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The first report issued by the ESME group on the Transparency Directive identifies issues on the operations of the TD relating to the rules that regulate the ongoing information between issuers and shareholders and the dissemination of periodic reporting information. FESE members welcome the work carried out by the group and look forward to the second report, currently under discussion, which will advise the Commission on actions to address the inconsistency issues between the TD and the Takeover Bids Directive, methods of dissemination and storage and the definition of home member state.
In this paper, FESE comments on some of the issues highlighted by ESME i.e. the timeframe for notification of major shareholdings (FESE supports a T+2 reporting timeframe), the reporting requirement threshold (which should be harmonised at the EU level), the right for companies to ask for shareholder identification and the mechanics for disclosures of major interests. In addition, FESE considers an additional topic: the interaction between Article 10 of the Prospectus Directive and the disclosure obligations under the TD; our members’ recommendation is that, since the TD regime already guarantees thorough and exhaustive disclosure obligations for issuers, Article 10 of the PD could be deleted.
FESE Comments_ESME Report on the Transparency Directive_April 2008.pdf
