BCZ104 IASC published a Draft Statement of Principles on Intangible Assets in January 1994 and an Exposure Draft E50 Intangible Assets in June 1995. Principles in both documents were consistent as far as possible with those in IAS 16 Property, Plant and Equipment. The principles were also greatly influenced by the decisions reached in 1993 during the revisions to the treatment of research and development costs and goodwill.

BCZ105 IASC received about 100 comment letters on E50 from over 20 countries. Comment letters on E50 showed that the proposal for the amortisation period for intangible assets - a 20‑year ceiling for almost all intangible assets, as required for goodwill in IAS 22 (revised 1993) - raised significant controversy and created serious concerns about the overall acceptability of the proposed standard on intangible assets. IASC considered alternative solutions and concluded in March 1996 that, if an impairment test that is sufficiently robust and reliable could be developed, IASC would propose deleting the 20‑year ceiling on the amortisation period for both intangible assets and goodwill.

BCZ106 In August 1997, IASC published proposals for revised treatments for intangible assets and goodwill in Exposure Drafts E60 Intangible Assets and E61 Business Combinations. This followed the publication of Exposure Draft E55 Impairment of Assets in May 1997, which set out detailed proposals for impairment testing.

BCZ107 E60 proposed two major changes to the proposals in E50:

(a) as explained above, revised proposals for the amortisation of intangible assets; and