Only connect--the importance of considering disclosure requirements in the light of their legal consequences

Abstract

Compare the following statements:- Let me address first the concern that the Transparency Directive could generate a potential liability of issuers and auditors towards investors generally or the public at large … .[T]he Transparency Directive does not aim at extending the scope of existing liability regimes in the Member States. (Alexander Schaub, Director General, Internal Market EU Commission, in a Letter to Lord Woolf, Chairman, Financial Markets Law Committee, May 2006) The decision to implement a statutory regime for liability in damages in respect of disclosures required under the Transparency Directive was made in light of uncertainty as to the impact of implementation of the Directive on the liability position, given the requirements of the Directive and increased securities market legislation. The Government concluded that, were it not to implement a statutory regime, there was a material risk that the courts would decide that Government had not implemented the Directive correctly. (HM Treasury, ‘Extending the scope of the statutory damages regime for disclosures required under the Transparency Directive’, 9 August 2006)