PwC Legal Business Solutions supports the European Crowdfunding Network and its members with an inaugural report on the implementation of the EU’s Crowdfunding Service Provider Regulation

Frankfurt, 6th September 2023

A team of financial services regulatory and corporate lawyers from PwC’s Legal Business Solutions Financial Services team across the EU have jointly authored, a comparative multi-jurisdictional report on the on-going implementation of the European Crowdfunding Service Provider Regulation (ECSPR).      

Commissioned by the European Crowdfunding Network (EUROCROWD) at a time of change across all EU 27 Member States, the report is designed to raise awareness of opportunities for crowdfunding service providers and other market participants. The report also highlights issues that policymakers may still need to consider and address in ensuring the ECSPR can ensure crowdfunding continues to grow as an attractive alternative to bank-intermediated lending and facilitate the financing of start-ups through to small-to-medium sized enterprises driving innovation and growth.  

Led by Dr. Michael Huertas, the PwC Legal Business Solutions’ Financial Institutions Regulatory Europe (FIRE) Team coordinated the legal, regulatory and tax review together across the EU-27. This inaugural edition of the report provides a comprehensive state of the art evaluation of the current ECSPR’s legal implementation and integration with other existing (and forthcoming) financial services and tax legislation both at an EU-level as well as in individual Member States. The report is available upon request from EUROCROWD.  

Oliver Gajda, Executive Director, EUROCROWD commented in its own press release: “With this new study, EUROCROWD aims to create a fresh starting point for the crowdfunding market, provide easier access to new markets for crowdfunding service providers. We also aim to raise issues on what are likely to become significant operational hurdles, if not properly addressed by policymakers. We are looking forward to expanding on this work in continuous discussion and regular detailed and impactful research in the coming years - with the support of our members.” 

He added: “Much now rests on the national competent authorities as well as market participants in pursuing a timely and compliant transition to this new regime. Equally, legislative, regulatory and tax policymakers will also want to consider where they may need to provide even greater certainty on specific topics so as to support both project owners as well as investors in a meaningful manner. We hope the breadth of our coverage and legal, regulatory and tax expertise of contributing authors across the EU-27 will empower those interested or already active in crowdfunding.”

Contributors from PwC Legal Business Solutions – Financial Services and Tax Teams

Country contributions across the EU-27 include authors from: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden

About EUROCROWD:

EUROCROWD has been advocating for the professional European crowdfunding sector since 2013 and is continuing to do so going forward. More than a decade ago, the EUROCROWD published its co-authored white paper outlining the opportunities and hurdles of pan-European crowdfunding market. This was followed by several legal reviews of existing regulations applying to crowdfunding across all 27 EU Member States (and beyond), creating a benchmark for constructive legal discussion, and with dedicated research by EUROCROWD for DG FISMA in 2017 leading to the creation of the proposal for ECSPR in 2018. Since then, EUROCROWD has led recurring and ongoing exchanges with European institutions both through research and direct interactions and created a path to what in 2021 became the ECSPR. The ECSPR has become an integral part of EU law, and a valuable opportunity to provide much needed access to finance for Europe’s 20 million small businesses and overall innovation drive. 

About PwC Legal Business Solutions:

In our global, rapidly changing business world, cooperation, restructuring, transactions, financing and social responsibility are topics that increasingly concern our clients. They need legal certainty for a wide range of complex tasks. That is why we advise them holistically and in close cooperation with PwC’s tax, human resources and finance experts and our international legal network in over 100 countries. Whether a globally active company, a public corporation or a wealthy private individual, every client has a personal contact at our firm who supports them responsibly in all matters of commercial law. In this way, we help our clients to secure their economic success in the long term.

PwC Legal Business Solutions in Germany. More than 370 lawyers at 18 locations. Integrated, tech-powered legal advice.

About PwC Germany:

Our clients face diverse challenges, strive to put new ideas into practice and seek expert advice. They turn to us for comprehensive support and practical solutions that deliver maximum value. Whether for a global player, a family business or a public institution, we leverage all of our assets: experience, industry knowledge, high standards of quality, commitment to innovation and the resources of our expert network in 149 countries. Building a trusting and cooperative relationship with our clients is particularly important to us – the better we know and understand our clients’ needs, the more effectively we can support them. 

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