European Commission calls for evidence on review of the Market Abuse Directive

Call for evidence reviews MAD and increases scope to include short selling

BRUSSELS - The European Commission has published a call for evidence on its review of the Market Abuse Directive (MAD), with some preliminary proposals to simplify or improve the directive.

The analysis of the call for evidence focuses on three areas - the scope of the MAD; insider information; and market manipulation. The paper also touches on short selling, which is not explicitly addressed by the original directive's mandate.

The document forms part of the European Union's (EU) regulatory framework for financial services set out in the Commission's document 'Driving European recovery', and also in its action plan to reduce EU companies' administrative burdens by 25% before 2013.

The call for evidence lists a number of elements within the directive for revision. These include: the ability of listed issuers to delay disclosure of inside information; the scope of the MAD to cover different markets and financial products; insider information disclosure by commodity derivatives issuers; access to telephone records and other data; and requirements for insider lists and transaction reporting for issuer managers.

A deadline of June 10, 2009 has been set for comments. The call for evidence can be viewed here.