Proposal for a Regulation amending Regulations (EU) No 596/2014 and (EU) 2017/1129 as regards the promotion of the use of SME growth markets

Summary:

Legislative initiative published by the European Commission in May 2018, setting up a new framework to support smal and medium businesses (SMEs) access new sources of funding.

Further information:

The proposal was put forward to amend Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (also know as Market Abuse Regulation) and Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 (also known as Prospectus Regulation). It is aimed at reducing the administrative burden and the high compliance costs faced by SME growth market issuers while ensuring a high level of market integrity and investor protection; fostering the liquidity of publicly listed SME shares; facilitating the registration of multilateral trading facilities as SME growth markets.

SME access to public markets was identified as one of the European Commission's priorities following the mid-term review of the Capital Markets Union (CMU) Action Plan. A consultation process ran in early 2018, and a draft law was adopted as a result by the European Commission on 24 May 2018. The European Parliament's plenary session adopted a negotiating position on 12 December, followed by the Council of the European Union on 27 February 2019. An informal agreement between the co-legislators on a compromise text for the proposal was reached on 6 March. The Parliament formally endorsed it on 18 April, followed by the Council on 8 November.

• Primary Source

Commentary and Analysis

University of Oxford: Faculty of Law: Blog, 26/01/2018: What should qualify as a 'SME Growth Market'? https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/business-law-blog/blog/2018/01/what-should-qualify-sme-growth-market

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Official

EUR-Lex: SWD(2018)243: Impact assessment https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2018:243:FIN

EUR-Lex: SWD(2018)244: Executive summary of the impact assessment https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2018:244:FIN

European Parliament: Legislative Observatory: Promotion of the use of SME growth markets https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?lang=en&reference=2018/0165(OLP)

EP: Legislative Train: Promoting SME Growth Markets: amendments to the market abuse regulation and the prospectus regulation https://www.europarl.europa.eu/legislative-train/theme-deeper-and-fairer-internal-market-with-a-strengthened-industrial-base-financial-services/file-sme-growth-markets-amendments-to-mar-and-prospectus

European Commission: Press Release, 24/05/2018: Capital Markets Union: Making it easier for smaller businesses to get financing through capital markets http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-3727_en.htm

European Commission: Fact Sheet, 24/05/2018: Frequently asked questions: Easier access to financing for smaller businesses through capital markets http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-18-3728_en.htm

Council of the European Union: Press Release, 08/11/2019: Capital Markets Union: Council adopts legislative reforms https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2019/11/08/capital-markets-union-council-adopts-legislative-reforms/

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