The operator of a multilateral or organised trading facility (“trading venue operator”) can suspend trading with a financial instrument or remove this instrument from trading if this appears necessary in order to ensure orderly trading or to protect investor interests (section 73 (1) sentence 1 of the German Securities Trading Act (Wertpapierhandelsgesetz – WpHG)). This applies in particular if

1. the financial instrument no longer complies with the rules of the trading facility,
2. there is a suspicion of market abuse within the meaning of Article 1 of the Market Abuse Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 – MAR) or the non-disclosure of inside information infringing Article 17 of the MAR in respect of the financial instrument, or
3. a takeover bid has been published in relation to the issuer of the financial instrument. If the trading venue operator suspends trading with financial instruments or removes these instruments from trading under section 73 (1) sentence 1 of the WpHG, they must also suspend trading in derivatives related to those financial instruments or remove the financial instruments in question from trading (section 73 (1) sentence 2 of the WpHG).

The trading venue operator is obliged to publish decisions to suspend or remove a financial instrument from trading on their website immediately (Article 3(1) in conjunction with Article 4(1) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1005).
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1005 also stipulates that additional publication by other means is only permissible simultaneously with or after publication on the website in order to ensure that the information is simultaneously made available to everyone.

Where financial instruments that are suspended or removed from trading or derivatives that relate to such financial instruments are also traded on another multilateral organised trading facility in Germany or by a systematic internaliser, BaFin must also order the suspension or removal from trading of these instruments and related derivatives (section 73 (2) of the WpHG).

BaFin and the other national competent authorities (NCAs) are obliged to notify the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) of any suspension of trading or removal of financial instruments under Articles 32 and 52 of Directive 2014/65/EU (MiFID II).

Using this information, ESMA publishes a database on its website of all reported suspensions and removals.