On 16 January 2019, he European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its annual report to the European Commission on the application of accepted market practices in accordance with the EU Market Abuse Regulation.

The Market Abuse Regulation provides certain prohibitions against market manipulation. Accepted market practices (AMPs), which are established by competent national authorities and notified to ESMA, provide a defence against any allegations of market manipulation. In particular, a dealing on a financial market which was carried out for legitimate reasons and in line with an established AMP, will not be found to constitute market manipulation.

In the report, ESMA identifies AMPs which were established before the Market Abuse Regulation came into force, or which became effective after that date.

The full report can be found here.

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