REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the delegation of power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on market abuse (market abuse regulation) and repealing Directive 2003/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directives 2003/124/EC, 2003/125/EC and 2004/72/EC
Date: 2024-06-17
Institutions: Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, European Commission
Subjects: European Commission, delegated legislation, dissemination of information, financial instrument, market abuse, powers of the institutions (EU), prevention of delinquency, restriction on competition, stock-exchange transaction, transfer of competence

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 17.6.2024  COM(2024) 248 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the delegation of power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on market abuse (market abuse regulation) and repealing Directive 2003/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directives 2003/124/EC, 2003/125/EC and 2004/72/EC  
 
 
1.  Introduction 

Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council1 was adopted on 
16 April 2014. Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 has subsequently been amended by Regulation 
(EU) 2016/1011 of the European Parliament and of the Council2, Regulation (EU) 2016/1033 
of the European Parliament and of the Council3, Regulation (EU) 2019/2115 of the European 
Parliament and of the Council4 and Regulation (EU) 2023/2869 of the European Parliament 
and of the Council5. 

To ensure the integrity of financial markets in the Union and to enhance investor protection 
and  confidence  in  those  markets,  Regulation  (EU)  No  596/2014  establishes  a  common 
regulatory framework on insider dealing, the unlawful disclosure of inside information, and 
market manipulation (market abuse), and lays down measures to prevent such market abuse. 

Article  35  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  596/2014  lays  down  the  conditions  under  which  the 
Commission  is  empowered  to  adopt  delegated  acts.  Article  35(2)  of  Regulation  (EU)  No 
596/2014  (as  amended  by  Regulation  (EU)  2019/2115)  specifies  that  the  power  to  adopt 
delegated  acts  is  conferred  on  the  Commission  for  an  initial  period  of  five  years  from  31 
December 2019, and stipulates the conditions for the extension of that power. The initial five-
year period expires on 31 December 2024. At the end of this period, the Commission is required 
to prepare a report. This report aims to fulfil that requirement.  

2.  Legal basis 

Pursuant to Article 35(2) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, the Commission is to prepare a 
report in respect of the delegation of power no later than nine months before the end of the 
five-year period.  

Article 35(2) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 also provides that the delegation of power shall 
be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the 
Council opposes such extension no later than three months before the end of each period. 

1 
Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on market 
abuse (market abuse regulation) and repealing Directive 2003/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 
and  Commission  Directives  2003/124/EC,  2003/125/EC  and  2004/72/EC  (OJ  L  173,  12.6.2014,  p.  1,  ELI: 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2014/596/oj). 
2 
Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on indices 
used as benchmarks in financial instruments and financial contracts or to measure the performance of investment 
funds  and  amending  Directives  2008/48/EC  and  2014/17/EU  and  Regulation  (EU)  No  596/2014, (OJ  L 171, 
29.6.2016, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/1011/oj). 
3 
Regulation (EU) 2016/1033 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 June 2016 amending 
Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 on markets in financial instruments, Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 on market abuse 
and  Regulation  (EU)  No  909/2014  on  improving  securities  settlement  in  the  European  Union  and  on  central 
securities depositories (OJ L 175, 30.6.2016, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/1033/oj). 
4 
Regulation  (EU)  2019/2115  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  27  November  2019 
amending  Directive  2014/65/EU  and  Regulations  (EU)  No  596/2014  and  (EU)  2017/1129  as  regards  the 
promotion  of 
(OJ  L  320,  11.12.2019,  p.  1,  ELI: 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2019/2115/oj). 
5 
Regulation  (EU)  2023/2869  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  13  December  2023 
amending certain Regulations as regards the establishment and functioning of the European single access point 
(OJ L, 2023/2869, 20.12.2023, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/2869/oj). 

the  use  of  SME  growth  markets 

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3.  Exercise of the delegation 

3.1. Delegated acts adopted 

The Commission adopted the following delegated acts.  

Delegated Acts 

Empowerments 

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/522 of 17 December 
20156 

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/4617 

Art. 6(5),  
Art. 12(5),  
Art. 17(2),  
Art. 17(3),  
Art. 19(13),  
Art. 19(14) 

Art. 6(5) 

The  adoption  of  those  delegated  acts  was  carried  out  under  the  empowerment  to  adopt 
delegated  acts  conferred  to  the  Commission  under  Article  35(2)  of  Regulation  (EU) 
No. 596/2014,  which  was  granted  for  an  indeterminate  period  of  time  from  2  July  2014. 
Regulation (EU) No. 2019/2115 amended Article 35(2) of Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 and 
limited to five years from 31 December 2019 the power to adopt delegated acts. The delegation 
of power is tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament 
or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period. 

For the reasons set out in Section 3.2, the Commission did not yet use the empowerment laid 
down in Article 35(2) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 as regards Article 6(6) and Article 38 
of Regulation  (EU) No. 596/2014.  In accordance with  Article 35(2) of Regulation  (EU) No 
596/2014, the Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later 
than nine months before the end of the five-year period, i.e. before 31 March 2024. 

3.2. Need for extending the empowerment to adopt delegated acts 

As indicated in Section 3.1., the Commission has not yet used the empowerment as regards 
Article 6(6) and Article 38 of Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014. 

