On 7 December 2022, the European Commission published the following proposals which follow up on its commitment to simplify EU listing rules, as detailed in Action 2 of the 2020 Capital Markets Union Action Plan:

• Proposal for a Directive on multiple-vote share structures in companies that seek the admission to trading of their shares on an SME growth market.

• Proposal for a Directive amending Directive 2014/65/EU to make public capital markets in the Union more attractive for companies and to facilitate access to capital for small and medium-sized enterprises and repealing Directive 2001/34/EC.

• Proposal for a Regulation amending Regulations (EU) 2017/1129, (EU) No 596/2014 and (EU) No 600/2014 to make public capital markets in the Union more attractive for companies and to facilitate access to capital for small and medium-sized enterprises.

• Annex to the proposal for a Regulation amending Regulations (EU) 2017/1129, (EU) No 596/2014 and (EU) No 600/2014 to make public capital markets in the Union more attractive for companies and to facilitate access to capital for small and medium-sized enterprises.

In addition, the Commission has published:

• Impact assessment accompanying the proposals on listing.

• Summary of the impact assessment accompanying the proposals on listing.

• Factsheet: Accessing public financial markets – simpler listing rules for companies, especially SMEs.

In summary, the package of measures contain amendments to the Prospectus Regulation, the Market Abuse Regulation, the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation. It also repeals most of the requirements in the Listing Directive, transferring the few provisions that are still relevant to MiFID II. It also proposes a Directive on multiple-vote rights, to encourage entrepreneurial companies, including small and medium sized ones, to list for the first time on SME growth markets with a governance structure that allows them to maintain control over the vision of the company.