According to the Court of Justice of the European Communities provisions for potential warranty liabilities are required under the Fourth Council Directive (78/660/EEC). A global valuation of these liabilities must be made to represent a true and fair view of their amount. National legislation has to stipulate evaluation criteria for provisions in accordance with Article 2 (3) of the Directive in such a way that financial statements give a true and fair view of the company's assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss. We discuss the implications of the Court´s judgement and point out the necessity for clear interpretation of terms used by the Court to avoid legal uncertainties (e.g. "overestimate of the assets" or "the soundest and most appropriate" information). It is argued that there can be an antinomy following both, the true-and-fair-view-principle (Article 2 (3)) and the prudence-principle (Article 31 (1c)). One solution might be that - on basis of national legislation - the prudence-principle dominates the balance sheet and that international comparability of financial statements can be achieved by giving additional information in the notes.

Thomas Berndt

1 Jun 2001