Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2011:459
Date: 2011-07-07
Language of the case: Dutch
Court formation: Second Chamber
Subject matter: Approximation of laws
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Netherlands

Summary of the Judgment Approximation of laws – Insider dealing and market manipulation (market abuse) – Prohibition – Market manipulation – Fixing the price of one or more financial instruments at an abnormal or artificial level – Definition (European Parliament and Council Directive 2003/6, Art. 1(2)(a), second indent, and 5) Article 1(2)(a), second indent, of Directive 2003/6 on insider dealing and market manipulation (market abuse) must be interpreted as not requiring, in order for the price of one or more financial instruments to be considered to have been fixed at an abnormal or artificial level, that price to maintain an abnormal or artificial level beyond a certain period. In that respect, the purpose of Directive 2003/6, as is noted, in particular, in recitals 2 and 12 in the preamble thereto, is to protect the integrity of EU financial markets and to enhance investor confidence in those markets. That confidence depends on, inter alia, investors being placed on an equal footing and protected against the improper use of insider information and price manipulations. The objectives thus pursued by Directive 2003/6 would be compromised if conduct such as that contemplated in Article 1(2)(a), second indent, of that directive could fall outside the scope of the prohibition of market manipulation set out in Article 5 of that directive solely on the ground that it gave rise to a single transaction and, consequently, a single listing, without the price of the financial instrument or instruments at issue maintaining an abnormal or artificial level beyond a certain period. (see paras 27, 29-30, and operative part)