THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading and amending Directive 2001/34/EC [OJ L 345, 31.12.2003, p. 64.], and in particular Article 7(1) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 July 2002 on the application of international accounting standards [OJ L 243, 11.9.2002, p. 1.] requires companies governed by the law of a Member State, whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market in any Member State, to prepare their consolidated accounts in accordance with International Accounting Standards, now commonly referred to as International Financial Reporting Standards, adopted pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 (hereinafter referred to as adopted IFRS), for each financial year starting on or after 1 January 2005.

(2) Commission Regulation (EC) No 809/2004 of 29 April 2004 implementing Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards information contained in prospectuses as well as the format, incorporation by reference and publication of such prospectuses and dissemination of advertisements [OJ L 149, 30.4.2004, p. 1.] requires third country issuers to prepare the historical financial information in prospectuses for offer of securities to the public or the admission of securities to trading on a regulated market in accordance with adopted IFRS or with the national accounting standards of a third country equivalent to these standards.