Spanish Senate calls on government to push forward XBRL

 

26 June 2006

 

 

The Spanish Senate, in an official motion, has called on the government to push forward the use of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) in collaboration with regional and local government and the private sector. 

 

The motion, passed unanimously, also requested the government to charge a suitable body with the development of taxonomies during the next six months which will enable Spanish companies and public administrations to adopt the use of XBRL.

 

The move by the Senate follows the successful introduction of XBRL by the Spanish Central Bank and the Spanish Securities Regulator.  More than 400 banks, some 90% of the banking sector, are now reporting regulatory information in XBRL to the Bank of Spain, while the Spanish Securities Regulator has already received more than 12,000 company financial reports in XBRL. 

 

The 13th XBRL International Conference was held in Madrid in May with the attendance of nearly 500 delegates from 21 countries.

 

The motion was proposed by Senator Félix Lavilla, Socialist Party Spokesperson on the Commission for Society and Knowledge, and passed on 20 June.  During debate in the Senate, the motion was supported in speeches by spokesmen of other parties. 

 

The motion recalled the progress being made in various countries with the introduction of XBRL and called on the government to:

 

“1.      Push forward the XBRL open standard, in the framework of the present legislature, in collaboration with Regional Communities and Local Corporations which require it, as well as with the private sector, thus advancing the use of this format in the various areas of its responsibility.

 

“2.      Entrust an Entity or Consortium with the development, checking and normalisation, in a period of six months, of the taxonomies based on national and European accounting standards which are necessary for the technical updating of the financial language used by Spanish firms and various public administrations.” 

 

(Unofficial translation of the Senate motion.)

 

Official record (in Spanish) of Senate proceedings:  http://www.senado.es/legis8/publicaciones/pdf/senado/ds/PS0088.PDF.

Full text of motion (in Spanish):  http://www.xbrl.org/Announcements/AprobadaMocionSenado-20Jun2006.pdf

 

 

Announced by:

Peter Calvert

XBRL International

 

 

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