Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 862/2012

of 4 June 2012

amending Regulation (EC) No 809/2004 as regards information on the consent to use of the prospectus, information on underlying indexes and the requirement for a report prepared by independent accountants or auditors

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

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

Having regard to Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading and amending Directive 2001/34/EC1, and in particular Article 5(5) and Article 7(1) thereof,

Whereas:

(1)
Commission Regulation (EC) No 809/2004 of 29 April 2004 implementing Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards information contained in prospectuses as well as the format, incorporation by reference and publication of such prospectuses and dissemination of advertisements2 sets out the minimum information to be included in a prospectus for different kinds of securities in order to comply with Article 5(5) and Article 7(1) of Directive 2003/71/EC.
(2)
Directive 2003/71/EC was amended by Directive 2010/73/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 amending Directives 2003/71/EC on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading and 2004/109/EC on the harmonisation of transparency requirements in relation to information about issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market3 in order to enhance investor protection, reduce administrative burdens for companies when raising capital in the securities markets in the Union and increase efficiency in the prospectus regime. Regulation (EC) No 809/2004 should therefore be amended regarding the consent of the issuer or the person responsible for drawing up the prospectus to the use of the prospectus by financial intermediaries and the information to be included in the prospectus relating to underlying indexes and profit forecasts and estimates.
(3)

For the purposes of the third subparagraph of Article 3(2) of Directive 2003/71/EC, Regulation (EC) No 809/2004 should specify what information is to be provided where the issuer or the person responsible for drawing up the prospectus consents by means of a written agreement to its use by financial intermediaries.

(4)

In order to take account of technical developments on financial markets, and notably the increase in the use of indexes as underlying of structured securities, certain requirements of Regulation (EC) No 809/2004 should be reviewed and clarified. By conferring the responsibility to compose the index on another entity of the group, issuers could circumvent the requirement to include in the prospectus a description of the index composed by the issuer (item 4.2.2 of Annex XII) and thus avoid liability where the description is inaccurate. Accordingly, that requirement should also be extended to indexes composed by an entity belonging to the same group as the issuer.

(5)

With a view to increasing efficiency and reducing administrative burdens, this Regulation should also lay down conditions under which a description of the index within the prospectus is not required when the index is composed by entities acting in association with or on behalf of the issuer. Moreover, as item 2.10 of Annex XV only refers to broadly based and recognised published index, a statement in the prospectus specifying where the information about the index can be found should be sufficient without a description of the composition of the index being necessary.

(6)

In order to reduce the administrative costs for issuers when raising capital, this Regulation should lay down conditions under which the report prepared by independent accountants or auditors accompanying profit forecasts and estimates is not required, notably where independent accountants or auditors are not able to sign the audit report because the complete set of documents constitutive of annual financial statements are not available to them.

(7)

Directive 2010/73/EU replaced the term ‘key information’ by the term ‘essential information’ in a number of provisions of Directive 2003/71/EC. The Annexes to Regulation (EC) No 809/2004 should therefore be adapted.

(8)

In order to avoid any further inconsistent application of Directive 2003/71/EC, in particular for the purposes of the third subparagraph of Article 3(2) thereof, and to avoid additional delays in ensuring enhanced investor protection and reduction of administrative burdens for companies when raising capital in the securities markets in the Union it is essential to provide for an entry into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

(9)

Regulation (EC) No 809/2004 should therefore be amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: