Both advance notifications and public ad hoc disclosures must be made as soon as possible, i.e. “without culpable delay”. The issuer must therefore take all necessary and reasonable organisational measures and arrangements in order to take due account of the requirement to provide the information as soon as possible. This means that the issuer must identify potential inside information as quickly as possible and examines whether there is an ad hoc disclosure obligation. In addition, if inside information is foreseeable, the issuer must take all ex ante measures to avoid any delay to the greatest possible extent, such as preparing draft versions of an ad hoc disclosure, convening ad hoc committees in good time, checking the proper functioning of the systems used for the disclosure and ensuring the adequate deployment of personnel trained in public disclosure.

The issuer is required to clarify unclear matters and to carefully examine the potential effects of an event in order to determine whether it constitutes a circumstance subject to a disclosure obligation. If necessary, the issuer must seek advice from experts. To avoid abusive conduct, a limit must be imposed on the period for such clarification and examination.

Issuers are required to make advance notifications and public ad hoc disclosures regardless of exchange trading hours. Based on current information, several ad hoc disclosure service providers have the capability to make disclosures public at any time.

If inside information is made public in several languages, disclosure must not be delayed by the translation, i.e. disclosure may not be delayed until one or all translations of the disclosure are available.

In some cases, stock exchange rules and regulations require the simultaneous publication of ad hoc disclosures in English. Insofar as the issuer is not authorised under section 3b of the WpAV to make public the ad hoc disclosure in English (see also section I.3.11), it should be noted that these rules and regulations are subordinate to the requirement for disclosure as soon as possible under Article 17(1) of the MAR, and do not therefore justify any delay. Subsequent disclosure in English or another language does not have to be in the form of an ad hoc disclosure because the information has already been made public at that point. Nevertheless, BaFin does not regard such a disclosure as unlawful. In that case, the translation must be made public within 24 hours of the initial disclosure.