On September 2015, ESMA published its final technical standards report regarding the Market Abuse Regulation ("MAR") and feedback in response to its consultation published in July 2014.
The report makes important changes to the previous consultation draft published on 15 July 2014, notably in the area of disclosure of inside information and delays. The following changes have been made:
- to improve clarity, some direct references to the Transparency Directive have been replaced by a list of specific ways in which disclosure of inside information can be made;
- SME growth market issuers will no longer be required to publicly disclose inside information on the website of the relevant SME growth market operator's venue and maintain such information for at least five years;
- issuers will no longer be required to post on their websites insider information on a section exclusively reserved for such information and will now be able to disclose it anywhere on the website provided that the information is clearly and easily identifiable,; and
- a specific template for insider lists has been introduced for SME issuers and there is a slightly reduced content requirement for the insider lists of all other issuers.
Other changes include:
- changes to the notification requirements when an issuer delays the disclosure of inside information. In particular, ESMA has clarified that the relevant trigger point is when inside information first exists within the issuer; and
- clarification that both the financial adviser and the issuer must comply with the MAR and ESMA requirements when they conduct a market sounding.
The full text of the report is available here:
https://www.esma.europa.eu/content/Final-Report-MAR-TS
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