The International Accounting Standards Board is no longer charging a subscription fee to access the core International Financial Reporting Standards.

IASB holds copyright over the library of IFRS and charges a subscription to access the standards and all related guidance. The fee is waived, however, when a particular jurisdiction adopts IFRS, says IASB spokesman Mark Byatt.

Free access applies only to the core standards, not the additional guidance and basis for conclusions, he says. Those documents are accessible only to entities that pay for a subscription to IASB’s complete library of guidance.

“This is something that Trustees (of IASB’s overseer, the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation) have been considering for some time based on feedback from a range of stakeholders, particularly those from emerging markets,” Byatt says. As the standards are adopted by particular countries, they become law and therefore must be freely available, he adds. “That means it is really only jurisdictions that have yet to adopt IFRS that would have to pay for access to the core standards, which can cause problems, particularly for emerging markets.”

Free access via IASB’s Website addresses the isolation of emerging markets and simplifies access generally, he says. “We still expect that most people will want access to the basis for conclusions and educational guidance, so we do not expect the number of subscribers to the full standards to change dramatically,” he says.

IASB provides online access to IFRS in English, with translations provided in Dutch, French, German, and Italian, and additional translations in development.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board provides free access to all standards and guidance via its Website, but generally charges fees for hard copies. When FASB’s online Codification becomes the official authority for all U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles on July 1, a basic view of the codification topics will be accessible free of charge. Enhanced access providing high-level search and retrieval functions, cross reference features, personal annotation, and dynamic linking capabilities will be made available by subscription.