The following delegated acts have thus not yet been adopted: 

Delegated Acts  

Empowerments  

Extending the exemption set out in Article 6(3) of Regulation (EU) 
No. 596/2014 to certain designated public bodies of third countries 

Art. 6(6)  

6 
Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2016/522  of  17  December  2015  supplementing  Regulation 
(EU)  No  596/2014  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  as  regards  an  exemption  for  certain  third 
countries public bodies and central banks, the indicators of market manipulation, the disclosure thresholds, the 
competent  authority  for  notifications  of  delays,  the  permission  for  trading  during  closed  periods  and  types  of 
notifiable managers' transactions (OJ L 88, 5.4.2016, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2016/522/oj). 
7 
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/461 of 30 January 2019 amending Delegated Regulation 
(EU) 2016/522 as regards the exemption of the Bank of England and the United Kingdom Debt Management 
Office from the scope of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 80, 
22.3.2019, p. 10, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2019/461/oj). 

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that  have  entered  into  an  agreement  with  the  Union  pursuant  to 
Article 25 of Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and 
of the Council8. 

Adjusting the thresholds laid down in Article 19(1a), points (a) and 
(b), of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 

38, 
Art. 
paragraph.  

fourth 

The reasons for the delayed adoption of the delegated acts listed above are the following: 

- 

- 

The empowerment laid down in Article 6(6) of Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 relates to 
the  agreements  referred  to  in  Article 25(1)  of  Directive  2003/87/EC  which  are  to  be 
concluded with the third countries listed in Annex B to the Kyoto Protocol. Therefore, 
for  the  Commission  to  use  that  empowerment,  the  Union  should  first  enter  into  such 
agreements.  Currently,  the  Union  has  entered  into  such  an  agreement  with  the  Swiss 
Confederation9. That agreement was signed on 23 November 2017 and entered into force 
on 1 January 2020. No other agreements have been signed with other third countries. To 
date, the Commission has not had the opportunity to use the empowerment laid down in 
Article 6(6) of Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014, given that Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 
remains  outside the scope of the Swiss  linking agreement.  However, the  Commission 
services  consider  it  essential  that  the  empowerment  laid  down  in  Article  6(6)  of 
Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 is extended. This is justified as future agreements referred 
to in Article 25(1) of Directive 2003/87/EC with third countries could require the use of 
the empowerment if the agreements would lay down that Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 
would apply to third country national authorities. 

The  empowerment  laid  down  in  Article  38,  fourth  paragraph,  of  Regulation  (EU) 
No. 596/2014 empowers the Commission to adjust the thresholds referred to in Article 
19(1a), points (a) and (b), of that Regulation. The Commission considered the technical 
advice  received  from  the  European  Securities  and  Markets  Authority  (ESMA)  on  23 
September 202010, including the results of the public consultation carried out by ESMA, 
in  which  both  ESMA  and  respondents  considered  that  those  thresholds  are  still 
appropriate. Based on that technical advice, the Commission considers that, at this stage, 
there  is  no  need  for  adjusting  them.  However,  as  it  cannot  be  excluded  that  those 
thresholds might need to be adjusted in the future, the empowerment to the Commission 
to do so should be extended.  

The Commission considers important that the empowerments provided for in Article 6(5) and 
(6), Article 12(5), the third subparagraph of Article 17(2), Article 17(3), Article 19(13) and 
(14), and Article 38of Regulation (EU) 596/2014 are maintained beyond the initial five-year 
period. This is why, as part of the Listing Act legislative proposal, the Commission proposed 
the  co-legislators  to  give  the  Commission  additional  powers  to  adopt  delegated  acts  under 
Regulation (EU) 596/2014 and to maintain the existing mandates. The Commission notes that, 

8 
Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a 
scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 
96/61/EC (OJ L 275, 25.10.2003, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2003/87/oj). 
9 
gas emissions trading systems; OJ L 322, 7.12.2017, p. 3–26. 
10 
MAR Review report (ESMA70-156-2391). 

Agreement between the European Union and the Swiss Confederation on the linking of their greenhouse 

3 

 
 
 
 
in  the final  compromise text for the Listing  Act  regulation11, the co-legislators have indeed 
agreed to renew the delegation of powers to adopt the delegated acts referred to in Article 6(5) 
and (6), Article 12(5), the third subparagraph of Article 17(2), Article 17(3), Article 19(13) and 
(14),  and  Article  38  of  Regulation  (EU)  596/2014  for  a  further  period  of  five  years.  The 
European Parliament and the Council have also agreed to give the Commission the power to 
also adopt delegated acts under the second subparagraph of Article 17(1) and Article 25a(5), 
(5a) and (6) for the same period of time. A new report must be drawn up by the Commission 
before  the  end  of  such  period.  The  Listing  act  was  adopted  by  the  European  Parliament  in 
plenary  session  on  24  April  2024  and  is  subject  to  the  so-called  “corrigendum  procedure” 
which will lead to the publication on the Official Journal later this year. 

4.  Conclusion 

Given the explanation provided in Section 3, the Commission considers that there is a clear 
need for the extension of the empowerments provided for in Article 6(5) and (6), Article 12(5), 
the third subparagraph of Article 17(2), Article 17(3), Article 19(13) and (14), and Article 38 
of  Regulation  (EU)  596/2014,  as  proposed  by  the  Commission  as  part  of  the  Listing  Act 
proposal, for a further period of five years. 

The Commission invites the European Parliament and the Council to take note of this report. 

11 
Proposal  for  a  REGULATION  OF  THE  EUROPEAN  PARLIAMENT  AND  OF  THE  COUNCIL 
amending Regulations (EU) 2017/1129, (EU) No 596/2014 and (EU) No 600/2014 to make public capital markets 
in  the  Union  more  attractive  for  companies  and  to  facilitate  access  to  capital  for  small  and  medium-sized 
enterprises - Confirmation of the final compromise text with a view to agreement (2022/0411 (COD)).  

4