Article 37U.K.Definitions for market abuse regime applicable to auctioned products other than financial instruments within the meaning of Article 1(3) of Directive 2003/6/EC
For the purposes of Articles 38 to 43 which apply to auctioned products other than financial instruments within the meaning of Article 1(3) of Directive 2003/6/EC, the following definitions shall apply:
‘inside information’ means information of a precise nature which has not been made public, relating, directly or indirectly, to one or more of the auctioned products, and which, if it were public, would be likely to have a significant effect on the prices at which bids would be made.
For persons charged with the execution of bids, inside information also means information conveyed by a client and related to the client’s pending bids, which is of a precise nature, which related directly or indirectly to one or more auctioned products and which, if it were made public, would be likely to have a significant effect on the prices at which bids would be made;
‘market manipulation’ means:
bids, or transactions or orders on the secondary market:
which give, or are likely to give, false or misleading signals as to the demand for or price of the auctioned products, or
which secure, by a person, or persons acting in collaboration, an auction clearing price for the auctioned products at an abnormal or artificial level,
unless the person who made the bid or, on the secondary market, the transaction or the order, establishes that its reasons for so doing are legitimate;
bids which employ fictitious devices or any other form of deception or contrivance;
dissemination of information through the media, including the Internet, or by any other means, which gives, or is likely to give, false or misleading signals as to the auctioned products, including the dissemination of rumours and false or misleading news, where the person who made the dissemination knew, or ought to have known, that the information was false or misleading. In respect of journalists when they act in their professional capacity such dissemination of information is to be assessed, taking into account the rules governing their profession, unless those persons derive, directly or indirectly, an advantage or profits from the dissemination of the information in question.
In particular, the following instances are derived from the core definition given in point (b) of the first paragraph:
conduct by a person, or persons acting in collaboration, to secure a dominant position over the demand for an auctioned product which has the effect of fixing, directly or indirectly, auction clearing prices or creating other unfair trading conditions,
the buying or selling on the secondary market of allowances or related derivatives prior to the auction with the effect of fixing the auction clearing price for the auctioned products at an abnormal or artificial level or misleading bidders bidding in the auctions,
taking advantage of occasional or regular access to the traditional or electronic media by voicing an opinion about an auctioned product while having previously made a bid in relation to that product and profiting subsequently from the impact of the opinions voiced on the other bid prices offered for that product, without having simultaneously disclosed that conflict of interest to the public in a proper and effective way.