Disclosure requirement (Ad-hoc disclosure)

Obligation of issuers of securities to immediately report and publish any information that might have a bearing on the price of their securities.

The regulations pertaining to the disclosure requirement are contained in section 15 of the German Securities Trading Act, which states that issuers of securities admitted to the Regulated Market on a German stock exchange are obliged to report all corporate developments that have a sufficiently strong impact on the issuer’s financial situation or its business activities to influence the market price of the security. Securities listed in the Unofficial Regulated Market are exempt from this requirement.

The obligation to release such information without delay is intended to mitigate the abuse of inside information and enhance market transparency. A violation of the disclosure requirement is punishable with a fine.

While the Federal Supervisory Office for Securities Trading (BAFin) is responsible for investigating whether issuers are meeting the disclosure requirement as stipulated in section 15 of the Securities Trading Act, it is the task of the Exchange Operating Board to decide whether the information published requires a temporary suspension of a quotation.

According to section 15, paragraph 1, no. 1 of the Securities Trading Act, the information must be published in the German language in at least one national “Börsenpflichtblatt” (the journal for statutory stock market publications), or via an electronic information dissemination system. Furthermore, companies in Prime Standard are obliged to publish ad-hoc messages in English.

Prior to publication, the information must be communicated directly to BAFin and the Exchange Operating Board of the German exchange where the securities or their derivatives are listed.