With Notice No. 35594 dated 22 September 2023, Borsa Italiana announced that Consob had approved the amendments to the Rules of the Markets managed and organised by Borsa Italiana (the Rules) with Resolution No. 22805 of 11 September 2023, already approved by Borsa Italiana's Board of Directors on 24 July 2023. The Rules were reviewed in order to (a) amend – within the framework of the regime of on-demand exclusion from trading in bonds, shares (both Italian and foreign) and ETFs – the regulation of the time limit for trading on the Italian markets, in a more protective manner; (b) rationalise the regime of delisting, upon request, foreign issuers having shares listed on regulated markets, making the delisting regime more in line with the framework of other Euronext Group legacy markets, also to avoid potential regulatory arbitrage. As to the first aspect in particular, Articles 2.5.4, 2.5.5, 2.5.6 and 2.5.8 of the Rules have been amended to provide that the minimum trading period on Italian markets (prior to the effectiveness of the delisting) shall start not from the date of submission of the request for exclusion from trading, but from the subsequent moment of publication of the Borsa Italiana Notice containing the exclusion measure, thus giving investors more time to continue trading the financial instruments in Italy. In relation to the second aspect, the following conditions for delisting have been introduced (a) the issuer has had its shares listed for at least 12 months on another European regulated market or another non-European market with equivalent characteristics where there is a sufficient level of liquidity and (b) if the other market is non-European, adequate safeguards for investors are ensured, with Borsa Italiana being able to ask the issuer for a legal opinion in this regard. The amendments to the Rules entered into force on 9 October 2023.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.