On March 11th 2016 Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/347 of March 10th 2016 (the “Implementing Regulation”) was published in the Official Journal. The Implementing Regulation lays down implementing technical standards with regard to the precise format of insider lists and for updating insider lists in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 16th 2014 on market abuse (“MAR”).
The precise format, including standard templates, is established with a view to facilitate the uniform application of the requirement to draw up and update insider lists laid down in MAR and also to 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. In particular:
- the insider lists are required to be divided into separate sections relating to different inside information and each section should list all persons having access to the same specific piece of inside information. To avoid multiple entries, a list of “permanent insiders” who have access at all times to all inside information may be inserted as a supplementary section;
- the insider list should in principle contain personal data (including the date of birth, the personal address and where applicable, the national identification number of the individuals concerned) that facilitate the identification of the insiders, as well as certain data such as telephone numbers to be provided at the outset permitting the competent authorities to act swiftly when necessary and to request data traffic records;
- the insider list should be drawn up in electronic format using the electronic means specified by the competent authority and shall be updated at all times without delay; it shall ensure that the information included in the list is kept confidential, that information included is accurate and it shall facilitate the access to and the retrieval of previous versions of the insider lists;
- although issuers on an SME growth market are exempted from drawing up and keeping insider lists up to date and are not required to keep that information in electronic format, their insider lists (which should be drawn up in accordance with the template in Annex II of the Implementing Regulation) should be in any case submitted, upon request of the competent authority, in a way that ensures the completeness, confidentiality and integrity of the information during transmission.
The Implementing Regulation entered into force on March 12th 2016 and its provisions will apply from the same date as those laid down by MAR, July 3rd 2016.