Implementing regulation 2016/347 - Implementing technical standards with regard to the precise format of insider lists and for updating insider lists in accordance with Regulation 596/2014 - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 65/49

Pursuant to Article 18 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, issuers, emission allowance market participants, auction platforms, auctioneers and auction monitor, or any other persons acting on their behalf or on their account are required to draw up insider lists and keep them up to date in accordance with a precise format.

The establishment of a precise format, including the use of standard templates, should facilitate the uniform application of the requirement to draw up and update insider lists laid down in Regulation (EU) No 596/2014. It should also ensure that competent authorities are provided with the information necessary to fulfil the task of protecting the integrity of the financial markets and investigate possible market abuse.

Since multiple pieces of inside information can exist within an entity at the same time, insider lists should precisely identify the specific pieces of inside information to which persons working for issuers, emission allowance market participants, auction platforms, auctioneers and auction monitor have had access to (whether it is, inter alia, a deal, a project, a corporate or a financial event, publication of financial statements or profit warnings). To that end, the insider list should be divided into sections with a separate section for each piece of inside information. Each section should list all persons having access to the same specific piece of inside information.

To avoid multiple entries in respect of the same individuals in different sections of the insider lists, the issuers, emission allowance market participants, auction platforms, auctioneers and auction monitor, or the persons acting on their behalf or on their account, may decide to draw up and keep up to date a supplementary section of the insider list, referred to as the permanent insiders section, which is of a different nature to the rest of sections of the insider list, as it is not created upon the existence of a specific piece of inside information. In such a case, the permanent insiders section should only include those persons who, due to the nature of their function or position, have access at all times to all inside information within the issuer, the emission allowance market participant, the auction platform, the auctioneer or the auction monitor.

The insider list should in principle contain personal data that facilitates the identification of the insiders. Such information should include the date of birth, the personal address and, where applicable, the national identification number of the individuals concerned.

The insider list should also contain data that may assist the competent authorities in the conduct of investigations, to rapidly analyse the trading behaviour of insiders, to establish connections between insiders and persons involved in suspicious trading, and to identify contacts between them at critical times. In this respect, telephone numbers are essential as they permit the competent authority to act swiftly and to request data traffic records, if necessary. Moreover, such data should be provided at the outset, so that the integrity of the investigation is not compromised by the competent authority having to revert in the course of an investigation to the issuer, the emission allowance market participant, the auction platform, the auctioneer, the auction monitor or the insider with further requests for information.

To ensure that the insider list can be made available to the competent authority as soon as possible upon request and in order not to endanger an investigation by having to seek information from the persons in the insider list, the insider list should be drawn up in electronic format and updated at all times without delay when any of the circumstances specified in Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 for the updating of the insider list occurs.

The use of specific electronic formats for the submission of insider lists as determined by competent authorities should also decrease the administrative burden for competent authorities, issuers, emission allowance market participants, auction platforms, auctioneers or auction monitor and those acting on their behalf or on their account. The electronic formats should allow for the information included in the insider list to be kept confidential and for the rules laid down in Union legislation on the processing of personal data and the transfer of such data to be complied with.

Since issuers on an SME growth market are exempted however from drawing up and keeping insider lists up to date and, therefore, may produce and keep that information on a format other than an electronic format as required by this Regulation to the rest of issuers, it is necessary not to impose on issuers on an SME growth market the requirement of using an electronic format for submitting the insiders lists to competent authorities. Likewise, it is also appropriate not to require the submission of certain personal data where such data is not available to those issuers at the moment the insider list is requested. Insider lists should be in any case submitted in a way that ensures the completeness, confidentiality and integrity of the information.

This Regulation is based on the draft implementing technical standards submitted by the European Securities and Markets Authority to the Commission.

The European Securities and Markets Authority has conducted open public consultations on the draft implementing technical standards on which this Regulation is based, analysed the potential related costs and benefits and requested the opinion of the Securities Markets Stakeholder Group established by Article 37 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2).

In order to ensure the smooth functioning of the financial markets, it is necessary that this Regulation enters into force as a matter of urgency and that the provisions laid down in this Regulation apply from the same date as those laid down in Regulation (EU) No 596/2014,

‘electronic means’ are means of electronic equipment for the processing (including digital compression), storage and transmission of data, employing wires, radio, optical technologies, or any other electromagnetic means.

the confidentiality of the information included by ensuring that access to the insider list is restricted to clearly identified persons from within the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer and auction monitor, or any person acting on their behalf or on their account that need that access due to the nature of their function or position;

the accuracy of the information contained in the insider list;

the access to and the retrieval of previous versions of the insider list.