Article 21
Publication of the prospectus
Once approved, the prospectus shall be made available to the public by the issuer, the offeror or the person asking for admission to trading on a regulated market at a reasonable time in advance of, and at the latest at the beginning of, the offer to the public or the admission to trading of the securities involved.
In the case of an initial offer to the public of a class of shares that is admitted to trading on a regulated market for the first time, the prospectus shall be made available to the public at least three working days before the end of the offer.
The prospectus, whether a single document or consisting of separate documents, shall be deemed available to the public when published in electronic form on any of the following websites:
the website of the issuer, the offeror or the person asking for admission to trading on a regulated market;
the website of the financial intermediaries placing or selling the securities, including paying agents;
the website of the regulated market where the admission to trading is sought, or where no admission to trading on a regulated market is sought, the website of the operator of the MTF.
The prospectus shall be published on a dedicated section of the website which is easily accessible when entering the website. It shall be downloadable, printable and in searchable electronic format that cannot be modified.
The documents containing information incorporated by reference in the prospectus, the supplements and/or final terms related to the prospectus and a separate copy of the summary shall be accessible under the same section alongside the prospectus, including by way of hyperlinks where necessary.
The separate copy of the summary shall clearly indicate the prospectus to which it relates.
The competent authority of the home Member State shall publish on its website all the prospectuses approved or at least the list of prospectuses approved, including a hyperlink to the dedicated website sections referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article as well as an identification of the host Member State or States where prospectuses are notified in accordance with Article 25. The published list, including the hyperlinks, shall be kept up-to-date and each item shall remain on the website at least for the period referred to in paragraph 7 of this Article.
At the same time as it notifies ESMA of the approval of a prospectus or of any supplement thereto, the competent authority shall provide ESMA with an electronic copy of the prospectus and any supplement thereto, as well as the data necessary for its classification by ESMA in the storage mechanism referred to in paragraph 6 and for the report referred to in Article 47.
The competent authority of the host Member State shall publish information on all notifications received in accordance with Article 25 on its website.
All prospectuses approved shall remain publicly available in electronic form for at least 10 years after their publication on the websites referred to in paragraphs 2 and 6.
Where hyperlinks are used for information incorporated by reference in the prospectus, and the supplements and/or final terms related to the prospectus, such hyperlinks shall be functional for the period referred to in the first subparagraph.
ESMA may, or where the Commission so requests shall, develop draft regulatory technical standards to specify further the requirements relating to the publication of the prospectus.
Power is delegated to the Commission to adopt the regulatory technical standards referred to in the first subparagraph in accordance with Articles 10 to 14 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010.
ESMA shall develop draft regulatory technical standards to specify the data necessary for the classification of prospectuses referred to in paragraph 5 and the practical arrangements to ensure that such data, including the ISINs of the securities and the LEIs of the issuers, offerors and guarantors, is machine readable.
ESMA shall submit those draft regulatory technical standards to the Commission by 21 July 2018.
Power is delegated to the Commission to adopt the regulatory technical standards referred to in the first subparagraph in accordance with Articles 10 to 14 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010.