Credit ratings, rating outlooks and information relating thereto are presumed to be inside information until disclosure to the public.

Article 10(2a) of Regulation No. 1060/2009 (Credit Rating Agencies Regulation or “CRAR”) provides that “Until disclosure to the public of credit ratings, rating outlooks and information relating thereto, they shall be deemed to be inside information, as defined in and in accordance with Directive 2003/6/EC”¹. As a consequence of the presumption set out in article 10(2a) of CRAR, for “credit ratings, rating outlooks and information relating thereto”, the assessment of the conditions laid down in Article 7(1)(a) of MAR is not required and those ratings should always be treated as inside information.

[1] Directive 2003/6/EC was repealed by Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (Market Abuse Regulation or “MAR”), and references to the provisions contained therein are to be read as references to MAR according to the correlation table provided in Annex II of MAR.

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

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.