Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/523 of 10 March 2016 laying down implementing technical standards with regard to the format and template for notification and public disclosure of managers' transactions in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on market abuse (market abuse regulation) and repealing Directive 2003/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directives 2003/124/EC, 2003/125/EC and 2004/72/EC (1), and in particular the third subparagraph of Article 19(15) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) In order to foster efficiency in the process of notifying managers' transactions and provide comparable information to the public, it is appropriate to lay down uniform rules regarding how the information requested is to be notified and made public through a single template.

(2) The template should contain the information on all the transactions conducted on a particular day by persons discharging managerial responsibilities or persons closely associated with them. To provide a comprehensive view to the public, the template should allow for the presentation of the transactions on an individual basis and also in an aggregated form. The aggregated information should indicate the volume of all the transactions of the same nature on the same financial instrument that have been carried out on the same trading day and on the same trading venue, or outside any trading venue, as a single figure representing the arithmetical sum of the volume of each transaction. It should also indicate the corresponding volume-weighted average price. When filling in the template transactions of different nature, such as purchases and sales, should never be aggregated nor should be netted between themselves.

(3) To simplify the process of amending an incorrect notification already notified, the template should include a field to be used in the amending notification for identifying the original notification and explaining the inaccuracy within it.

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

(5) 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 in accordance with Article 37 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2).

(6) 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,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definition shall apply: ‘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.

Article 2

Format and template for the notification

Article 3

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 3 July 2016.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 10 March 2016.

For the Commission The President Jean-Claude JUNCKER

(1) OJ L 173, 12.6.2014, p. 1.

(2) Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 establishing a European Supervisory Authority (European Securities and Markets Authority), amending Decision No 716/2009/EC and repealing Commission Decision 2009/77/EC (OJ L 331, 15.12.2010, p. 84).