The Payments to Governments and Miscellaneous Provisions Regulations 2014

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations implement in part Directive 2013/50/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 294/13, 6.11.2013 p.15) amending Directive 2004/109/EC on the harmonisation of transparency requirements in relation to information about issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market, Directive 2003/71/EC on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading and Commission Directive 2007/14/EC laying down detailed rules for the implementation of certain provisions of Directive 2004/109/EC (“the Transparency Directive Amending Directive”).

Regulation 2 amends sections 86, 87A, 87K(1) and 87L(1) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (c.8) (“the Act”) to make supplementary minor amendments to the UK’s transposition of Directive 2003/71/EC (OJ No L 345, 31.12.2003 p.4) on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading (“the Prospectus Directive”) and Directive 2010/73/EU (OJ No L 327, 11.12.2010, p.1) of the European Parliament and of the Council on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading (“the Amending Directive”).

Regulation 3(1) amends the Act to make supplementary minor amendments to the UK’s transposition of the Amending Directive.

Regulations 3(2) and 5(2) amend the Act to transpose Article 1(1) of Directive 2014/51/EU (OJ L153/1, 22.05.2014, p.1) amending Directives 2003/71/EC and 2009/138/EC and Regulations (EC) No 1060/2009, (EU) No 1094/2010 and (EU) No 1095/2010 in respect of the powers of the European Supervisory Authority (European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority) and the European Supervisory Authority (European Securities and Markets Authority) (“the Omnibus II Directive”) which amends Directive 2003/71/EC. The deadline for transposition of the Omnibus II Directive is 31st March 2015 but, in accordance with Article 7(2) of that Directive, regulations 3(2) and 5(2) will apply from 1st January 2016.

Regulation 4 transposes the payments to governments reporting requirements in Article 1(5) of the Transparency Directive Amending Directive which substitutes Article 6 of the Transparency Directive 2004/109/EC (as amended).

Regulation 5 makes consequential amendments necessary for interpretative purposes as a result of the Omnibus II Directive and the Transparency Directive Amending Directive in order to provide rule making powers to the Financial Conduct Authority.

Regulation 6 revokes the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Transparency) Regulations 2014 (“S.I. 2014/1261”) which modify the definition of the Transparency Obligations Directive in section 103(1) of the Act. These Regulations make provisions which supersede the provisions set out in those Regulations.

A full impact assessment of the effect that these Regulations will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available from Her Majesty’s Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London SW1A 2HQ or on www.gov.uk and is published alongside the Regulations on www.legislation.gov.uk.