Context and Background
On October 22, the House of Commons European Scrutiny
Committee (the Committee) published its
first report of session 2019/20 (the
Report). In section 10, this includes
consideration of the UK’s access to the EU financial services
markets after Brexit and, more specifically, the European
Commission’s recent review of the EU law on equivalence.
The notion of equivalence, and its importance in this context,
was explained by the European Commission in a Press Release dated
July 29 where it stated that:
“EU equivalence has become a significant tool in recent
years, fostering integration of global financial markets and
cooperation with third-country authorities. The EU assesses the
overall policy context and to what extent the regulatory regimes of
a given third country achieves the same outcomes as its own rules.
A positive equivalence decision, which is a unilateral measure by
the Commission, allows EU authorities to rely on
