Internal Market Commissioner Mr Charlie McCreevy said today he was hopeful of reaching a solution with United States that would make it easier for European firms to delist if they do not want to meet tough new US securities legislation.
European Union firms have complained of the cost and difficulty of meeting the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley rules and the problems they face if they want to delist to avoid complying with the rules.
Unless a foreign listing can show it has 300 or fewer shareholders in the United States, it cannot escape the Sarbanes-Oxley requirements.
"That is a very small number," Mr McCreevy told a news conference, referring to the number of shareholders. He said the issue had been raised in bilateral EU-US talks and that there had been some talks.
Mr McCreevy said Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman William Donaldson in London earlier this week "did seem to signal the other day that he was prepared to have another look at it and would come forward with new proposals".
Mr McCreevy said he had met SEC Commissioner Mr Paul Atkins earlier on Thursday and raised the matter and was also planning to address the issue when he visits Washington in mid-April.
"I am hopeful . . . we might be able to reach a solution in the near future," Mr McCreevy said.
In London on Tuesday Mr Donaldson said he expected the SEC to consider whether there should be a new approach to the deregistration process for foreign private issuers if they don't want to comply with the rules, signalling a softening of the US market regulator's tone.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, unveiled in the wake of the Enron scandal, has caused friction between foreign issuers and the SEC as the rules often clash with common EU practice.