CLARIFYING AND SETTLING ACCESS TO CLEARING AND SETTLEMENT IN THE EU Working Paper www.ieje.net David Henry Research Fellow Institute for European Legal Studies, University of Liège, Belgium
[email protected] Institut d’Etudes Juridiques Européennes, Bd. du Rectorat 3, Bat. B33 / Bte 9, B-1400 Liège, Tel +32 4 366 3130, Fax +32 4 366 3155 1 CLARIFYING AND SETTLING ACCESS TO CLEARING AND SETTLEMENT IN THE EU David Henry* I. Introduction As has been the case in network industries such as telecommunications,1 electricity,2 gas,3 and the postal sector,4 the European Union (hereinafter, the “EU”) financial services sector is slowly being prised open and feeling the effects of liberalisation.5 Indeed, a single market in financial services is seen as a fundamental requirement to achieving the, now diluted, goal of transforming the EU into the “most competitive and dynamic knowledge based economy in the world” by 2010. Though a single financial services market currently remains virtual, the launching of the Financial Services Action Plan (hereinafter the “FSAP”) in 1999 has brought considerable progress in this field.6 The FSAP lays down indicative priorities and a timetable for * Research Fellow at the Institute for European Legal Studies, University of Liège, Belgium. My sincerest thanks go to Mark Griffiths of Clifford Chance LLP and Nicolas Petit of the University of Liège for their helpful comments. 1 See, in particular, Directive 96/19 of 13 March 1996 amending Directive 90/388 with regard to the implementation of full competition in telecommunications markets, (1996) O.J. L 74/13.