Article 19 Incorporation by reference

1. Information that is to be included in a prospectus pursuant to this Regulation and to the delegated acts adopted on the basis of it, may be incorporated by reference in that prospectus where it has been previously or simultaneously published electronically, drawn up in a language fulfilling the requirements of Article 27 and where it is contained in one of the following documents:

(a) documents which have been approved by, or filed with, a competent authority in accordance with this Regulation, including a universal registration document or any sections thereof;

(b) the documents referred to in Article 1(4), first subparagraph, points (da), (db) and (f) to (i), and in Article 1(5), first subparagraph, points (ba) and (e) to (h);

(d) annual and interim financial information;

(e) audit reports and financial statements;

(f) management reports as referred to in Chapters 5 and 6 of Directive 2013/34/EU including, where applicable, the sustainability reporting;

(g) corporate governance statements as referred to in Article 20 of Directive 2013/34/EU;

(h) reports on the determination of the value of an asset or a company;

(i) remuneration reports as referred to in Article 9b of Directive 2007/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council;

(j) annual reports or any disclosure of information required under Articles 22 and 23 of Directive 2011/61/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council;

(k) memorandum and articles of association.

Such information shall be the most recent available to the issuer.

Where only certain parts of a document are incorporated by reference, a statement shall be included in the prospectus that the non-incorporated parts are either not relevant for the investor or covered elsewhere in the prospectus.

1a. Information that is not to be included in a prospectus may still be incorporated by reference in that prospectus on a voluntary basis, where it has been previously or simultaneously published electronically, drawn up in a language fulfilling the requirements of Article 27 and where it is contained in one of the documents referred to in paragraph 1, first subparagraph.

1b. An issuer, an offeror or a person asking for admission to trading on a regulated market shall not be required to publish a supplement pursuant to Article 23(1) for new annual or interim financial information published when a base prospectus is still valid pursuant to Article 12(1). Where that new annual or interim financial information is published electronically, it may be incorporated by reference in the base prospectus in accordance with paragraph (1), point (d), of this Article. However, an issuer, an offeror or a person asking for admission to trading on a regulated market shall be entitled to voluntarily publish a supplement for such information.

2. When incorporating information by reference, issuers, offerors or persons asking for admission to trading on a regulated market shall ensure accessibility of the information. In particular, a cross-reference list shall be provided in the prospectus in order to enable investors to identify easily specific items of information, and the prospectus shall contain hyperlinks to all documents containing information which is incorporated by reference.

3. Where possible alongside the first draft of the prospectus submitted to the competent authority, and in any case during the prospectus review process, the issuer, the offeror or the person asking for admission to trading on a regulated market shall submit in searchable electronic format any information which is incorporated by reference into the prospectus, unless such information has already been approved by or filed with the competent authority approving the prospectus.

4. ESMA may, or where the Commission so requests shall, develop draft regulatory technical standards to update the list of documents set out in paragraph 1 of this Article by including additional types of documents required under Union law to be filed with or approved by a public authority.

Power is delegated to the Commission to adopt the regulatory technical standards referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph in accordance with Articles 10 to 14 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010.