The EU Pensions Directive – Considerations For Transposition

Introduction

The first steps in EU pre-emptive regulation of Member States’ pension arrangements culminated in the publication, on 23 September 2003, of Directive 2003/41/EC ("the Pensions Directive"). The Pensions Directive represents a tentative move by Europe’s legislators to harmonize cross-border provision and regulation of financial services in the pension sector. National priorities and significant differences in domestic fiscal arrangements for pension provision rendered tax harmonization for pensions through unanimity unattainable at this point in the Union’s development. Instead, the Pensions Directive, adopted pursuant to Articles 47(2), 55 and 95 of the EU Treaty, represents a political compromise to minimize, in so far as possible, national obstacles to the establishment and free movement of institutions for occupational pension provision in the internal market.