Article 9
The universal registration document
1.
Any issuer whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market or an MTF may draw up every financial year a registration document in the form of a universal registration document describing the company’s organisation, business, financial position, earnings and prospects, governance and shareholding structure.
2.
Any issuer that chooses to draw up a universal registration document every financial year shall submit it for approval to the competent authority of its home Member State in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 20(2) and (4).
After the issuer has had a universal registration document approved by the competent authority for one financial year, subsequent universal registration documents may be filed with the competent authority without prior approval.
Where the issuer thereafter fails to file a universal registration document for one financial year, the benefit of filing without prior approval shall be lost and all subsequent universal registration documents shall be submitted to the competent authority for approval until the condition set out in the second subparagraph is met again.
The issuer shall indicate in its application to the competent authority whether the universal registration document is submitted for approval or filed without prior approval.
Where the issuer referred to in the second subparagraph of this paragraph requests the notification of its universal registration document pursuant to Article 26, it shall submit its universal registration document for approval, including any amendments thereto which were previously filed.
3.
Issuers which, prior to 21 July 2019, have had a registration document, drawn up in accordance with Annex I to Commission Regulation (EC) No 809/2004 (
8
), approved by a competent authority for at least two consecutive financial years and have thereafter filed, in accordance with Article 12(3) of Directive 2003/71/EC, or got approved such a registration document every year, shall be allowed to file a universal registration document without prior approval in accordance with the second subparagraph of paragraph 2 of this Article from 21 July 2019.
4.
Once approved or filed without prior approval, the universal registration document, as well as the amendments thereto referred to in paragraphs 7 and 9 of this Article, shall be made available to the public without undue delay, in accordance with the arrangements set out in Article 21.
5.
The universal registration document shall comply with the language requirements laid down in Article 27.
6.
Information may be incorporated by reference into a universal registration document under the conditions set out in Article 19.
7.
Following the filing or approval of a universal registration document, the issuer may at any time update the information it contains by filing an amendment thereto with the competent authority. Subject to the first and second subparagraphs of Article 10(3), the filing of the amendment with the competent authority shall not require approval.
8.
The competent authority may at any time review the content of any universal registration document which has been filed without prior approval, as well as the content of any amendments thereto.
The review by the competent authority shall consist in scrutinising the completeness, the consistency and the comprehensibility of the information given in the universal registration document and any amendments thereto.
9.
Where the competent authority, in the course of the review, finds that the universal registration document does not meet the standards of completeness, comprehensibility and consistency, or that amendments or supplementary information are needed, it shall notify it to the issuer.
A request for amendment or supplementary information addressed by the competent authority to the issuer needs only be taken into account by the issuer in the next universal registration document filed for the following financial year, except where the issuer wishes to use the universal registration document as a constituent part of a prospectus submitted for approval. In that case, the issuer shall file an amendment to the universal registration document at the latest upon submission of the application referred to in Article 20(6).
By way of derogation from the second subparagraph, where the competent authority notifies the issuer that its request for amendment or supplementary information concerns a material omission or a material mistake or material inaccuracy, which is likely to mislead the public with regard to facts and circumstances essential for an informed assessment of the issuer, the issuer shall file an amendment to the universal registration document without undue delay.
The competent authority may request that the issuer produces a consolidated version of the amended universal registration document, where such a consolidated version is necessary to ensure comprehensibility of the information provided in that document. An issuer may voluntarily include a consolidated version of its amended universal registration document in an annex to the amendment.
10.
Paragraphs 7 and 9 shall only apply where the universal registration document is not in use as a constituent part of a prospectus. Whenever a universal registration document is in use as a constituent part of a prospectus, only Article 23 on supplementing the prospectus shall apply between the time when the prospectus is approved and the final closing of the offer of securities to the public or, as the case may be, the time when trading on a regulated market begins, whichever occurs later.
11.
An issuer fulfilling the conditions set out in the first or second subparagraph of paragraph 2 or in paragraph 3 of this Article shall have the status of frequent issuer and shall benefit from the faster approval process in accordance with Article 20(6), provided that:
(a)
upon the filing or submission for approval of each universal registration document, the issuer provides written confirmation to the competent authority that, to the best of its knowledge, all regulated information which it was required to disclose under Directive 2004/109/EC, if applicable, and under Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 has been filed and published in accordance with those acts over the last 18 months or over the period since the obligation to disclose regulated information commenced, whichever is the shorter; and
(b)
where the competent authority has undertaken a review as referred to in paragraph 8, the issuer has amended its universal registration document in accordance with paragraph 9.
Where any of the above conditions is not fulfilled by the issuer, the status of frequent issuer shall be lost.
12.
Where the universal registration document filed with or approved by the competent authority is made public at the latest four months after the end of the financial year, and contains the information required to be disclosed in the annual financial report referred to in Article 4 of Directive 2004/109/EC, the issuer shall be deemed to have fulfilled its obligation to publish the annual financial report required under that Article.
Where the universal registration document, or an amendment thereto, is filed or approved by the competent authority and made public at the latest three months after the end of the first six months of the financial year, and contains the information required to be disclosed in the half-yearly financial report referred to in Article 5 of Directive 2004/109/EC, the issuer shall be deemed to have fulfilled its obligation to publish the half-yearly financial report required under that Article.
In the cases referred to in the first and second subparagraph, the issuer:
(a)
shall include in the universal registration document a cross reference list identifying where each item required in the annual and half-yearly financial reports can be found in the universal registration document;
(b)
shall file the universal registration document in accordance with Article 19(1) of Directive 2004/109/EC and make it available to the officially appointed mechanism referred to in Article 21(2) of that Directive;
(c)
shall include in the universal registration document a responsibility statement using the terms required under point (c) of Article 4(2) and point (c) of Article 5(2) of Directive 2004/109/EC.
13.
Paragraph 12 shall only apply where the home Member State of the issuer for the purposes of this Regulation is also the home Member State for the purposes of Directive 2004/109/EC, and where the language of the universal registration document fulfils the conditions set out in Article 20 of that Directive.
14.
The Commission shall, by 21 January 2019, adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 44 to supplement this Regulation by specifying the criteria for the scrutiny and review of the universal registration document and any amendments thereto, and the procedures for the approval and filing of those documents as well as the conditions under which the status of frequent issuer is lost.
( 5 ) Commission Regulation (EC) No 809/2004 of 29 April 2004 implementing Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards information contained in prospectuses as well as the format, incorporation by reference and publication of such prospectuses and dissemination of advertisements (OJ L 149, 30.4.2004, p. 1).