Regulation (EU) No 236/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2012 on short selling and certain aspects of credit default swaps Text with EEA relevance
Modified by
  • Regulation (EU) No 909/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 23 July 2014on improving securities settlement in the European Union and on central securities depositories and amending Directives 98/26/EC and 2014/65/EU and Regulation (EU) No 236/2012(Text with EEA relevance), 32014R0909, August 28, 2014
  • Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/27of 27 September 2021amending Regulation (EU) No 236/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the adjustment of the relevant threshold for the notification of significant net short positions in shares(Text with EEA relevance), 32022R0027, January 11, 2022
  • Regulation (EU) 2023/2869 of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 13 December 2023amending certain Regulations as regards the establishment and functioning of the European single access point(Text with EEA relevance), 32023R2869, December 20, 2023
  • Regulation (EU) 2023/2845 of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 13 December 2023amending Regulation (EU) No 909/2014 as regards settlement discipline, cross-border provision of services, supervisory cooperation, provision of banking-type ancillary services and requirements for third-country central securities depositories and amending Regulation (EU) No 236/2012(Text with EEA relevance), 32023R2845, December 27, 2023
Regulation (EU) No 236/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 14 March 2012on short selling and certain aspects of credit default swaps(Text with EEA relevance) CHAPTER IGENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1Scope1.This Regulation shall apply to the following:(a)financial instruments within the meaning of point (a) of Article 2(1) that are admitted to trading on a trading venue in the Union, including such instruments when traded outside a trading venue;(b)derivatives referred to in points (4) to (10) of Section C of Annex I to Directive 2004/39/EC that relate to a financial instrument referred to in point (a) or to an issuer of such a financial instrument, including such derivatives when traded outside a trading venue;(c)debt instruments issued by a Member State or the Union and derivatives referred to in points (4) to (10) of Section C of Annex I to Directive 2004/39/EC that relate or are referenced to debt instruments issued by a Member State or the Union.2.Articles 18, 20 and 23 to 30 shall apply to all financial instruments within the meaning of point (a) of Article 2(1).
Article 2Definitions1.For the purpose of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:(a)"financial instrument" means an instrument listed in Section C of Annex I to Directive 2004/39/EC;(b)"short sale" in relation to a share or debt instrument means any sale of the share or debt instrument which the seller does not own at the time of entering into the agreement to sell including such a sale where at the time of entering into the agreement to sell the seller has borrowed or agreed to borrow the share or debt instrument for delivery at settlement, not including:(i)a sale by either party under a repurchase agreement where one party has agreed to sell the other a security at a specified price with a commitment from the other party to sell the security back at a later date at another specified price;(ii)a transfer of securities under a securities lending agreement; or(iii)entry into a futures contract or other derivative contract where it is agreed to sell securities at a specified price at a future date;(c)"credit default swap" means a derivative contract in which one party pays a fee to another party in return for a payment or other benefit in the case of a credit event relating to a reference entity and of any other default, relating to that derivative contract, which has a similar economic effect;(d)"sovereign issuer" means any of the following that issues debt instruments:(i)the Union;(ii)a Member State, including a government department, an agency, or a special purpose vehicle of the Member State;(iii)in the case of a federal Member State, a member of the federation;(iv)a special purpose vehicle for several Member States;(v)an international financial institution established by two or more Member States which has the purpose of mobilising funding and provide financial assistance to the benefit of its members that are experiencing or threatened by severe financing problems; or(vi)the European Investment Bank;(e)"sovereign credit default swap" means a credit default swap where a payment or other benefit will be paid in the case of a credit event or default relating to a sovereign issuer;(f)"sovereign debt" means a debt instrument issued by a sovereign issuer;(g)"issued sovereign debt" means the total of sovereign debt issued by a sovereign issuer that has not been redeemed;(h)"issued share capital" in relation to a company, means the total of ordinary and any preference shares issued by the company but does not include convertible debt securities;(i)"home Member State" means:(i)in relation to an investment firm within the meaning of point (1) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2004/39/EC, or to a regulated market within the meaning of point (14) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2004/39/EC, the home Member State within the meaning of point (20) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2004/39/EC;(ii)in relation to a credit institution, the home Member State within the meaning of point (7) of Article 4 of Directive 2006/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutionsOJ L 177, 30.6.2006, p. 1.;(iii)in relation to a legal person not referred to in point (i) or (ii), the Member State in which its registered office is situated or, if it has no registered office, the Member State in which its head office is situated;(iv)in relation to a natural person, the Member State in which that person’s head office is situated, or, where there is no head office, the Member State in which that person is domiciled;(j)"relevant competent authority" means:(i)in relation to sovereign debt of a Member State, or, in the case of a federal Member State, in relation to sovereign debt of a member of the federation, or a credit default swap relating to a Member State or a member of a federation, the competent authority of that Member State;(ii)in relation to sovereign debt of the Union or a credit default swap relating to the Union, the competent authority of the jurisdiction in which the department issuing the debt is situated;(iii)in relation to sovereign debt of several Member States acting through a special purpose vehicle or a credit default swap relating to such a special purpose vehicle, the competent authority of the jurisdiction in which the special purpose vehicle is established;(iv)in relation to sovereign debt of an international financial institution established by two or more Member States, which has the purpose to mobilise funding and provide financial assistance to the benefit of its members that are experiencing or threatened by severe financing problems, the competent authority of the jurisdiction in which the international financial institution is established;(v)in relation to a financial instrument other than an instrument referred to in points (i) to (iv), the competent authority for that financial instrument as defined in point (7) of Article 2 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1287/2006Commission Regulation (EC) No 1287/2006 of 10 August 2006 implementing Directive 2004/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards record-keeping obligations for investment firms, transaction reporting, market transparency, admission of financial instruments to trading, and defined terms for the purposes of that Directive (OJ L 241, 2.9.2006, p. 1). and determined in accordance with Chapter III of that Regulation;(vi)in relation to a financial instrument that is not covered under points (i) to (v), the competent authority of the Member State in which the financial instrument was first admitted to trading on a trading venue;(vii)in relation to a debt instrument issued by the European Investment Bank, the competent authority of the Member State in which the European Investment Bank is located;(k)"market making activities" means the activities of an investment firm, a credit institution, a third-country entity, or a firm as referred to in point (l) of Article 2(1) of Directive 2004/39/EC, which is a member of a trading venue or of a market in a third country, the legal and supervisory framework of which has been declared equivalent by the Commission pursuant to Article 17(2) where it deals as principal in a financial instrument, whether traded on or outside a trading venue, in any of the following capacities:(i)by posting firm, simultaneous two-way quotes of comparable size and at competitive prices, with the result of providing liquidity on a regular and ongoing basis to the market;(ii)as part of its usual business, by fulfilling orders initiated by clients or in response to clients’ requests to trade;(iii)by hedging positions arising from the fulfilment of tasks under points (i) and (ii);(l)"trading venue" means a regulated market within the meaning of point (14) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2004/39/EC, or a multilateral trading facility within the meaning of point (15) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2004/39/EC;(m)"principal venue" in relation to a share means the venue for the trading of that share with the highest turnover;(n)"authorised primary dealer" means a natural or legal person who has signed an agreement with a sovereign issuer or who has been formally recognised as a primary dealer by or on behalf of a sovereign issuer and who, in accordance with that agreement or recognition, has committed to dealing as principal in connection with primary and secondary market operations relating to debt issued by that issuer;(o)"central counterparty" means a legal entity which interposes itself between the counterparties to the contracts traded within one or more financial markets, becoming the buyer to every seller and the seller to every buyer and which is responsible for the operation of a clearing system;(p)"trading day" means a trading day as referred to in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1287/2006;(q)"turnover" of a share means turnover within the meaning of point (9) of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1287/2006.2.The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 42 specifying the definitions laid down in paragraph 1 of this Article, in particular specifying when a natural or legal person is considered to own a financial instrument for the purposes of the definition of short sale in point (b) of paragraph 1.
