Examination of Witnesses (Questions 192-199)
Ms Evanna Fruithof, Ms Helen Malcolm QC, Ms Julia
Bateman and Mr Andrew Laidlaw
8 MAY 2008
Q192 Chairman: We are grateful to
you for your evidence and for coming. This session will be recorded
and a transcript will be made available. If there are points which
arise on the transcript, please let us know, and if there are
any supplementary thoughts we would be delighted if you let them
reach us in writing. We are here in the course of an inquiry into
the initiation of European legislation. Any interests which members
have will have been disclosed in the Lords' Register. With that,
I think I can proceed to questions, unless there is any initial
statement that any of you wishes to make. No. We have taken a
certain amount of evidence so far and some of the questions may
be derived from that. Can we just ask each of your respective
bodies what role they might have in influencing the content of
the Commission's Annual Policy Strategy and the Annual Legislative
Work Programme? Let us start with the Law Society.
Mr Laidlaw: Thank you, my Lord Chairman. I think
we would say in brief that we do not have an actual role in influencing
the Work Programme or the Policy Strategy in itself. I am not
sure if there is any official process, such as a consultation,
that actually takes place in terms of the content of the Work
Programme or the Policy Strategy, but I think that reflects our
view that the Work Programme is more of a compilation of the different
strands of work that the Commission is undertaking and it is a
way of presenting in a more consolidated form the different priorities
that the Commission has. As such, I think we view it as more important
to influence policy at possibly an earlier stage where the Commission
Directorates-General are developing their thinking in relation
to more specific issues, such as the Hague Programme or other
action plans. We tend to focus our efforts on responding to consultations
on more specific issues such as that, making sure the Law Society
is also represented at conferences and is present at expert groups
and other forums which the Commission organises to discuss its
priorities and proposals, and also responding to White Papers
and Green Papers and consultations on legislation before that
is proposed. I think that is a more effective way of feeding our
views into the Commission as to what we think is important. At
that earlier stage the Commission will also be seeking views on
the relative importance that should be attached to specific proposals
which are then fed into the broader strategy of the Commission.
Q193 Chairman: Can you just give
an example of that sort of situation in actual terms, perhaps
relating to current proposals or themes?
Mr Laidlaw: Yes, of course. I tend to work in
the internal market issues whereas my colleague, Julia, works
in justice and home affairs. From one of the areas that I have
worked on, the Company Law Action Plan is a strategy document
where the Commission has consulted a number of times on a range
of measures to do with company law. 2003 was when the Action Plan
was originally proposed and there were consultations prior to
that, which we responded to, to try and suggest which issues we
thought should be given priority. Again, the Commission reviewed
its priorities in 2006 and we fed into that to try and say which
proposals we thought were worth pursuing and also to give ideas
where the Commission should focus attention.
Q194 Chairman: Taking it one level
down, company law is not my field, but you might suggest the Commission,
for example, focus on directors' duties or shareholders' remedies,
something like that, rather than yet more publication of detailed
statistics in accounts.
Mr Laidlaw: Exactly. In our response we said
that one issue we wanted the Commission to look at more was the
arrangements for capital maintenance for companies whereas there
is a proposal going through at the moment on creating a statute
for European Private Companies and in our response we said we
had no objections to this in principle, but we think they still
need to demonstrate evidence of need for this proposal.
Q195 Chairman: Have they responded
to that? Have they done any sort of investigation with other people,
any sort of impact assessment as a response?
Mr Laidlaw: On both issues they have conducted
work. Maybe the private company is an interesting example because
although they were conducting studies and a public consultation
on whether people were supportive of the idea of a European Private
Company there was a lot of pressure in the European Parliament
to bring forward a proposal, so halfway through the consultation
period the Commissioner came out and announced publicly that he
would be making a proposal this year before the summer even though
the consultation was still ongoing. That is an interesting example
in terms of who is exerting influence on the Commission.
Q196 Chairman: Different pressures,
yes. What about the Bar, would you like to make a comment on this
area?
Ms Fruithof: I would have very little to add,
my Lord, to what has just been said. I think we would agree completely
that it is very difficult to influence the Annual Policy Strategy
or the Annual Legislative Work Programme.
Q197 Lord Burnett: Did you say very
difficult?
Ms Fruithof: The discussions really take place
within the Council and between the presidencies.
Q198 Lord Burnett: So you have got
to get it before then?
Ms Fruithof: Yes. What is prioritised for any
given year or any given six month period, for example, will be
a matter of debate between the incoming presidency of the Council,
which will preside for the next six months, and then the one after
that, together with the Commission. The incoming Council presidency
will have its views on what its priorities are and the Commission
will have its views on what its priorities are which will be related
to what it has already achieved in its wider, longer term programme
and what it wants to accelerate. They will be the two players
that really influence what is in the Work Programme for the short
period of one year.
Q199 Chairman: I get the impression
from the Law Society that what matters is what gets into the Work
Programme over a longer period and you try and work on that. Is
that the situation?
Ms Fruithof: Yes. One is trying to influence
what is in the longer term planning but, even more than that,
I think, we find the most effective work we can do is on individual
files.
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