Step By Step: European Judges Extend Obligations Regarding Ad-Hoc Publicity

It is often difficult for listed companies to judge when they have to publish information of relevance to the company by way of ad-hoc notification. This is particularly the case where an event is developing over a period of time and with several interim steps before the result is achieved for example an acquisition of a company or a change in the management board. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has now decided in a fundamental judgement that in such cases which extend over a period of time, individual interim steps can already constitute notifiable insider information. With this, the European judges have significantly increased the extent of ad-hoc publicity and the ban on insider trading (judgement dated 28 June 2012, case C-19/11; FAZ dated 29 June 2012).