CHAPTER XIITRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 48Committee procedure
1.The Commission shall be assisted by a committee (hereinafter referred to as the Committee).
2.Where reference is made to this paragraph Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.
3.The Committee shall adopt its Rules of Procedure.
4.Without prejudice to the implementing measures already adopted, and except for the provisions laid down in Article 26, upon expiry of a two-year period following the adoption of this Directive and on 1 April 2008 at the latest, the application of its provisions requiring the adoption of technical rules, amendments and decisions in accordance with paragraph 2 shall be suspended. Acting on a proposal from the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council may renew the provisions concerned in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty and to that end they shall review them prior to the expiry of the period or date referred to above.
Article 49Amendment of Directive 78/660/EEC and Directive 83/349/EEC
1.Directive 78/660/EEC is hereby amended as follows:
(a)in Article 43(1) the following point shall be added:
‘separately, the total fees for the financial year charged by the statutory auditor or audit firm for the statutory audit of annual accounts, the total fees charged for other assurance services, the total fees charged for tax advisory services and the total fees charged for other non-audit services.
Member States may provide that this requirement shall not apply where the company is included within the consolidated accounts required to be drawn up under Article 1 of Directive 83/349/EEC, provided that such information is given in the notes to the consolidated accounts.’;
(b)paragraph 1 of Article 44 shall be replaced by the following:
1.‘Member States may permit the companies referred to in Article 11 to draw up abridged notes on their accounts without the information required in Article 43(1)(5) to (12), (14)(a) and (15). However, the notes must disclose the information specified in Article 43(1)(6) in total for all the items concerned.’;
(c)paragraph 2 of Article 45 shall be replaced by the following:
2.‘Paragraph 1(b) shall also apply to the information specified in Article 43(1)(8).
The Member States may permit the companies referred to in Article 27 to omit disclosure of the information specified in Article 43(1)(8). The Member States may also permit the companies referred to in Article 27 to omit disclosure of the information specified in Article 43(1)(15), provided that such information is delivered to the public oversight system referred to in Article 32 of Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on statutory audit of annual accounts and consolidated accounts(1) when requested by such a public oversight system.’
2.In Article 34 of Directive 83/349/EEC the following point shall be added:
‘Separately, the total fees for the financial year charged by the statutory auditor or audit firm for the statutory audit of the consolidated accounts, the total fees charged for other assurance services, the total fees charged for tax advisory services and the total fees charged for other non-audit services.’
Article 50Repeal of Directive 84/253/EEC
Directive 84/253/EEC shall be repealed with effect from 29 June 2006. References to the repealed Directive shall be construed as references to this Directive.
Article 51Transitional provision
Statutory auditors or audit firms that are approved by the competent authorities of the Member States in accordance with Directive 84/253/EEC before the entry into force of the provisions referred to in Article 53(1) shall be considered as having been approved in accordance with this Directive.
Article 52Minimum harmonisation
Member States requiring statutory audit may impose more stringent requirements, unless otherwise provided for by this Directive.
Article 53Transposition
1.Before 29 June 2008 Member States shall adopt and publish the provisions necessary to comply with this Directive. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.
2.When Member States adopt those provisions, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such a reference on the occasion of their official publication. The methods of making such reference shall be laid down by Member States.
3.Member States shall communicate to the Commission the texts of the main provisions of national law which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive.
Article 54Entry into force
This Directive shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Article 55Addressees
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.