Article 3Short and long positions1.For the purposes of this Regulation, a position resulting from either of the following shall be considered to be a short position relating to issued share capital or issued sovereign debt:(a)a short sale of a share issued by a company or of a debt instrument issued by a sovereign issuer;(b)entering into a transaction which creates or relates to a financial instrument other than an instrument referred to in point (a) where the effect or one of the effects of the transaction is to confer a financial advantage on the natural or legal person entering into that transaction in the event of a decrease in the price or value of the share or debt instrument.2.For the purposes of this Regulation, a position resulting from either of the following shall be considered to be a long position relating to issued share capital or issued sovereign debt:(a)holding a share issued by a company or a debt instrument issued by a sovereign issuer;(b)entering into a transaction which creates or relates to a financial instrument other than an instrument referred to in point (a) where the effect or one of the effects of the transaction is to confer a financial advantage on the natural or legal person entering into that transaction in the event of an increase in the price or value of the share or debt instrument.3.For the purposes of paragraphs 1 and 2, the calculation of a short or a long position, in respect of any position held by the relevant person indirectly, including through or by way of any index, basket of securities or any interest in any exchange traded fund or similar entity, shall be determined by the natural or legal person in question acting reasonably having regard to publicly available information as to the composition of the relevant index or basket of securities, or of the interests held by the relevant exchange traded fund or similar entity. In calculating such a short or long position, no person shall be required to obtain any real-time information as to such composition from any person.For the purposes of paragraphs 1 and 2 the calculation of a short or long position relating to sovereign debt shall include any sovereign credit default swap that relates to the sovereign issuer.4.For the purposes of this Regulation, the position remaining after deducting any long position that a natural or legal person holds in relation to the issued share capital from any short position that that natural or legal person holds in relation to that capital shall be considered a net short position in relation to the issued share capital of the company concerned.5.For the purposes of this Regulation, the position remaining after deducting any long position that a natural or legal person holds in relation to issued sovereign debt and any long position in debt instruments of a sovereign issuer the pricing of which is highly correlated to the pricing of the given sovereign debt from any short position that that natural or legal person holds in relation to the same sovereign debt shall be considered a net short position in relation to the issued sovereign debt of the sovereign issuer concerned.6.The calculation of sovereign debt under paragraphs 1 to 5 shall be for each single sovereign issuer even if separate entities issue sovereign debt on behalf of the sovereign issuer.7.The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 42 specifying:(a)cases in which a natural or legal person is considered to hold a share or debt instrument for the purposes of paragraph 2;(b)cases in which a natural or legal person has a net short position for the purposes of paragraphs 4 and 5 and the method of calculation of such position;(c)the method of calculating positions for the purposes of paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 when different entities in a group have long or short positions or for fund management activities relating to separate funds.For the purposes of point (c) of the first subparagraph, the method of calculation shall take into account, in particular, whether different investment strategies are pursued in relation to a particular issuer through more than one separate fund managed by the same fund manager, whether the same investment strategy is pursued in relation to a particular issuer through more than one fund, and whether more than one portfolio within the same entity is managed on a discretionary basis pursuing the same investment strategy in relation to a particular issuer.
Article 4Uncovered position in a sovereign credit default swap1.For the purposes of this Regulation, a natural or legal person shall be considered to have an uncovered position in a sovereign credit default swap where the sovereign credit default swap does not serve to hedge against:(a)the risk of default of the issuer where the natural or legal person has a long position in the sovereign debt of that issuer to which the sovereign credit default swap relates; or(b)the risk of a decline of the value of the sovereign debt where the natural or legal person holds assets or is subject to liabilities, including but not limited to financial contracts, a portfolio of assets or financial obligations the value of which is correlated to the value of the sovereign debt.2.The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 42 specifying, for the purposes of paragraph 1 of this Article:(a)cases in which a sovereign credit default swap transaction is considered to be hedging against a default risk or the risk of a decline of the value of the sovereign debt, and the method of calculation of an uncovered position in a sovereign credit default swap;(b)the method of calculating positions where different entities in a group have long or short positions or for fund management activities relating to separate funds.

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