Introduction

This chapter introduces the different actors that participate in the creation, implementation and enforcement of EU prospectus law and the formal institutional setting in which they act and interact. Actors include policy- and rule-making actors such as the European Commission, the European Parliament (‘EP’) and the Council, but also committees such as the European Securities Committee (‘ESC’); collective actors such as the former Committee of European Securities Regulators (‘CESR’) and its successor, the European Securities and Markets Authority (‘ESMA’); and national actors – competent authorities, in EU jargon – such as the UK Financial Services Authority (‘FSA’) or the French Autorité des marchés financiers (‘AMF’).

The institutional framework is, meanwhile, made of rules, requirements and procedures that actors must observe when choosing between different regulatory, supervisory and enforcement arrangements. They mostly spring from the EU's founding Treaties, which were reshaped in 2009 as a result of the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, and from the European Court's interpretation of EU primary law – think of cases such as Meroni or Romano. In the securities sector, it is common to identify the institutional framework with the Lamfalussy process whose four-level approach not only addresses rule-making, but also deals with the implementation, application and enforcement of EU legislation. The Lamfalussy process did not require Treaty changes and its arrangements merely reflect what is, as a matter of law, permissible within the constitutional boundaries set by the Treaties.