EUROPE: ESMA publishes letter to European Commission on Prospectus Directive deadline for draft RTS

Monday January 13 2014

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a letter by the Chair of the Authority, Steven Majjoor, addressed to the Director General of Internal Markets and Services of the European Commission. The letter concerns Directive 2003/71/EC (The Prospectus Directive) and draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) to be drafted by ESMA and sent to the European Commission before 1st January 2014.

Mr Majjoor has stated in the letter that it is the Authority’s assessment that at least one year will be needed in order to draft high quality technical standards and the establishment of a technical solution for receipt of final terms. In ESMA’s opinion, shortening this period has the risk that certain steps cannot be completed and this will affect the credibility of ESMA and eventually the overall success of regulatory reform.

As a result, the ESMA Chair has asked the Director General to consider the possibility of including in the Prospectus Directive a generic reference for ESMA to submit draft RTS within one year from the publication of the Directive in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Click on the above link for the letter.