In return, through SOA the US is influencing and accelerating the development of an EU wide governance regulation.
Therefore, the Commission has reconsidered EU priorities on initiatives on the enhancement of corporate governance, which was initiated by the Commission's 1996 Green Paper (COM 1996/321) on “The Role, Position and Liability of Statutory Auditor in the EU” and laid down in Council Directive 84/253/EC ‘the 8th Directive’.
Following recent financial reporting scandals, the requirement to implement standards for the EU capital market to enhance public trust in the audit function in the EU and the need to respond to SOA, the Commission prepared with the Winter report.
In September 2003 the Commission published the Communication (2003/236/02) on “Reinforcing the statutory audit in the EU” and in parallel an Action Plan on “Modernising Company Law and Enhancing Corporate Governance in the European Union”.
Companies on London Stock Exchange's AIM market are able to choose which code they apply:[2]