The European Commission has published its latest working document on how the Directive on market abuse, which was adopted in December 2002 (see IP/02/1789) and entered into force in April 2003, should be implemented. The Directive aims to protect markets against insider dealing and market manipulation. In line with new procedures for developing and applying EU securities legislation (see IP/02/195), the working document on a second set of implementing measures was drawn up following advice submitted by the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) on 1st September 2003, after an extensive consultation process. The Commission published working documents on a first set of implementing measures in March 2003 (see IP/03/345). The latest document is available on the Commission's web site at:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/finances/mobil/market-abuse_en.htm
The working document covers the following implementing measures:
- guidelines for competent authorities when considering whether to accept market practices (implementation of Article 1, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Market Abuse Directive)
- the definition of inside information on commodity derivative markets (Article 1, paragraph 1 of the Directive)
- the establishment of insiders' lists by issuers or entities acting on their behalf (Article 6, paragraph 3)
- the notification to competent authorities of managers' transactions (Article 6, paragraph 4)
- the notification to competent authorities of suspicious transactions by professionals (Article 6, paragraph 9 of the Market Abuse Directive).
This working document is not a formal Commission proposal. Any technical drafting comments should be sent to the Commission at the following e-mail address
All comments received will be posted on the above website. The Commission will begin drawing up its formal proposal in December 2003.
Once that formal proposal is published, there will be a period of at least three months for the European Securities Committee to vote on the measures and for the European Parliament to consider them. That period is not triggered at this stage.
Background
Under a new approach applied to the securities sector since 2002, framework Directives agreed by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers under the "co-decision" procedure - such as the Directives on Market Abuse and Prospectuses - set out essential principles to be followed. Technical implementing measures are then decided by the Commission, with the assistance of the European Securities Committee (ESC) made up of Member State representatives, and taking into account technical advice received from the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR), composed of national supervisory authorities. The Commission is committed to ensuring that implementing measures are drawn up transparently and openly, and the publication of the latest working document on market abuse is part of that process.
