7.5 Procedure on the processing of information (Market Abuse Procedure)
Snam’s Board of Directors approved the “Procedure on Market Abuse”64 (the “Market Abuse Procedure”, which combines and coordinates into a single document the market abuse rules and principles with which the Company and its related parties must comply in order to:
- ensure appropriate processing of privileged information65 relating to the Company and its Subsidiaries, directly and indirectly, in Italy and abroad, by those in possession of such information;
- regulate operations on the Company’s financial instruments by persons who hold a senior position within the Company’s ownership structure and/or corporate organisational structure (“internal dealing”); and
- define the operating methods and scope of application of the ban imposed on the Company against the conduct of transactions on listed financial instruments issued by it in predetermined periods.
The Market Abuse Procedure is divided into four sections:
Section I – Management of privileged information and register of persons with access to privileged information66
This section sets out the rules for the management and processing of privileged information, as well as the procedures to be followed for communicating said information both within and outside of the Company, in order to prevent privileged information from being processed at the wrong time and/or in an incomplete manner, or to prevent said processing from resulting in information asymmetry.
This section of the Market Abuse Procedure also governs the creation, maintenance and updating of the register of persons with access to privileged information, in accordance with Article 115-bis of the TUF and with Articles 152-bis et seq. of the Issuer Regulations.
In accordance with Article 152-bis, paragraph 4 of the Issuer Regulations, the Subsidiaries have mandated the Company to create, manage and maintain the register in relation to key personnel at the Subsidiaries who have access to privileged information.
Section II – Rules governing Internal Dealing 67
This section governs operations on the Company’s financial instruments by persons who hold a senior position within the Company’s ownership structure and/or corporate organisational structure. Specifically, it lists (i) the criteria for identifying “Significant Persons” and “Significant Transactions”, to which the regulations in question apply; (ii) the disclosure obligations for “Significant Persons” and the Company towards Consob and the public in relation to “Large Transactions”; and (iii) the regulations prohibiting the execution of “Large Transactions” during certain periods (“black-out periods68”).
Section III – Prohibitions imposed on the Company
This section defines the scope of application of the prohibition on the Company performing transactions on listed financial instruments that it has issued during black-out periods and the related operating procedures.
Section IV – Penalty framework
This section provides a summary framework of the penalties for market abuse laid down in the TUF and in Legislative Decree 231/2001.
The Market Abuse Procedure has been transposed by the Boards of Directors of the Subsidiaries, without prejudice to the application of the said Procedure by foreign Subsidiaries in accordance with their local laws.
64 Previously, the market abuse provisions had been set out in three different corporate procedures.
65 A definition of privileged information and a description of market disclosure obligations can be found in Articles 114 and 181 of the TUF and in Articles 66 et seq. of the Issuer Regulations.
66 Article 115-bis of the TUF requires listed issuers, entities controlled by them and persons who act in their name or on their behalf to create and regularly update a register of persons with access to privileged information as a result of their professional activity or the duties they perform. The rules governing the creation and updating of the register can be found in Article 115-bis of the TUF and in the implementation provisions referred to in Articles 152-bis et seq. of the Issuer Regulations.
67 The rules governing internal dealing – i.e. transparency on transactions involving shares in listed companies and associated financial instruments carried out by the said companies’ corporate officers and by persons closely related to them – are contained in Article 114, paragraph 7 of the TUF and in the related implementation provisions referred to in Articles 152-sexies to 152-octies of the Issuer Regulations.
68 Pursuant to the Market Abuse Procedure, “Significant Persons” (other than “Significant Shareholders”) and “Closely Related Persons” are prohibited from carrying out – whether directly or through an intermediary – “Significant Transactions” until notification to the public and in the 15 (fifteen) days prior to the dates on which the mandatory interim reports were examined by Snam’s Board of Directors, the proposed interim dividend, the preliminary financial statements and the proposed dividend for the full year to be put before the Shareholders’ Meeting, if not disclosed at the same time as the preliminary data (the “black-out period”). The ban does not apply to the purchase of shares carried out via the exercise of options issued under stock option and stock grant plans, although the sale of these shares is forbidden during the indicated periods. Definitions of “Significant Persons”, “Significant Shareholders” and “Closely Related Persons” can be found in section 5.2.2.4 of the Market Abuse Procedure.