On 18 December 2024, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a consultation paper setting out proposed regulatory technical standards (RTS) establishing an EU code of conduct for issuer-sponsored research by the EU Listing Act Directive.

Background

Article 1(2)(a) of the EU Listing Act Directive introduces new paragraphs 3a to 3e in Article 24 of MiFID II. In accordance with the new provisions, issuer-sponsored research must be fair, clear, and not

misleading. It should be clearly identified as such or with similar wording. All relevant conditions outlined in the MiFID II Delegated Regulation (Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565) and applicable to the research shall be met. Also, investment firms that produce or distribute research partly or fully paid by the issuer shall use the label “issuer-sponsored research” only if the research complies with the EU code of conduct for issuer-sponsored research, to be developed by ESMA as RTS.

Draft RTS

The draft RTS are attached in Annex IV of the consultation paper.

Next steps

The deadline for comments on the consultation paper is 18 March 2025.

ESMA will prepare a final report for subsequent submission of the final draft RTS to the European Commission by 5 December 2025.