On 23 May 2014 the Omnibus II Directive amended the Prospectus Directive, providing for ESMA to draft RTSs covering a number of prospectus-related issues that are to be submitted to the Commission and which then have the potential to be adopted through delegated regulation. On 26 September 2014 ESMA published a consultation paper with regard to certain draft standards in this area.
The draft standards address the following topics:
- Incorporation by reference (the standards set out a full list of information compliant with Article 11(1) of the Prospectus Directive);
- Prospectus approval procedure (the standards cover submission requirements for accompanying documents, submission procedure for prospectuses and draft prospectuses, as well as specifying the communication channels between authority and applicant);
- Prospectus publication (the standards introduce rules that facilitate access to electronic prospectuses); and
- Availability of information relating to public offers and admission to trading on a regulated market (the standards set out four categories of communication for advertisements).
The deadline for the draft standards to be submitted to the Commission is 1 July 2015 and the consultation was closed on 19 December 2014.
The consultation is available at: http://www.esma.europa.eu.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
