Extension of UK Issuer Liability Regime for Ongoing Disclosure

On March 9, 2010 the UK Treasury published final details of its proposed extension of the existing statutory information liability regime for ongoing disclosure for listed issuers. The changes are of interest to all issuers and potential issuers of listed securities with a UK nexus. The extensions to the regime concern issuer liability to security holders for losses suffered:

• in reliance on untrue and misleading statements and/or dishonest omissions of required information in certain published information, and
• a a result of dishonest delays in publishing information to the market.

The new regulations will come into force for information first published on or after October 1, 2010. Further details of the changes are set out in the below memorandum.