Consultation period
19 November 2021 – 11 February 2022
Topics
Banking and financial services, Economy, finance and the euro
Departments
Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union
Target group
Views are welcome from all stakeholders. For the more technical part of the consultation, views are welcome in particular from Member States, national competent authorities and ESMA, market participants including SMEs (listed SMEs and those seeking a listing), businesses other than SMEs, stock exchanges, retail and institutional investors, consumer and investor organisations, brokers, key advisers that support companies through the IPO stage and other service providers.
Objective of the consultation
This targeted consultation is part of a Commission’s initiative aiming to make listing of both equity and non-equity securities on EU public markets more attractive for companies, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This would make it easier for EU issuers to finance their activity and to grow, innovate and create jobs, while preserving a high level of investor protection and market integrity. This initiative is in line with the objectives of the Commission’s Capital Markets Union (CMU) Action Plan of September 2020. Specifically, in Action 2 of the Action Plan, the Commission announced that it will assess whether the rules governing companies’ listing on public markets need to be further simplified. Furthermore, President Von der Leyen announced in her letter of intent addressed to Parliament and the Presidency of the Council on 15 September 2021 a legislative proposal for 2022 to facilitate SMEs’ access to capital.
This targeted consultation is available in English only. It is split into two main sections. The first section contains general questions and aims at gathering views on stakeholders’ experience with the current listing rules and the possible need to adapt those rules. The second section seeks views from stakeholders on various technical aspects of the current listing rules, with questions grouped according to the legal act that they pertain to. In parallel to this targeted consultation, the Commission is launching an open public consultation which covers only the general questions and is available in 23 official EU languages. As the general questions are asked in both questionnaires, we advise stakeholders to reply to only one of the two versions (either the targeted consultation or the open public consultation) to avoid unnecessary duplications. Please note that replies to both questionnaires will be equally considered.
How to submit your response
Please note that in order to ensure a fair and transparent consultation process responses should be submitted through the online questionnaire.
Reference documents
Consultation document: Listing act (targeted consultation)