throughout certain institutions limit their activity primarily to the issuance of electronic money; to avoid any distortion of competition between electronic money issuers, even as it is regards application of monetary policy measures, to suitable advisable that these institutions, specific provisions taking into account their special characteristics, be brought within the scope of Council Directive 77/780/EEC (5); subject is advisable, it to extend to these institutions the definition of credit institutions provided for in Article 1 of Directive 77/780/EEC; consequently, (1) OJ C 317, 15. 10. 1998, p. 12. (2) OJ C 101, 12. 4. 1999, p. 64. (3) OJ C 189, 6. 7. 1999, p. 7. (4) Opinion of the European Parliament of 15 April 1999 (OJ C 219, 30. 7. 1999, p. 421), common position of the Council of 29 November 1999 and Decision of the European Parliament of (not yet published in the Official Journal). (5) OJ L 322, 17. 12. 1977, p. 30. Directive as last amended by Article 1 Directive 77/780/EEC is hereby amended as follows: 1) Article 1, first indent, shall be replaced by the following text: á- credit institution means: (a) an undertaking whose business to receive deposits or other repayable funds from the public and to grant credits for its own account; or is (b) an electronic money institution within the meaning European the of Directive Parliament and of the Council of on the taking-up, pursuit and prudential supervision of the business of electronic money institutions (*). 1999/ /EC of (*) OJ í. 2. The following Article shall be added to Title IV: Article 13a Article 3 of Directive 1999/ /EC shall apply to credit institutions. í Directive 98/33/EC (OJ L 204, 21. 7. 1998, p. 29). (6) OJ L 28. 1. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 26/13 Article 2 Article 3 1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive not later than (*). They shall immediately inform the Commission thereof. When Member States adopt these measures, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference on the occasion of their official publication. The methods of making such a reference shall be laid down by the Member States. This Directive shall enter publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities. into force on the day of its Article 4 This Directive is addressed to the Member States. Done at Brussels, 2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions of national law which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive. For the European Parliament For the Council The President The President (*) 18 months after the date of entry into force of this Directive. C 26/14 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 28. 1. 2000 STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL’S REASONS I. INTRODUCTION for a Directive On 22 September 1998, amending Council Directive 77/780/EEC on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the taking-up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions, based on Article 47(2) of the EC Treaty, in particular the first and third sentences thereof. the Commission forwarded to the Council a proposal The European Parliament gave its opinion on the first reading of the proposal on 15 April 1999. The Economic and Social Committee gave its opinion on 27 January 1999 and the European Central Bank gave its opinion on 18 January 1999. On 29 November 1999, the Council adopted its common position pursuant to Article 251 of the Treaty. II. ANALYSIS OF THE COMMON POSITION The common position is complementary to the common position on the Directive on the taking-up, the pursuit and the prudential supervision of the business of electronic money institutions. It defines electronic money institutions as credit institutions, thus submitting them to the provisions of the First and Second Banking Directives (Directives 77/780/EEC and 89/646/EEC) and thereby granting them the European passport. At the same time it creates a level playing field between different types of credit institutions. The common position fully incorporates Amendment 25 proposed by the European Parliament where the Article concerning the redeemability of electronic money is made applicable to all credit institutions. However, it was felt that the best technical means of doing this was by inserting a new Article 13a into the First Banking Directive, Directive 77/780/EEC. The article on implementation has been aligned with the common position on the Directive on the taking-up, pursuit and prudential supervision of the business of electronic money institutions. The recitals incorporate Amendment 24 proposed by the European Parliament and are for the rest unchanged compared to the Commission proposal. III. CONCLUSION The common position follows the Commission proposal and includes both amendments proposed by the European Parliament