The meeting was aimed at discussing the following issues:
-Does the European crowdfunding industry need one or 27 legal/administrative frameworks?
-Management of a crowdfunding platform. Lessons learned from the pioneers.
-Crowdfunding: a new fashion or a real added-value support service for entrepreneurs?
The participants thanked the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) for its
support to the organization of this event.
The main issues discussed were:
-The introduction of the crowdfunding topic on the European agenda. A first opportunity
will be given through the participation of crowdfunding experts in the hearing organized
by the EESC on improving access to finance for SMEs.
-The interest of the European Commission in any innovative ways to finance SMEs
developed outside the banking system.
-The main expectations and fears of crowdfunding platform managers, i.e.
• an appropriate legal and administrative framework,
• credibility of the industry: protection of investors, quality of the projects, transparency,
• awareness raising,
• exchange of practices through a European network,
• professionalization of the industry: code of conduct, accreditation system,…
-The potential impact of the following three legislations:
• promotion of the business profile due to the prospectus directive,
• the maximum number of stakeholders,
• activities of platforms due to investment services rules.
The problem lies in the limitation of the full exploitation of the crowdfunding potential or
in the different national context or interpretation of the EU framework by 27 national
administrations. Cross-border activities might be difficult to launch…