The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has issued today three Questions and Answers (Q&As) regarding the Prospectus Directive (PD) and the Transparency Directive (TD).
The Q&As clarify the application of certain provisions in these Directives in case the UK withdraws from the European Union (EU) on 29 March 2019 with no withdrawal agreement in place (no-deal Brexit). These Q&As will only apply in case of a no-deal Brexit.
The purpose of the Q&As is to promote common supervisory approaches and practices in the application of the PD and TD in case of a no-deal Brexit.
The PD harmonises requirements for the drafting, approval, and distribution of the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market in the EU / EEA EFTA.
The TD aims to ensure transparency of information about issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market through a regular flow of disclosure of periodic and on-going information and the dissemination of such information to the public.