-EU Ministers have adopted a Common Position on the Commission's proposal for the Market Abuse Directive. The Budget Council adopted the Common Position on July 19.
The Common Position broadly follows the approach of the Commission proposal as amended by the European Parliament, diverging from it on only a few points. Of the seventy-seven amendments proposed by the European Parliament, sixty are fully, and ten amendments are partially incorporated into the Common Position.
The annex to the Directive of the first proposal, inserting a non-exhaustive list of examples of methods being used for market manipulation, has now been incorporated into Article 1. Changes to this article include among others:
Article 1 (1) incorporates the main part of amendment 19. The term 'accepted market practices', which is defined in paragraph 5, has been used instead of the term 'acceptable practices'.
Amendments 20 and 21 were not included in the common position since the Council finds that the definitions of 'information of a precise nature' and 'information made public' could unnecessarily restrict the scope of the text.
Article 1 (2) partially incorporates amendment 79/rev. To prevent the Directive prohibiting accepted market practices by defining them too rigidly, paragraph 2 (a) introduces an element of flexibility.
The wording of Article 1 (2) (c) is slightly more general than that of amendment 79/rev. The common position does not require that the disseminator or the persons informed derive an advantage or profit from the dissemination of misleading information.
However, the common position introduces a special provision for journalists, when acting in their professional capacity.
Article 1(3) incorporates amendment 23 and as a consequence the common position also includes amendment 73, calling for the deletion of Annex A, which was contained in the Commission proposal.
With regard to the prohibition of insider dealing and market manipulation Article 2 the Council did not include a special provision explicitly relating to take-over bids and omitting mergers. However, having access to insider information of another company and using it in the context of a public take-over bid for the purpose of gaining control of the company or proposing a merger with it should not in itself be deemed to constitute insider dealing.
Results of Budget Council
Adopted Common Position
Corrections to the Common Position
Draft Statement of the Council’s Reasons
© Council of the European Union
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