On October 25, 2016, the European Commission issued a communication outlining its 2017 Work Program (COM(2016) 710 final). The communication is addressed to the European Parliament, the Council of the EU, the European Economic and Social Committee (“EESC”) and the Committee of the Regions. Alongside the communication, the Commission has published a Q&As document, together with the following Annexes to the communication.

In Annex 1 of the Work Program, the Commission proposes 21 key initiatives for 2017 to implement 10 priorities for the year. In respect of finance matters, the Commission proposes to:

• Follow up on a review of the European System of Financial Supervision to strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of oversight at both macro- and micro- prudential levels; and
• Present a mid-term review of the Capital Markets Union Action Plan identifying obstacles and any additional measures required in Q2 of 2017. New CMU measures will include a framework for an EU personal pension product in Q2 2017, a REFIT revision of EMIR (the Regulation on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories) (Regulation 648/2012) in Q1 2017 and an action plan on retail financial services in Q1 2017. The Commission notes that the adoption of the Prospectus Regulation and the Securitization Regulation should be accelerated.

Annex 2 sets out 18 new REFIT initiatives being launched, and it complements the items listed with new initiatives in Annex I. REFIT is the Commission’s regulatory fitness and performance program. This is designed to make EU law simpler and reduce regulatory costs without compromising policy objectives. One of the new initiatives relates to the Regulation on cross-border payments in the Community (Regulation 924/2009).

The Commission has also published a scoreboard that shows the current state of play in the implementation of 231 REFIT initiatives, together with a summary of the key developments and results of REFIT.

Annex 3 sets out 35 priority‑pending proposals in relation to which the Commission wants the Parliament and the Council to take swift action. These include the proposals for a European deposit insurance scheme (“EDIS”) and the CMU reforms. For more information on the EDIS, see Practice note, European deposit insurance scheme (EDIS).

Annex 4 lists the intended withdrawal of 19 pending proposals. These are proposals assessed as no longer relevant, as they have either been blocked or no longer meet the Commission’s criteria.

Annex 5 contains a list of existing legislation that the Commission intends to repeal.

The Commission has also published a document that summarizes the legislation that will become applicable in 2017. This includes the Regulation on transparency of securities financing transactions (2015/2365/EU).