The Evolution of the European Public Good Assessment in the EU Endorsement Process of IFRS

Abstract Although legally the criteria to adopt IFRS in the EU have not changed since the adoption of the 2002 IAS-Regulation, the way they are assessed evolved over time. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how the European public good (EPG) criterion has been interpreted since the beginning of the EU endorsement process and how it is interpreted today. After retracing the origin of the European public good criterion in the IAS-Regulation we identify different periods in the EU endorsement process where the application of the EPG criterion changed. These changes are explained by a variety of factors, not least the financial crisis of 2008. The scope of what is considered to be part of the EPG has substantially expanded, a trend that is still ongoing.