EU DEVELOPMENTS
Prospectus Directive: ESMA Publishes Opinion Assessing Turkish Laws and Regulations on Prospectuses
On 8 February 2016, the European Securities and Markets Authority ("ESMA") published an opinion on Turkish laws and regulations on prospectuses. The opinion compares the Turkish and EU requirements set out in the Prospectus Regulation. It considers that:
- a prospectus drawn up according to Turkish laws and regulations can constitute a valid prospectus under the Prospectus Directive; and
- it is not necessary for a Turkish prospectus for shares to be accompanied by a wrap, provided that the prospectus contains financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS").
It is noted that the ESMA opinion does prevent the national authorities having discretion to request additional information in a wrap or the prospectus.
A copy of the opinion is available here: https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default/files/library/2016-268_opinion_on_equivalence_of_the_turkish_prospectus_regime.pdf
Financial Reporting: Commission Consultation on Guidelines for Reporting Non-Financial Information
On 15 January 2016, the European Commission published a consultation document on the non-binding guidelines for reporting of non-financial information by companies, as required under Article 2 of the Directive amending the Accounting Directive on disclosure of non-financial and diversity information.
The new disclosure requirements of the Directive aim to improve the transparency of EU companies in relation to non-financial information and they are applicable to large public-interest entities with more than 500 employees. The Directive itself is flexible so under Article 2, the Commission is required to produce these non-binding guidelines to assist with interpretation.
The consultation asks a broad series of questions on the approach that should be taken to drawing up the guidelines and on what the scope of the guidelines should be. The consultation will close on 15 April 2016.
A copy of the consultation document is available here:
European Union: EU Referendum
On 20 February 2016, it was announced that the UK would hold a vote on their membership of the EU on 23 June 2016.
Please see our EU referendum overview here:
To view the full article please click here.
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