On 21 May 2026, the European Commission (Commission) adopted a Commission Delegated Regulation supplementing the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II with regard to regulatory technical standards (RTS) for the establishment of an EU code of conduct for issuer-sponsored research.

Background

Directive (EU) 2024/2811 empowers the Commission to adopt RTS developed by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) for an EU code of conduct for issuer-sponsored research. The purpose of the RTS is to encourage a broader reliance on high-quality issuer-sponsored research, while striking the right balance between regulation and removing obstacles for issuers.

ESMA conducted a public consultation on the content of an EU code of conduct for issuer sponsored research, taking into account any existing national codes of conduct for issuer-sponsored research. To that end, ESMA identified a single existing code of conduct developed in France under the name of ’Charter of good practices on sponsored research’. The consultation ran from 18 December 2024 to 18 March 2025.  On 22 October 2025, ESMA submitted to the Commission its final report on RTS for the establishment of an EU code of conduct for issuer-sponsored research.

Structure

The structure of the RTS in the Commission Delegated Regulation is as follows:

  • Article 1 introduces new definitions of ‘issuer-sponsored research’, ‘research analyst’ and ‘research provider’
  • Article 2:
  • Sets out the obligation for an investment firm to obtain information to assess the compliance of research labelled as issuer-sponsored research with the EU code of conduct set out in the Annex to this Regulation.
  • Prohibits investment firms from distributing research labelled as issuer sponsored research if they do not obtain the necessary information to assess its compliance with the EU code of conduct for issuer-sponsored research.
  • Specifies how investment firms may assess the compliance of issuer-sponsored research with the EU code of conduct, when relying on a third party.
  • Article 3 states when this Regulation enters into force and when it starts to apply.

Next steps

The Commission Delegated Regulation enters into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.