Erscheinung:16.03.2020, Stand:updated on 18.12.2020 ESMA renews its decision requiring net short position holders to report positions of 0.1 percent and above
On 16 March 2020, at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a decision stipulating that notification must be provided for net short positions that reach or exceed 0.1 percent of the issued share capital for all shares admitted to trading on the regulated market. Exceptions apply to market making activities. The measure entered into force on 16 March 2020, and was extended on 17 June 2020 and again on 18 September 2020. It is now being extended by another three months from 19 December 2020 . The publication requirement for positions that exceed, reach or fall below the threshold of 0.5 percent remains unchanged.
BaFin is responsible for monitoring compliance with this additional notification requirement. Notifications regarding the new threshold are to be submitted via BaFin’s Reporting and Publishing Platform (MVP Portal). Further information regarding the general notification requirements can be found here.
Notice for those newly subject to the notification requirement:
The following steps need to be taken at the latest when the first notification is submitted:
- Registration on BaFin’s Reporting and Publishing Platform (MVP Portal).
- Registration for the specialised procedure for net short positions.
- Notification of net short positions using the specialised procedure.
A detailed guide for the electronic notification procedure is provided in BaFin’s MVP Portal and in the MVP Portal User Manual.
The process for verifying the legitimation of the notifying party will be simplified on a temporary basis. If it is not possible to provide all of the documents necessary for activation immediately after submitting the electronic application, the management board of the company submitting the application must, when submitting the printed and signed application, provide assurance that all of the necessary conditions for submitting notifications have been met. Documents such as the commercial register extract can be submitted subsequently. The specialised procedure will be activated promptly.
Before the activation of the account – i.e. immediately after registration for the specialised procedure for net short positions – the notifying party is granted temporary access with which it can submit preliminary notifications.
