Commission Directive 2003/125/EC of 22 December 2003 implementing Directive 2003/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the fair presentation of investment recommendations and the disclosure of conflicts of interest

Summary of the initiative

Objective(s)
The Directive 2003/125/EC as regards the fair presentation of investment recommendations and the disclosure of conflicts of interest establishes standards for the fair presentation of investment recommendations and the disclosure of conflicts of interest. The Directive imposes a general requirement on Member States to put in place appropriate regulation of persons, who make investment recommendations ('appropriate regulation' shall mean any regulation, including self-regulation, in place in Member States). This general requirement does not apply in the case of journalists who are subject to equivalent appropriate regulation in Member States, including equivalent appropriate self-regulation, provided that such regulation achieves effects similar to those of the regulation by Member States that would otherwise be required by the directive. The journalists' self regulation rules are also referred to in the 'market manipulation' definition in the Market Abuse Directive 2003/6.

Description of the Initiative

    Sector

    Sector

    Contact Point - Commission
    MARKT H.3.

    Self/Co-Regulation Basic Act

    LEGISLATIVE ACT
    Year
    2003
    Title of Act
    Commission Directive 2003/125/EC of 22 December 2003 implementing Directive 2003/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the fair presentation of investment recommendations and the disclosure of conflicts of interest, Official Journal L 339, 24.12.2003, p. 73-77.

    Geographical Coverage

    Global coverage
    Participating Countries
    Austria

    Description

    Problems that lead to the introduction of Self/Co-Regulation and the adoption of the Founding Act
    -
    Target Group(s)
    Member States, journalists.
    Type of Instrument(s)
    Code of conduct.
    Level(s) at which private rules should be defined and applied
    Type of Financing
    -
    Type of Monitoring
    Conduct an initial survey of compliance capacity of future regulateesConduct regular visits and spot checksInitiate complaints proceduresMaintain database of those bounded by the normsProduce regular reportsReceive complaints and verify if norms were breached or notReflexive dialogue with the - stakeholdersOther
    European Commissionyesyes
    National public authorityyesyes
    International public authority
    Private regulator (code owner)
    Private independent party with a mandate (e.g. auditors)
    Self-appointed private parties (e.g. NGOs)
    Succinct description of the type of Monitoring
    No specific monitoring scheme provided by the Directive.
    Type of Enforcement
    Faming, shaming and blamingJudicial sanctionsMembership suspension/exclusionPrivate finesOther
    Private Regulatoryes
    Private independent party with a mandate (e.g. auditors)
    Court systemyes
    Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) / Online dispute resolution (ODR)
    Succinct description of the type of Enforcement
    Most codes of conduct for journalists provide for the suspension/exclusion of offending parties.

    Results of Commission Monitoring

    Link / Reference of Evaluation
    -