Brussels, 30 August 2023. EUROCROWD is happy to be able to announce a comprehensive legal Report on the ongoing implementation of the European Crowdfunding Service Provider Regulation (ECSPR) across all 27 European Union (EU) Member States. The Report, commissioned by EUROCROWD, has been delivered by PwC Legal Germany jointly and with support from PwC Legal’s offices around the EU and is a unique milestone in evaluating legal and tax opportunities and risks in light of yet considerably diverging national implementation of the developing capital market rules. The Report will be shared with the European Commission and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to further support their work in establishing an efficient and harmonised European crowdfunding sector. Interested crowdfunding service providers can obtain a copy under restrictions from EUROCROWD.  

Any EU regulation remains a legal text, leaving room for interpretation – or misinterpretation - and further need for integration with other existing (and anticipated) EU-level regulations, as well as national legislation. As is evident in the Report provided by PwC Legal, this is also true for ECSPR. While national competent authorities are trying to fit the new rules into their oversight work, market participants are trying to align their business models to this new reality. Unfortunately, the result - to date - is uncertainty and persisting fragmentation, as the market slowly but surely continues to expand across the EU, but with several promising opportunities ahead. 

EUROCROWD commissioned this new report from PwC Legal Germany to create a state-of-the-art legal review of today’s implementation of ECSPR in each of the 27 EU Member States, to help Crowdfunding Service Providers (CSPs) across Europe to have a first entry into the legal and tax issues they face. And where ECSPR seeks to harmonise the market, divergent tax regimes across the EU complicate how crowdfunding service providers can operate under ECSPR in practice. Please note that the Report and its multi-jurisdictional assessment are not aimed as a substitute for legal, regulatory or tax advice tailored to your business, nor is it meant to be an overview of legal, regulatory, tax or operational propositions and solutions. Information herein is stated as available on 28 June 2023. For legal, regulatory or tax advice specific to your business, it is advised to reach out individually to PwC Legal or your existing advisers with relevant expertise in this field.  

Oliver Gajda, Executive Director, EUROCROWD says: “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, and raise issues on what are likely to become significant operational hurdles, if not properly addressed by policy makers. We are looking forward to expanding on this work in continuous discourse and repeated, stringent research in the coming years - with the support of our members.”  

EUROCROWD has been representing the professional European crowdfunding sector since 2013 and is continuing to do so. More than a decade ago, the EUROCROWD published its co-authored white paper outlining the opportunities and hurdles of a pan-European crowdfunding market to finance small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This was followed by several legal reviews of existing laws applying to crowdfunding in all 27 EU Member States (and beyond), creating a benchmark for 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 discussions and recurring exchanges with European institutions, both through research and direct interactions, and created a path to what in 2021 has become the ECSPR. The ECSPR has become an integral part of European law, and a great opportunity to provide much-needed access to finance for Europe’s 20 million small businesses and overall innovation drive. EUROCROWD is proud to have been an integral part of this journey and has always vouched, with its members, for a harmonised European market and against national rules.  

This report is intended for crowdfunding platforms applying to become an ECSPR licensed CSP and, as such, for their internal use only.  

Crowdfunding service providers interested in obtaining a copy of the Report may contact ecspr@eurocrowd.org