[ESMA70-145-111 MAR Q&A 5.10]

Answer provided by the European Commission in accordance with article 16b(5) of the ESMA Regulation

Yes.

Further to their disclosure to a distribution list of subscribers, credit ratings are no longer to be considered inside information.

Article 2 of Regulation No 1060/2009 (Credit Rating Agencies Regulation or “CRAR”) “applies to credit ratings issued by credit rating agencies registered in the Union and which are disclosed publicly or distributed by subscription” and explicitly excludes from its scope those “not intended for public disclosure or distribution by subscription”.

Article 10(2a) of CRAR provides a presumption that credit ratings and rating outlooks are to be deemed inside information until their “disclosure to the public” without further specifying in which cases such public disclosure occurs.

Depending on the business model of the CRA, certain credit ratings could be disclosed exclusively to subscribers of distribution lists subject to the payment of a license fee and, therefore, they should no longer be deemed as inside information pursuant to Article 10(2a) of CRAR.

Article 7(1)(a) of MAR defines inside information as an information “that has not been made public” regardless of whom has published the information or by which means.

_Disclaimer:

_{The answers clarify provisions already contained in the applicable legislation. They do not extend in any way the rights and obligations deriving from such legislation nor do they introduce any additional requirements for the concerned operators and competent authorities. The answers are merely intended to assist natural or legal persons, including competent authorities and Union institutions and bodies in clarifying the application or implementation of the relevant legal provisions. Only the Court of Justice of the European Union is competent to authoritatively interpret Union law. The views expressed in the internal Commission Decision cannot prejudge the position that the European Commission might take before the Union and national courts.}